Mongolith

I think Kise is not really loved by his peers as Baruto and Geeku (and others) never had a problem spoiling his chances (Maybe cause he is gachinko/does not reciprocate or they just dislike him). Personally I have always found him pretty dour, arrogant, and find his Matta games annoying as hell. That is why I always cheered for Geeku even if he is a more limited as I like his style and he just comes off as a cool cat.

Awesome pics. Looking at the 3rd pic on the 1st set it almost looks like a sumo exhibit. Unique location to train.

Did not mean it that way as I usually shorten words. Guess I don't think when I type and honestly was not trying to insult the culture or anything negative like that. I am not bitter about Japanese wanting locals to succeed I understand its their national sport and it a business. Just sad that big guys like Tochinowaka don't have the mindset to succeed in sumo like great Japanese fighters like Kaio and mediocre sekiwakes like Goedo are propped up to the Ozeki ranks. Also I don't think their is some inherent bias about the mid megashira ranking of foreigners, honestly other than the top ranks I sincerely doubt fans care if someone is M6 v. M8.

Tokitenku is now a naturalized Japanese citizen. Wiki: Tokitenkū became a Japanese citizen in January 2014. This will enable him to stay in the sumo world as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association upon his eventual retirement from active competition. He has already secured the Magaki kabu or stock. Does anyone really think naturalized makes them considered true japanese. Hell they even went for the foreign born designation as they saw naturalized Japanese as cheating their already highly restricted system. Pretty sure none of the news covered Kyokutenhō as being the first Japanese winner since 2006 or so. *Correcting some mindless shortening of words.

Hope Fuji keeps his spot. His bouts are pretty fun. Thinking him and ichi are the next ozeki. May be a while as they gotta balance the 3 yoks with some locals.

Pretty funny that Endo is averaging a MK as a Megashira and he is getting more Kensho than the top Jap Ozeki. Ridiculously marketable, I don't get it but more power to him.

When Hakuho was going on a massive run with zensho yushos he was doing forward sumo. Just seems to have gotten lazy since his competition has not stepped up and he can win any way he wants. I don't think the sumo fans/Kyokai were all that happy with Hak passing Taiho. Just begrudging respect that it was the pretty well behaved Hak rather than say Asa.

Minato okayata has had to do quite a bit of apologizing lately. All these episodes seem pretty mild to me but the again I am not Japanese so maybe I am not a great gauge. Couple extra shoves, questioning the refs while visibly hung over & accusing fans of being biased for locals (Bit more serious than other sports cause they are elders & the bias is obvious with guys like Goido being propped up to Ozeki), and kicking out some press. Maybe Hak should lay low for a bit as all these events have been pretty recent.

Bit surprised that stables would rather take a risk on a young foreigner rather than focus on guys like Terunofuji or ichinojo that have the size and strength to shoot up the ranks quickly. Especially with just getting one shot to pick a winning horse. Brody seems like a good bet he obviously has the size and strength w/ a bit more refining from coaching he could be quite successful.

No wonder he does not want to speak with the press as the keep asking him the same damn question about the utterance. This seems like a pretty mild controversy so I don't get the big ruckus. He was hung over when he made the stupid utterance and now this is overshadowing his record breaking achievement.

Probably just has to get the paperwork through like Ichinojo. Will probably do maezumo the upcoming tournament or the next and then go into Jonokuchi like all non-college/amateur champions. Rules are the same for all that enter sumo other the 1 foreign born per stable rule.

This event will hopefully die soon. Hak made the comment hungover after the celebration, he has apologized, and we have even gotten the usual Hak was misquoted/misunderstood/Japanese is difficult comment from Tenho. It was not the most dignified comment but this is way overblown. Breaking the record may have gotten a bit to his head but he has been mostly well behaved and has known when to "step aside" when promotions such as for the mighty Goeido are needed.

Pretty disappointed that ichi was not able to stay in sanyaku but at least he lost to tugboat who I like. Not even gonna bother guessing the sanyaku after today's decimation other than hoping that fuji does well there and guessing whoever else is promoted is unlikely to be there after the end of the next basho. I do think there is a bit of backscratching between the Mongolians but it's mainly Hak doing the giving after his counterparts truck over the field. Despite that Hak is gonna shatter pretty much every major record but the consecutive wins as I doubt he will be as motivated.

Ichi really has not looked good this basho. Hope he gets a 7-8 and only drops to K. He should be a more offensive as he has a bit of quickness for a guy his size. He should be bullying undersized guys like Endo/Takayuska and Aminishki with 2 bum knees.

Guess this is what happens when your Ozeki run is nothing but smoke and mirrors. Only way Goeido saves his rank is if he reasserts his recent "dominance" over Hakuho. Just hoping this charade comes to an end soon. Glad the Geeku is back was thinking injuries would push him to retire soon.

The banzuke topics normally come out about a week before the basho starts. I am guessing they do that as that is when most people will start reading about the upcoming basho

0 new yokozunas 1 new Ozeki Ichinojou Hakuhou Y1 Kakuryuu Haramafuji Y2 Kisenosato O1 Ichinojou That's my guess. Thinking Geeku retires and Goeido loses his rank. Even if he keeps his rank its gonna be by mainly alternating 8-9 wins with MK's. My darkhorse Ozeki candidate would be Tochiozan. Not too confident about that though so just gonna stick with 2 Ozeki.

Checkout this forum post by Yubinhaad. Shows pretty much all they use to train. http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=32199&p=252288

I've never heard of something like that. Ever. Otherwise Amuru or Takanoyama would have never made it to Sekitori, and Masutoo would be long back in Hungary. I think I was putting myself in the stable master's shoe and guessing what I would do if the foreigner I picked was a bit of a dud. Nothing more than an assumption and a poor one at that. Being a non-sekitori has to be pretty rough as Kyokutenho and other mongolians ran away when they first joined a beya. Also konishki stated in his interview how much his lifestyle sucked until he blazed up the ranks. I know I read somewhere (maybe wiki, can't recall) that the difference between makushita and Juryo is like heaven and hell. *Guessing the majority of foreigners get weeded out if they struggle up the ranks other than those notable exceptions. *There I go making assumptions again.

Only declining as they changed the definition of foreign to foreign born a couple years back. Used to be that if one of the foreign rikishi took Japanese citizenship that would re-open the foreign slot for that beya. That is why Beya like Minato are so selective and rejected several other foreign candidates while they waited for Ichinojo to turn pro. Guessing if a foreigner is not moving up the ranks quickly the beya may encourage them to leave so they can get a more promising candidate in.

Probably would be better if he gets demoted as his promotion was a charade. Should have MK'd in the middle of his run and should have MK'd on his first Ozeki basho. Geeku just looks shot physically so I am not gonna criticize him.

Great Videos posted by Jason. Hakuho's career - an NHK overview (English Commentary) http://youtu.be/ttdUNN81kQk?list=UUjEHJ_fQxC3wgXcIazGWt3Q [media][/media] Fukuoka 2014 - Hakuho's Championship interview (English Translation) http://youtu.be/jfcM1pZ_0eI?list=UUjEHJ_fQxC3wgXcIazGWt3Q

They are just advertisements. They sponsor Kensho aka a bonus payment to the match winner. Usually just seen in the Yok and Ozeki matches, but some sponsor popular guys like Endo. BTW why did kisenosanto get that weird prop that looked like arrows with his Kensho on the last day?

He's only one win ahead of Kakuryu, isn't he? Kakuryu still has the chance to force the playoff, even if Hakuho beats Harumafuji No.32 is not quite done but one way or the other he would need to lose 2 consecutive bouts to be denied. Hakuho can lose only one bout to Kakuryu and if Kakuryu beat Kotoshogiku tomorrow, then we will see a kettei sen. Well he would Need to lose on day 14 and day 15 to be denied of #32 or he would need to lose on day 15 and kettei-sen is what he meant. Kinda agree with him as I do not see Hak dropping two in a row. Hak is in another league even to the other Yoks. I may have jumped the gun saying the basho is wrapped up though, but I really expect him to handle Kak like he did last basho tough.