Dwale

With how battered most our upper-rankers are, and some very game young talents encroaching from below, I expect we're going to see some major shake-ups before the year is done.

While it's true that Mitakeumi is tougher than the average day one appetizer, Kisenosato didn't really look like he was in it. Not a good sign. I'll keep cheering him all the way to the end but I expect it's not long in coming now. The ozeki corps not looking too hot, either. Well, it's only day one, we've got the whole basho ahead of us...

Unexpected end to a strange, strange basho. Congratulations to Takakeisho for his first (but probably not last) top division yusho. Now is the time to heal injuries, refine skill-sets and build strength. 'til next time, folks, kanpai.

Hahahaha, wow. Takakeisho lost his cool, got hasty and paid for it. So now we have a potential play-off. Good! I like Takakeisho and Takayasu both, makes no matter to me which of them takes it. Gonna be a long wait 'til tomorrow, though... Also, Ichinojo did what now? O.o;

Fare thee well, Satoyama, and good luck to you. Is Aoiyama ok? That was a little worrying. Takakeisho very composed. He seems to be handling the pressure very well indeed. Little bit of luck for Tochinoshin, but I'm glad for it nonetheless. One more, big guy, come on. Gotta give Daieisho credit, he lost, but Takayasu had throw the kitchen sink at him to get him out of there.

I was quite surprised by how much power Ryuuden showed in that match. Moving a big ol' slab of Ichinojo in any capacity takes strength of a high order. Some really fun matches today. I got a kick out of Shohozan's fixation on smacking his opponent (including that sort of uppercut one, like, "YOU CANNOT ESCAPE MY SLAPS!" lol).

Aoiyama is upper-maegashira material. It shouldn't be a surprise to see him tearing it up on the lower end if he's healthy. (Yeah, I know a lot of people don't like him, but give credit where it's due, he's a pretty good sumotori.)

If he fought that hard in every match, he would BE an ozeki.

Chiyonokuni v. Shohozan was a hell of a match. Come to think, Shohozan also had that excellent match with Kotoshigiku on day six. And this is why I like the guy: hes not the winningest rikishi, but he brings the fire. We're going to learn something about Takakeisho's mental strength of the next five days, one way or the other.

Takakeisho hit Tochinoshin like a truck. That wasn't the most entertaining match of the day, but I have to name it the best win. KA-BLAM!

Hokutofuji v. Kaisei was one of the weirdest mattas I've ever seen. I LOLed at it, "What the hell was that?" I think maybe Hokutofuji saw some ice cream in the audience and changed focus.

I told my girlfriend after we watched day six "There's no way Takakeisho can keep winning like this. It's too much pressure, he's going to start making dumb mistakes." Well, considering my track record with predictions, I think I'll count that point even if I didn't post it. Still, Takakeisho has all the seeming of a future great, IMHO. Hell, you can't really take him lightly as-is.

No idea, but Takakeisho indeed has superior lateral movement. As you noted, it lets him work angles that lessen his opponent's ability to defend. You see this sort of thing in MMA and boxing a lot more than in sumo, but it works the same way.

That's beautiful. T.T

This basho is pure insanity. Well, a lot can happen in ten days, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Haven't had much to say so far, but glad to see the intensity is ramping up. Takakeisho is looking like a proper bad-ass and I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do against Ichinojo and, more importantly, Takayasu. Kanpai!

Apart from the middling performance from Mitakeumi, I was pleased with this basho. And I must say, Kakuryu & Hakuho's match was a satisfying end. What an epic struggle that was!

Mitakeumi! *huge sigh of relief* Tochinoshin! *huge sigh of relief* Kisenosato! *huge sigh of relief* Today's matches were as good as a massage for my stress levels. Magical.

Wow, Goeido wiped the floor with Kakuryu, that was bad-ass. Rough basho for Tochinoshin. It's been my hope all along that he would get his eight and then go home to heal up, but it just hasn't worked out like that. He's a trooper, though. Really hoping he can get that eighth. I like how well-rounded Takayasu has turned out to be. He goes here from oshi to grappling to oshi again, with nice, smooth transitions. That's the sort of flexibility I want to see in more Japanese rikishi in the future.

I actually got goosebumps from Tochinoshin's match. You go chest to chest with that monster at your own peril, wow.

He doesn't like it when they make him work.

Not sure Endo realized that wasn't another matta. Or maybe he was just so sick of the match he wanted it to be over. Anyway, congratulations to Kisenosato on eight wins. Normally ya wouldn't do that for a yokozuna, but this is a special case. Mitakeumi...I do think he'll be ozeki someday, but he seems to be not quite there yet. Of course, if he would like to prove me wrong by becoming a human wrecking ball, he's welcome. Ikioi got some air in his match.Whee!

Absolutely correct, and once Mtakeumi started to move as Hakuho predicted, that was it.

Kisenosato v. Tochinoshin was more entertaining than it really should have been. You see it's two injured guys and you might think "meh" but they both put a lot of heart into that one. Good stuff. Also enjoyed Mitakeumi's match, though I would of course have preferred that he won.

I think most long-time fans would recognize that Goeido is capable of going out there and whooping everyone's ass, but has some kind of psychological block. If he could find some way to fire on all cylinders every time he fought, he would have been yokozuna a long time ago.