Aki Basho 2021 - Discussion Thread (Spoilers!)

[Jakusotsu]

I've never been a stickler for excitement, but this basho was as bland as it could get.

[Tigerboy1966]

Shodai has not been matched against either Takakeisho or Mitakeumi. That KK deserves an asterisk. To me it looks as though both Shodai and TKS are there to just hang on to their rank until a proper ozeki emerges (or re-emerges).

[themistyseas]

2 hours ago, Amamaniac said:

There was plenty of criticism about the Kiribayama henka versus Hoshoryu on Day 10, but at first glance, Meisei's henka against Onosho today was even more reprehensible.

To be honest, I barely would have considered Kiribayama's a henka and most of the criticism seemed inevitable from the weird Cult of Hoshoryu™. I thought it was actually a heck of a move, he didn't dodge contact, he actually hit him with the right and showed him onto the right side (Hoshoryu's left) out of the tachiai before pivoting left and fully grabbing the back of his mawashi. Whoever was on NHK commentary (I think it was Murray) said it reminded him of some of Harumafuji's old moves and said maybe he'd been watching Harumafuji tapes. Kiribayama certainly could do worse than that.

[sumojoann]

20 minutes ago, themistyseas said:

To be honest, I barely would have considered Kiribayama's a henka and most of the criticism seemed inevitable from the weird Cult of Hoshoryu™. I thought it was actually a heck of a move, he didn't dodge contact, he actually hit him with the right and showed him onto the right side (Hoshoryu's left) out of the tachiai before pivoting left and fully grabbing the back of his mawashi. Whoever was on NHK commentary (I think it was Murray) said it reminded him of some of Harumafuji's old moves and said maybe he'd been watching Harumafuji tapes. Kiribayama certainly could do worse than that.

I think Murray was right about Kiribayama paying attention to Harumafuji's old moves.  I'm inclined to believe that Kiribayama admires Harumafuji quite a lot or at least his techniques.  Quite a while back, on Kiribayama's Instagram account, he had 3 photos of Harumafuji posted but none of Hakuho.  (For whatever reason, he has since removed those photos).

[Amamaniac]

4 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

4 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Okinoumi moves to 10 wins and into what is right now a jun-yusho position.

Also in contention for a sansho of some sort, I should think.

Let the Sansho predictions begin!  If Wakanohana III has any credibility left, today he made the following selections:

Kantosho (Fighting Spirit): Myogiryu and Onosho

Ginosho (Technique): Endo

Shukunsho (Outstanding Performance): Daieisho

If Daieisho has any hope of getting the Shukunsho, it will be conditional on him winning on the Final Day to bring his win total up to double digits.  At least, that's how I see things...

[Eikokurai]

45 minutes ago, Amamaniac said:

Let the Sansho predictions begin!  If Wakanohana III has any credibility left, today he made the following selections:

Kantosho (Fighting Spirit): Myogiryu and Onosho

Ginosho (Technique): Endo

Shukunsho (Outstanding Performance): Daieisho

If Daieisho has any hope of getting the Shukunsho, it will be conditional on him winning on the Final Day to bring his win total up to double digits.  At least, that's how I see things...

A pretty solid bet, I’d say. I agree about Daieisho, though 9-6 would be fair enough I personally think. 

[Tigerboy1966]

1 hour ago, Amamaniac said:

Let the Sansho predictions begin!  If Wakanohana III has any credibility left, today he made the following selections:

Kantosho (Fighting Spirit): Myogiryu and Onosho

Ginosho (Technique): Endo

Shukunsho (Outstanding Performance): Daieisho

If Daieisho has any hope of getting the Shukunsho, it will be conditional on him winning on the Final Day to bring his win total up to double digits.  At least, that's how I see things...

I would give the gino-sho to Kiribayama. He hasn't had a great second week, but he's a better technical wrestler than Endo by some distance.

Daieisho should certainly get the shukun-sho for beating Terunofuji. Meisei would also be eligible if he beats Myogiryu, but I can't see them giving a prize to an 8-7 sekiwake.

Kanto-sho for Myogiryu looks stone cold certain. Although being completely annihilated by Kagayaki isn't what I would expect from a prize-winner.

[bettega]

8 hours ago, yohcun said:

That was the daintiest, most courteous, ashitori I've ever seen.

Both Ura and Kaisei are nice guys 

[Kashunowaka]

Really exciting torikumi on senshuraku. So many 7-7 vs 7-7s, several exchange bouts, 7-7 vs yusho hopeful and so on.

[hakutorizakura]

5 hours ago, Jakusotsu said:

I've never been a stickler for excitement, but this basho was as bland as it could get.

Well, we got that ipponzeoi, and also Ura. Not bad.

But yeah, I would expect a more fiery basho for a shin-yokozuna where everyone would try to take him down. So where is everyone? No other yok, no ozeki or sanyaku in yusho race...

[Tigerboy1966]

Maybe we should institute our own awards. Collectively, we have as much expertise as the guys who award the sansho so why not? We could do it in the polls section. I would suggest we have an award for the best performance by a maegashira who ended up with a MK. I am serious, we could chip in and send the winner a scroll or something.

[hakutorizakura]

Oh, and Ura was like, here, let me help carry that leg for you while you leisurely exit the dohyo. Dōzo goyukkuri, ashimoto wo gochūi kudasai. Kaisei's expression was priceless 

[RabidJohn]

I've never seen an ashitori finished so nonchalantly one-handed! That was pure BM, flex-when-the-opportunity-arises awesomeness from Ura. He practically waved to the crowd. So entertaining to have him back in makuuchi.

@sumojoann & @themistyseas There were posts about Kiribayama deploying the HNH a few days ago. FYI, 'HNH' is forum shorthand for the Harumafuji non-henka, which is exactly what Kiribayama did 2 days on the trot.
Terutsuyoshi did an interesting variant yesterday, going straight into a kotenage rather than the usual uwatenage finish.

I'm slightly nonplussed by the unrealistically high expectations some seem to have had for Terunofuji. He's a 12-3/13-2 specialist. Only once has he managed 14-1. He's exceeded my expectations.

I get the impression Takakeisho has been doing a lot of yotsu practice. He still looks hopeless, but no longer totally hopeless.

[Hakuryuho]

Nice senshuraku matchups and I'm a poll worker for the German federal election tomorrow and thus can't catch it live, RIP

[Benevolance]

All these 7-7 matchups are going to do is add fuel to the fire that rikishi conveniently happen to win when they've got 7 wins on the last day. 

[Gurowake]

Maybe next tournament they won't put 8-win Ozeki up against strong maegashira in the future, given how "well" they performed this tournament.  The lower sanyaku who needed the wins performed much better than the Ozeki who didn't.

[Terunoshoryu]

30 minutes ago, Hakuryuho said:

Nice senshuraku matchups and I'm a poll worker for the German federal election tomorrow and thus can't catch it live, RIP

Besser du konzertierst dich auf das wesentliche. Alles andere hat danach Zeit. 

[Seiyashi]

45 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

I get the impression Takakeisho has been doing a lot of yotsu practice. He still looks hopeless, but no longer totally hopeless.

Agreed. I thought it was bold of him to go chest to chest with Terunofuji, considering that is Terunofuji's forte much more than his. And I also got the feeling that both of them were a bit "now what do I do" - Takakeisho because he didn't seem to have thought it through, and Terunofuji because he wasn't expecting yotsu from Takakeisho.

[Tigerboy1966]

8 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

55 minutes ago, RabidJohn said:

I get the impression Takakeisho has been doing a lot of yotsu practice. He still looks hopeless, but no longer totally hopeless.

Agreed. I thought it was bold of him to go chest to chest with Terunofuji, considering that is Terunofuji's forte much more than his. And I also got the feeling that both of them were a bit "now what do I do" - Takakeisho because he didn't seem to have thought it through, and Terunofuji because he wasn't expecting yotsu from Takakeisho

My cat Bob likes to hunt for mice and voles. It's pretty easy work for him as millions of years of evolution have equipped him perfectly for the task. Occasionally he will pounce on a shrew by mistake. Shrews are about the same size as a mouse but are mini-carnivores with bucketloads of meanness and aggression. The results are a whole lot of squeaking, a startled and discomfited cat and, eventually, a dead shrew. It's a bad day for Bob, who might need a trip to the vet for an antibiotic shot, but it's a worse day for the shrew, who is resting in peace at the bottom of my wheelie-bin. Terunofuji is the cat. Takakeisho is the shrew.

[Hakuryuho]

26 minutes ago, Terunoshoryu said:

Besser du konzertierst dich auf das wesentliche. Alles andere hat danach Zeit. 

Also Sumo? ;)

[Seiyashi]

6 minutes ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

My cat Bob likes to hunt for mice and voles. It's pretty easy work for him as millions of years of evolution have equipped him perfectly for the task. Occasionally he will pounce on a shrew by mistake. Shrews are about the same size as a mouse but are mini-carnivores with bucketloads of meanness and aggression. The results are a whole lot of squeaking, a startled and discomfited cat and, eventually, a dead shrew. It's a bad day for Bob, who might need a trip to the vet for an antibiotic shot, but it's a worse day for the shrew, who is resting in peace at the bottom of my wheelie-bin. Terunofuji is the cat. Takakeisho is the shrew.

Well, happily for Takakeisho, unlike the shrew, the run-in with the cat hasn't ended in death or a scalping, and lives to fight another day. He gets a bit more practice in yotsu under honbasho conditions, since the match has no stakes for him whatsoever. I hope he sticks with it, because a little yotsu game might just be what he needs to get his sumo to the next level - there were flashes of attempts at throws that had Terunofuji off-balance, but of course he's not a match for a yotsu specialist just yet.

I'm also wondering based on what I saw today whether his physique is mild kryptonite to less redoubtable yotsu practitioners. His mass is in generally the wrong places (a bit like Tokushoryu) and he has a much better sense of his centre of gravity, being an oshi specialist, so it feels like yotsu rikishi are put a little off their game when dealing with him in yotsu.

If and when he decides to deploy yotsu for real in honbasho, he'll also probably get a few cheap wins as his opponents misreact, but that's not going to last very long.

Edited September 25, 2021 by Seiyashi

[hakutorizakura]

1 hour ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

Maybe we should institute our own awards. Collectively, we have as much expertise as the guys who award the sansho so why not? We could do it in the polls section. I would suggest we have an award for the best performance by a maegashira who ended up with a MK. I am serious, we could chip in and send the winner a scroll or something.

That might actually work...eventually. The yusho award was started by Mainichi Shimbun, so it's not impossible one day there will be an award initiated by Sumoforum 

*I bet Hokutofuji would get that best MK award regularly

[Gospodin]

2 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Well, happily for Takakeisho, unlike the shrew, the run-in with the cat hasn't ended in death or a scalping, and lives to fight another day. He gets a bit more practice in yotsu under honbasho conditions, since the match has no stakes for him whatsoever. I hope he sticks with it, because a little yotsu game might just be what he needs to get his sumo to the next level 

I think Takakeisho has already peaked, and I just don´t see him becoming a remotely decent yotsu-wrestler. For starters, I can´t remember him getting an outside grip - ever.

[Rocks]

1 hour ago, Gospodin said:

I think Takakeisho has already peaked, and I just don´t see him becoming a remotely decent yotsu-wrestler. For starters, I can´t remember him getting an outside grip - ever.

Takakeisho is shaped like a ball. He can barely get an outside grip on his own mawashi. How the heck is he supposed to get one on his opponent?

Edited September 25, 2021 by Rocks

[Benevolance]

Takakeisho needs to channel his inner velociraptor and go for the belt like a hungry therapod.