Mightyduck

From memory they found ash in an ashtray which was tested, and some other paraphernalia

Bicycle racing is the other one I think

It would be a shame if it died out. It is one of my favourite quirky things about sumo. Must be annoying for people in the line of fire though.

No flying zabuton because tamawashi has been in sanyaku before? Or covid?

I really hope Tobizaru isn't involved

Congratulations to Terunofuji! A well deserved zensho and he is clearly trying his hardest to fulfill his role as yokozuna and doing a fine job. As regards Takakeisho, I think we have to remember that Hakkaku etc were very critical of his sumo prior to his Ozeki promotion, and made him wait an extra Basho. He hasn't broadened his sumo, has been kadoban, and had to drop and recover the rank through injury. He will get no leniency in the application of the yokozuna criteria.

Down in juryo it's nice to see kotoshoho looking a bit more like his old self. Abi looks way more in control of his charge than he used to. Whether he'll be able to maintain that control when he fights opponents further up the banzuke remains to be seen, but if he can he's a potential yusho contender. Whilst he has dropped one, it is good to see that Shodai seems to have recovered his forward driving power.

It's been mentioned before but Akua seems to like to throw himself spectacularly once he realises he's lost.

Togedemaru = chiyomaru

If Ichinojo doesn't get a Snorlax Kesho mawashi I will be very disappointed!

The way he used his left hand to push away Kisenosato's arm was sublime. I don't like henkas as a rule, but you do have to appreciate the speed and technique there.

I think he'd be wise to avoid it, lest he 'deviate from principles of the association.... in speech or conduct'. Hakuho Sho might have had the presence of a lion on the dohyo, but Magaki-Oyakata is going to have to be as meek as a mouse for a good long time. Otherwise, as Kintanayama has suggested, he will not last long.

I think it's more just an equivalent to the team sport idiom 'the less he plays the better he gets', when a high profile player is dropped for form or injury and fans moan about it.

I'm wondering if he thinks that his back won't last much longer.

When I first started getting in to sumo, one of the things that surprised me was how small and basic most of the heya are. At that time I did not know how frequently they moved /were rebuilt and had assumed they would have been the original buildings. Now however, we are going to have Miyagino Towers to add to Araiso Castle / Ibaraki Hilton

That's a fantastic photo! I have had a question about the bow-twirlers for quite some time. Do they receive any additional stipend or privilege for performing, do they volunteer simply for the honour of doing it, or is it a begrudged chore?

For a split second I thought he was going to go for a suplex!

Probably best not to have your name/ number in a post, as it will be Google searchable. Better to have people DM you for it.

Thanks How unusual is it to have that sort of multi coloured fringing on a yokozuna set? Is that reserved for yokozuna? The shading / shine on the eggplant is really well done, they look almost 3d.

It's pretty funny, to be honest. Pretty crazy that he didn't foresee the possibility that he might get a visit from the police and clean up his act for a while. Edit: on reading the article it actually looks like it happened in July so he may have been at the tournament still.

I'm going to revise my pick in light of today's news: Yusho: Terunofuji Jun yusho: Takaysu

I see what you did there...... Throwing shade on the next ozeki ;)

Pretty sad that Terunofuji won't get his chance to fight Hakuho this Basho.

Pretty intimidating looking principal, I expect pupils behave well at Tottori Johoku school I assume that Ishiura is the father of the current sekitori Ishiura?

Would you be able to give us non-japanese speakers the general gist?