Adil

I can't believe they didn't name the one guy who I think is the biggest culprit: Gaga "I-am-on-a-perpetual-ozeki-run" maru.

Totally off-topic, John, but how come all three links (Twitter, Instagram, & FB) to your social networking sites are broken? Or is it just me?

Super! Thanks for posting these, McBugger san! Oh, and by the way... When did you change your avatar, Asojima?

I used to enjoy watching him as much as the next person, but I just don't know what he'll bring to the dohyo at this stage of his career. Watching old timers soldier on and schooling the new kids is one of my favourite things. Except, Aminishiki was not exactly doing that in the last couple of bashos he competed in. It was like he was trying to set a new record of the most number of henkas in a basho.

A sotogake attempt followed by yorikiri helped by his unbelievable grip on the mawashi with his right hand. He also tried that sotogake attempt on Baruto in their very last match when Baruto dug in at the tawara.

If you watch the bout more closely, you will see that Hakuho executed a rather nasty kick against Harumafuji's lower leg. From that moment on, Harumafuji was hopping through the dohyo as a one-legged man. Thanks for the response, Randomitsuki. I saw the kick. It came at 4:31 in Moti's digest, and Harumafuji recovers from it by 4:34. I was actually curious about Harumafuji's movement at 4:35. He appears to straighten up and just lets Hakuho walk him out without offering any resistance. By then, though, Hakuho had morozashi and perhaps Harumafuji felt there was no point in putting up any resistance any longer.

That's right! I most certainly can't! Thanks.

Another yusho for the great one (no, not Jackie Gleason). One thing I don't understand, though: Why did Harumafuji stop fighting when he was in the middle of the ring and apparently not in danger? He backed off for the last few steps himself. Reminds me of a similar loss by Asashoryu against Hakuho when he appeared to step back and out. Am not stirring the pot; just curious.

Kisenosato vs Kotoshogiku (A hundred apologies for the poor quality.)

Two more super endings today: Tochiozan vs Myogiryu and the streetfight between Goeido and Yoshikaze. Both endings reminded me of the ending of the George Foreman vs Ken Norton match. Goeido was really angry and gave Yoshikaze that mean look before getting back onto to dohyo. By the way, Yoshikaze has this funny way of jerking his head up suddenly against his opponents' face. A few basho ago, he KO'd Jokoryu with that head-butt to the face, and today I noticed it against Goeido as well on 6:57 in Moti san's second digest for day 7. I guess it just happens because of his wild and furious style. Tasty match from Harumafuji again. Good win for Kotoyuki, but poor judgement from the Yokozuna. Kakuryu has two modes: grab the belt with that unshakeable grip and dump the other guy on the clay, or backpedal quickly and try to pull the other guy down. After his first tsukiotoshi attempt failed, he found himslef backpedalling all the way. In order to get his left hand to push Hakuho by the throat, Aoiyama's right leg had to be planted on the dohyo. Unfortunately, the dohyo was slippery and his right leg slipped. The first time, it was funny as it appeared Aoiyama just dived away from Hakuho for no reason.

Although I was rooting for Osunaarashi against Sokokurai, it would have been cool if Sokokurai had managed to pull off that truridashi. I always love a great truridashi. Am still enjoying the one by Takarafuji against Tochinoshin last basho. And what a throw by Hakuho! Just how strong is this guy? Great from Harumafuji as well! He brings something completely new to the table. A basho becomes extra spicy for me when Harumafuji is around. About Terunofuji: A couple of years ago (don't remember exactly when), I said here that I am very excited about Terunofuji and would be following his career very closely because he was going to go far barring any serious injury. Well, call it a slow acting whammy, but he's got a serious injury at such a young age which appears to be somewhat long term. How's it going to pan out for him? Is he going to overcome it because time is on his side? Or is he going to go down path of those unfortunate athletes who never quite recover? As Moti san says in his digest, he should give consideration to the advisability of withdrawing, because he's obviously not capable of doing anything in his current condition without aggravating his injury.

Bravo, Ikioi. One of the best endings to a fight I have seen in a while. When I saw that left handed grip by Kakuryu, I said 'Good bye, Ikioi... Try harder next time.', but for once, someone broke Kakuryu's grip. Very satisfying match.

At times, I miss Kakuryu's matches while watching them because I am so preoccupied looking at his hands on the belt. That grip where he goes so deep that he's actually holding the other side of the belt past the vertical part of the mawashi is just super. Is there a name for that kind of grip? He did it today against Harumafuji with his left hand.

Yup....Been waiting for that for a while!

Incredible stuff there. Have just watched the first few minutes, but already looks awesome. Thanks for sharing. My whole life I have been obsessed with the warring states period in Japan's history.

What's a Chipave game?

Thanks for the vid!

This is a great discussion. I find the different views of fellow posters about Brody to be very insightful. I'm very new to sumo, so I can't analyze Brody's style to draw any conclusions about his potential. I''ll just say this much: Good luck, Brody. It's not an easy life, and to get to the top means going through divisions of cutthroat pros. Hang in there, buddy. I'd REALLY love to see him in juryo (or perhaps even in makuuchi!) in a couple of years.

Sorry folks, I don't have time to do the screengrabs. Just watch Harumafuji falling off the dohyo frame by frame and observe: 1) He is about to step down from the dohyo on his right leg, with his right foot very close to the floor but his left leg still on the dohyo. In a flash, he moves his right leg up and instead crashes onto to the floor on his left knee, with his right foot still not having touched the floor. The fact that he chose not to land on his right leg (which was already very close to the floor) and instead chose to make a particularly painful landing on his left knee tells me he was trying to protect his right leg. This awkward crash landing, coupled with his avoiding to put any pressure on his right leg during the bout makes me think his right leg is injured. 2) On the flip side, both of the points I mention above can be explained: As I mentioned before, he wasn't putting any pressure on his right leg because the momentum was putting him off balance. As for the awkward fall, having watched it frame by frame, I see a second possibility: Yes, he does suddenly jump and crashes onto the floor, but that could be because his right foot got caught on the sloping side of the dohyo and the rest was just his body reacting to it.

Happy that Harumafuji won the yusho. How time flies. Has it really been 2 years since his last yusho? Wow. About his bout today: Am always happy when Kisenosato wins, because (1) I like him and (2) just so that I don't hear the usual "Oh, he blew it again! What a disappointing guy etc.". However, I got the feeling that Harumafuji was perhaps injured and couldn't give it his all. I will try and post screengrabs from Moti-san's video if I have the time (really busy these days with a new job). However, if I can't, just watch how he avoids putting any pressure on his right leg during the match. The most natural explanation might be that it was the momentum of Kisenosato's pushing that kept him from planting his right leg on the dohyo, but the way he fell off the dohyo makes me think he was trying to save his right leg/foot. Oh, dang it! It takes longer to write about it. Lemme go work on that screengrab.

The touching down with both hands before the tachiai issue.... I remember Moti-san saying a few months ago that there are many rikishi who do not always touch down with both hands and that the gyoji only make a point of insisting on both rikishi touching down sometimes. That having been said, isn't it a case of unfair advantage if one rikishi is allowed to get away without touching down with both hands before the tachiai? I mean, a little iffyness (I just made that up) happens sometimes, but Gagamaru is taking it to another limit. He only touches down with one hand and the other one is literally a foot (not just one or two inches) above the ground. You'll see many rikishi take that position, but they touch down very quickly with the hovering hand just before they charge, or at least try to touch down. Gagamaru doesn't even make an effort to move the other hand down. As someone else pointed out about his day 8 bout, even after a matta was called twice, he still didn't make the slightest of efforts to touch down. From today's bouts, Aminishiki and Kitataiki (Goeido too, but at least he made a sudden movement as if he tried) looked like they didn't touch down, but I don't know if they do it consistently. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? I also remember now that Asashosakari remarked about Gagamaru not touching down during week one. Like I said, I'm only mentioning this because I think it gives a rikishi an unfair advantage if he is allowed to charge with his hand so high up in the air.

Hard to tell, but I could have sworn that Chiyonokuni lunged at Kairyu with a closed fist on the 24 second mark. Might have been a failed harite, or maybe my eyes are deceiving me, but that looked like it came from the George Foreman Book of Haymakers.

I have been resisting the temptation to add to the henka debate in the last two days. I agree with some of the other posters here: The most painful thing about a henka (in a big match) is that it dominates the discussion on the forum for some time. Anyway, the basho is over now and this thread will peter out fast, so there's no harm now for me to jump back into the fray, I guess. Last year, when Harumafuji made one of his first post-yokozuna ''henka/not a henka'', I made the following post, which mostly applies to the current situation, if you substitute Harumafji with 'Kakuryu': 'Damn Harumafuji! We are in for another henka debate. Let me save everybody some time and list the most common points that will possibly come up ;-): 1) It was a henka. 2) It wasn't a henka. 3) The henka-er is at fault. 4) The henka-ee is at fault. 5) That is not yokozuna sumo. 6) Either have the kyokai declare it illegal or learn to live with it.' Coming back to the present day, I see we are having the general henka debate again with some of the old pro-henka points being forwarded, most of which I don't disagree with: A) There's no shame in doing a henka; (I agree. This is a very general point.) B) There's no shame in doing a henka for a yokozuna; (Agreed again. Another general point: What if a yokozuna pulled one henka in 500 bouts, and that too, after 'provocation'?) C) The henka-er is at fault/The henka-ee is at fault; (Neither agree nor disagree; this one is on a case by case basis) Now back to the point: I was definitely irritated by Kakyryu's henkas. Why? Because he did it THREE times in ONE basho. If you don't mind a yokozuna/ozeki pulling three henkas in one basho, feel free to disagree with me, as someone else mentioned. But I don't think this is your ordinary 'He-pulled-a-henka--It-was-OK/not-OK' situation. This was a yokozuna who pulled three henkas in the space of a few days, and it has left a bad taste in the mouth for me. On the flip side, I've seen some argue that in the Kise bout, the first was a defensive maneuvre to counter Kise's jumping the gun and that the second was a punishment for that jumping the gun. If that is true, that would put a different light on things, although I must say it seems improbable to me, but that's another issue. Aside from the henka issue, I am very glad Kakuryu got the yusho. No longer will he be mentioned as the yokozuna who never won a yusho after promotion (like you know who). It's not like he was promoted to yokozuna based on mediocre results. They definitely warranted a promotion, flash in the pan or not. Plus, I'm not feeling too sorry for Terunofuji. At his age, he will be getting many more chances for yusho, hopefully. Once Hakuho and Harumafuji are back, Kakuryu won't be getting too many chances, so credit to him for taking his chance when he got it. And Kakuryu is definitely very exciting to watch. Yes, sometimes he does get pushed out while trying one of his patented pulls, but when he does his power sumo, it is amazing. I've said this before: The strength of his grip on the mawashi is just out of this world. It's almost impossible to break his grip once he gets it.

Tochinoshin is certainly one of the most exciting guys to watch for me. Straight on, no nonsense, sheer power belt-fights. Always so satisfying to watch, although I also enjoy the furious, ultra energy fights of guys like Yoshikaze just as much. There's just one thing that makes me think about Tochinoshin's fighting style: I just wonder how much the attempted tsuridashis will affect his back and knees. I hope he has a long and successful career.

For shame, Kakuryu... For shame!!! I'm not one of those who hate all henkas in all situations, but good golly, Miss Molly. This was really pushing it. Tut tut tut. I knew he was desperate for his first yusho as a yokozuna, but I didn't think he was this desperate. Whatever...I better cool off now. Still, good move in the end there by Kak.