Very sparse coverage for today, and Day 10 …

Day 9

I did manage to catch the NHK recap of the day’s notable wins, which includes the two European stars of this hon-basho… Kotooshu (EO) and Baruto (ES) who both started at 7-1 … but Baruto got the upper hand first, and used his mass to first unbalance the Bulgarian, and then push him out with a yoritaoshi win.

Baruto moved to (8-1) and Kotooshu fell to (7-2).

Asashoryu’s (WY/8-1) kirikaeshi victory against Kisenosato (WM3/5-4) was nothing short of blisteringly fast, and Hakuho (EY/8-1) far outstripped Kakizoe (EM4/4-5), where both yokozuna further cement their places at the zenith of this basho.

Kaio (WO/5-4) eked out his 812th career win from a rather mediocre Hokutoriki (EM3/2-7)… and he seems to have struggled to do so. He will need three more wins to “break even” with a kachi-koshi (8-7). I honestly think that he is also heading down the same path that made Chiyotaikai finally tender his inai; I just hope that he doesn’t let himself fall back to sekiwake or maegashira status first.

Day 10

I’ll have to catch the recap tonight to comment in any greater depth - but it appears that Baruto and Kotooshu have both lost bouts, falling to 8-2 and 7-3 respectively, and removing them further from the possibility of a yusho.

The two yokozuna remain impressive at 9-1.

“…And then there were four.”

Four remaining front-runners for a possible yusho in this tournament, that is.

And with my somewhat sleep-deprived memory at work, we’ll primarily look at those bouts:

Kitataiki (EM15/7-1) maintains his status against Shotenro (WM9/3-5), nothing terribly memorable here - and tomorrow he is slated to face off against fellow rank-and-filer Homasho (EM12/3-5)… but I suspect that his luck is soon going to run out after that.

The ever-showy McShowboat Takamisakari (EM11/4-4) pulled off a win against Shimotori (WM13/3-5), but would that the quality of his pre-bout warm-up antics were matched by some quality sumo on his part. He will likely keep his place toward the bottom of the Makuuchi line-up, at any rate.

Toyohibiki (WM16) falls from the leaderboard to 6-2 at the hands (or perhaps the torso) of Tochiozan’s (EM10/4-4) yoritaoshi… and Hakuba (WM14/6-2) likewise eats a Russian yorikiri, lovingly served by Aran (WM10/6-2).

Also, Big Daddy Aminishiki (WM6) is forced off the leaderboard with some oshitaoshi loving from Tamawashi (EM7), equalizing both of their records to 6-2.

Moving up to the sanyaku rikishi - Kotomitsuki (WO/1-7) calls it quits (for this basho) citing some issues with his toes as part of the reason for his absolutely horrid sumo. The Ozeki will be fighting under the kadoban (facing demotion) in the next tournament, the Osaka Haru-Basho in March. He will really have to bring his A-Game to bring off the required 10 wins to keep his title and while he might not be showing his age as much as Chiyotaikai was… he might want to take some counsel with his oyakata about putting in his intai (retirement) paperwork.

Kotomitsuki’s withdrawal gives an easy pass for today to Yoshikaze (EM5), who probably really needed it - not that it will help all that much with his 3-5 losing record.

I have to admit, that I was a little worried for Baruto (ES/7-1), coming fresh from a kinboshi victory over Hakuho yesterday as he faced down Harumafuji (WO/6-2), who has been quite the steamroller in his own right this basho. And after an initial lock-up - Baruto deftly worked his migi-yotsu onto Big Harry, and then worked him over the rice-bale ring border for a solid win against the ozeki.

Baruto will face off against fellow European Kotooshu (EO/7-1) on Day 9. I’m not sure who I will be rooting for the most, as I really have been enjoying both of their performances thus far.

Speaking of Kotooshu, he handily defeated Hokutoriki (EM3/2-6) - I’ll have to revisit this later today, as I can’t quite remember if there was particular footage here that stood out to me.

Hakuho (EY/7-1) had himself a bit of a panic moment (likely more a cold shiver at the thought of giving up a second consecutive kinboshi to a rank-and-filer) here as Kisenosato (WM3/5-3) was nearly able to overpower the yokozuna briefly following the tachi-ai, but he regained his composure and took advantge of Kise’s weakening momentum to lever him for a well-played shitatenage underarm throw.

No after-bout swats at people’s heads today from Asashoryu (WY/7-1) - just plain, hard and fast tsuppari handiwork leading up to an straightforward oshidashi ejection for Kakizoe (EM4/4-4).

More details can be had over at Sumotalk.com, and as always, the complete scorecards are here.

Topping today’s events is nothing short of the Unthinkable™.

Well, if not unthinkable, at least what most sumo watchers would have considered to be a heck of a long shot:

BARUTO TOPPLES HAKUHO!

In what came as a total surprise, the previously undefeated Hakuho (EY/6-1) was sent to the floor of the dohyo with an amazingly well done sukuinage by Baruto (ES/6-1) now bringing the field of yusho contenders (all at 6-1) to a total of nine rikishi, with six of them in the upper half of the Makuuchi line-up.

If Baruto is able to pull off a 14-1 or a 13-2, he should be almost be certain to be considered ready for promotion to Ozeki, along with pulling off a remarkable kinboshi against the young yokozuna who had been clearing out the dohyo like a steamroller!

Also noteworthy… was the exchange of glares between the two yokozuna as Hakuho made his way back up the path to the lockerrooms.

I fully expect the remaining week of the Basho will be a bit of bloodletting as the frontrunner ranks get thinned out.

And I wouldn’t be quick to count out the rikish at the lower half of the makuuchi banzuke either: These guys have been pretty strong this basho, and could stand to show any of the sanyaku frontrunners the dirt as well as Baruto did for Hakuho.

These “rank and filers” include:
- Toyohibiki (WM16) - He had performed well in the past, but slipped to the very brink of the Juryo lockerrooms
- Kitataiki (WM15)
- Hakuba (WM14)
- Aminishiki (WM6)

Aminishiki (WM6) handily defeated Miyabiyama, adding to his seemingly downward trajectory in the rank and file: The Graceful Mountain (WM2) now stands at 2-5.

Sanyaku frontrunner matches include:

Harumafuji (WO) knocking Kisenosato (WM3/5-2) down another peg, putting the kibosh on his yusho hopes.

Kotooshu (EO) narrowly defeated Kakizoe (EM4/5-2) with an uwatenage (over-arm throw) where Kakizoe nearly blasted the Bulgarian Ozeki and forcing him back. Luckily, Kotooshu caught the opening he needed to get hold of Kakizoe’s arm and gave him the heave-ho around his center of gravity, and out of the ring.

Finally, we come to the Asashoryu (WY) vs. Hokutoriki (EM3/2-5) who was not likely to have much play against the any of the frontrunners, much less a yokozuna. There has been some discussion by the NHK commentators that Hokutoriki might have a cold or something that is affecting his overall performance. At any rate, he did give a good fight, charging out of the tachi-ai … and managed to prolong the inevitable fact of Asa forklifting him out of the ring with a tsuridashi (grabbing him from around and rear of the mawashi, and levering him off his feet by dropping one’s hips).

As soon as Asa dropped him of, he did pull a light punch toward the back of Hoku’s head - a move that could arguably be seen as more unsportsmanlike, than merely a playful after-match swat. Things like this will not help to lighten the somewhat negative criticism of Japanese press tends to have of the 68th Yokozuna.

For more coverage,do check out www.Sumotalk.com and of course, the official scorecards here.

Day 6 in the dohyo!

First the Juryo seed for the day at the bottom of the Makuuchi lineup:

Sagatsukasa (WJ1/4-2) gets the tsukidashi push-out from Toyohibiki (EM16/5-1) who is showing signs of improvement in his game. If the senior maegashira keep up with their sub-par performance, and Toyo keeps his game face on - he might see some action against the Sanyaku rikishi in the March Haru Basho at Osaka.

Skipping past the bulk of the rank and file (as I have a habit of doing), we come to…

Baruto (ES/5-1) shows Kotogoshiku a thing or two, namely an easy (oshidashi) and a another notch on the Komusubi’s loss record, bringing him to 2-4. Will this record herald a return to Juryo for this Sadogatake rikishi?

Kotooshu (EO/5-1) breaks Kisenosato’s (WM3) straight run of wins, reducing him to 5-1 with a (yoritaoshi) that buried him back-first into the dirt, right along with whatever zensho-yusho (perfect win record of 15-0) dreams he might have been harbouring, much less surpassing his previous 5-win run back in the 2009 Natsu-Basho (May).

This also of course, leaves Hakuho the unchallenged (and given his performance this basho, the likely)candidate for a perfect win record.

Toyonoshima (EM1/2-4) came out very strong today against Kaio (WO/2-4) with a double inside grip that put the veteran ozeki down on his back w/ a flawless sukuinage (beltless arm throw)

Miyabiyama (WM2/2-4) dominated Kotomitsuki (EO/1-5) - albeit with a kind of a henka-ish move. Kotomitsuki probably moves further down his path to kadoban status for the next basho with an easy hikiotoshi (arm/shoulder yank-down).

Harumafuji (WO/5-1) blasted Goeido (EM2/2-4) - yesterday’s gold-star winner - with a lightning fast hikkake counter-maneuver behind Goeido, tossing the maegashira out with his own momentum

Hakuho is undefeated still at (6-0), and sends Hokutoriki (EM3/2-4) packing off with his fourth loss. The Khan is all but unstoppable! (yorikiri)

Asashoryu (5-1) also manhandles Kakuryu (WK/2-4) with similiar ease. (yorikiri)

Official scorecard here.

Day 5 developments -

Yesterday, I noted that Tokusegawa (EJ1/2-3) had been moved up to the big(ger) boys of the Makuuchi Banzuke, and he faced off against Koryu (EM16/1-4), pulling off an impressive force-out (yoritaoshi). However, tomorrow’s matching will bring the West Juryo #1 Sagatsukasa (4-1) to bear against the West Maegashira #16, Toyohibiki (4-1) who seems to be making up for lost matches in prior tournaments this time around.

Further up the sumo rankings, we find Kisenosato (WM3/5-0) smashing his way through the Banzuke, and as the English commentator noted, he may be mirroring his 13-2 run in the 2009 Natsu Basho (May) in which he had five straight victories from the start. Today’s fifth win comes at Yoshikaze’s (EM5/1-4) expense. Is it still too early to peg him as a potential yusho candidate..?

His victory is also noteworthy in that the only other rikishi on the Banzuke without a loss is none other than Yokozuna Hakuho who showed the unlucky Miyabiyama (WM2/1-4) the fast way out of the dohyo much as Asashoryu did yesterday…

…and as for Asashoryu - (4-1), he was handed his first loss which gave Goeido (EM2/2-3) his first kinboshi (gold star), which will put some extra spending cash into his wallet… although that win was by a hikiotoshi (stepping-back-shoulder-pull-down), a move that some might consider amateurish or henka.

My personal favourite ozeki, Kotooshu (EO/4-1) ousted the “Gorgeous Georgian” Tochinoshin (WM1/1-4) with a snappy underarm throw (shitatenage), while his fellow East Ozeki and stablemate Kotomitsuki (1-4) racked up his first win this basho against Toyonoshima (EM1/1-4) which will hopefully mark an end to his sub-par performance.

Those are the standouts… and of course, for the complete scorecard, there’s the official site.

Another one of my favourites, Baruto (ES/4-1), showed himself strong against veteran West Ozeki Kaio (2-3) with a quick blast-out yorikiri. I really hope he continues in this track towards promotion to Ozeki.

First, the obvious sub-headline which has probably been beaten to death in the Japanese news cycle like a certain former ozeki:

CHIYOTAIKAI RETIRES!

After suffering a straight run of losses in January Hon Basho, to include getting a temporary dirt-nap from the hands of fellow veteran Kaio, the former Ozeki is hanging up his mawashi to assume coaching duties under the name “Sanoyama” at his home stable, the Kokonoe-beya.

Considering his ozeki record over the years, where he fought 14 tournaments under the “do or die” kadoban status (where he was under the threat of demotion) he had a tenuous grasp on his championship at best.

Day Four was also noteworthy in that all five ozeki handed up losses to either komusubi or the “rank and file” maegashira rikishi.

The upper-level recap:

Kakuryu (WK/2-2) v. Kotooshu (EO/3-1) - The Bulgarian Ozeki was tossed down with an impressive shitatenage as Kakuryu forced him off balance by maneuvering Kotooshu, keeping his leg off the ground. The gravity of this situation caught up with Kotooshu soon enough, as Kakuryu ably gave him a right good dusting!

Kotogoshiku (EK/1-3) very surprisingly denied Kaio (WO/2-2) his 809th Makuuchi win, a surprise considering his less-than-stellar record against Kaio in previous basho: he came out of the tachi-ai with excellent momentum, giving the Ozeki a quick escort over the tawara.

Baruto (ES/3-1) … wins by default of Chiyotaikai’s retirement. I’m curious as to how (or if) a Juryo rikishi will be moved into the 16th slot…

UPDATE:Tokusegawa (EJ1/1-3) will be facing the Sanyaku rikishi sooner than he might have expected.

Toyonoshima (EM1/1-3) flung (WO/3-1) Harumafuji out of the ring, very narrowly beating him to the dirt on the way down. The close call in “who hit dirt first” required a conference of the shinpan.

I have to hand it to Toyo- getting someone Haru’s size completely airborne, even accounting for existing momentum is no easy task!

Tochinoshin (WM1/1-3) snagged his only win in the basho thus far, against Kotomitsuki (EO/0-4). This might be noteworthy, if not for Kotomitsuki’s appalling winless record. The “Gorgeous Georgian” will need to step it up a notch or three if he has his eyes set on a komusubi promotion. And if that promotion comes at a cost to Kotomitsuki falling under the Kadoban… eeegh.

The two Yokozuna had themselves some Maegashira to snack on - with both of them keeping spotless 4-0 records.

Asashoryu wasted exactly no time blasting the massive Miyabiyama (WM2/1-3) across the tawara, and maybe well on his way to vindicating himself against the noisy claims of some sectors of the Japanese press that would have us regard him as being lazy or irresponsible for having had a day or two off during the pre-basho training.

Hakuho likewise made short work of the feisty Goeido (EM2/1-3) with a crushing yoritaoshi.

I haven’t been paying close attention to the lower half of the Makuuchi, and I wouldn’t have gave this any particular notice aside from waking up at 2:30am or so to catch the near last of these matches (I did but Aran (WM10/3-1) gave Kokkai (EM9/1-3) a rather impressive uwatenage (overarm throw), setting the stage for his return to the upper Maegashira ratings in the March Haru-Basho, if he can keep making wins …

…and Asasekiryu(EM8/3-1) cashed Mokonami’s (WM11/1-3) check at the First Bank of Yoritaoshi… and sadly, I fell asleep again. Blast and double drat at the late, late time difference from here to Japan….

For the complete Day 4 Makuuchi scorecard, click here.

Unfortunately, I slept through the matches (streamed live, so that means waking up around 2am - or 3am East Coast time, if only to catch the upper-tier makuuchi bouts)…

… so I’ll probably follow up later today and expand on these entries after I get a chance to see any recorded Day 3 matches.

According to the scorecard at the Japan Sumo Association web site, the key matches I’m interested in seeing are:

Kotooshu (EO/3-0) beats Goeido (EM2/1-2) with an overarm throw (uwatenage)

Harumafuji (WO/3-0) trounces the “Graceful Mountain”, (WM2/1-2) Miyabiyama with a frontal push-out (oshidashi)

The Baltic Warrior (Baruto, ES/2-1) gives Kakuryu (WK/1-2) the old yorikiri heave-ho.

The battle of the two ancients… sees Kaio (WO/2-1) handing Chiyotaikai (WS/0-3) yet another loss and push out of the ring and toward retirement … to say nothing of an increasingly likely makekoshi for this basho. This footage should hopefully make for priceless sumo: the victory was by okurinage push-out… where the loser is outmaneuvered and pushed out from behind by the victor. This (or its related rear-push-out, okuridashi) happened to the gigantic maegashira Yamamotoyama more than a few times in last year’s Kyushu-basho — his sheer bulk not helping him to be able to get out of his own way, and ultimately leading to his demotion back to the Juryo ranks.

In times past, a rikishi could seldom expect to see Chiyotaikai’s backside, with most of his wins determined very briefly after the tachi-ai by either oshidashi (frontal push-out) or hatakikomi (slap-down on the charge)…. perhaps SumoTalk blogger Mike Wesemann’s comment about Chiyofuji-oyakata having Chiyotaikai’s retirement papers in the mail would be a stroke of mercy for this quickly fading star.

Kotomitsuki (EO/0-3) seems to be having an equally bad run this early in the basho… taking a rear-pushout from Hokutoriki (EM3/2-1) whose fortunes seem to be improving.

The two Yokozuna look like they aren’t going to give anyone a kinboshi, keeping unblemished 3-0 records thus far:

Asashoryu sent the top-ranked, Georgian West Maegashira (WM1) Tochinoshin packing with a (0-3) loss… he might not keep that rank for long if he doesn’t pick up a few wins in the next few days.

Hakuho delivered the goods - or rather, delivered poor Toyonoshima (EM1/0-3) a fresh serving of a fisherman’s throw to the dirt. Interestingly, Toyonoshima comes from Kochi, which was also once the seat of the Tosa Domain, and also the home of this year’s NHK taiga drama personality, Sakamoto Ryouma. Perhaps Toyonoshima can draw some inspiration from his legendary countryman, and pick up a few wins to keep his maegashira-1 billet, or perhaps pick up a komusubi ranking.

Some highlights for Day 2 of the 2010 Hatsu Basho!

Kotooshu v. Miyabiyama: At first, I thought the tall Bulgarian Ozeki was going to have issues with the mountainous West Maegashira (M2) Miyabiyama, as they grappled for more than a good few seconds.

The transliteration of his shikona, or ring name, means “Graceful Mountain”. I am not so sure that Miyabiyama was so able to “grcefully” manoeuvre his bulk out of Kotooshu’s okuridashior from-the-rear-push-out… once he got behind Miyabiyama’s 180kg (396-pound) mass - this kind of momentum needed only a good shove to send him over the rice-bale ring border!

Again, the aging sekiwake Chiyotaikai finds himself at the loosing end of a match, now 0-2 … having been pushed out with a blisteringly rapid frontal thrust (tsukidashi) by Hokutoriki, an East Maegashira balancing his loss yesterday against Baruto rather ably. As for Chiyotaikai, the cameramen zeroed in on his expression after the bout: the former Ozeki did not at all look pleased with himself.

In contrast - the 37 years old Kaio, the other long-time veteran rikishi and current West Ozeki, fought very well, winning with a yorikiri win by maintaining a vise-like grip against the 23 years old Goeido’s mawashi (belt), leveraging out the East Maegashira (M2) who in Day 1 had served a stunning defeat to East Ozeki Kotomitsuki.

Oh! And Kaio’s victory takes him to match the 807 makuuchi win record held by the 58th Yokozuna, Chiyofuji.

And speaking of Kotomitsuki, he is off to a poor start, with losing today’s bout with Kakuryu, a West Komusubi that has had a very up-an-down over the last year, moving between Maegashira and Sekiwake. Kakuryu won with a last-second toss-out (tsukiotoshi).

A relatively easy win for West Maegashira (M3) Kisenosato against the East Sekiwake, Baruto with an oshidashi push-out. It was somewhat painful to watch, and I must admit I was hoping for more of a protracted struggle between these two… and like his other fellow Eastern European rikishi, he needs to be mindful of his relatively higher centre of gravity (a weakness) and to keep his longer arms and legs as a means to deflect his opponent - yorikiri (mawashi/belt-grabbing) techniques can be risky if he gives up the arm-length advantage enough to let the opponent get a grip of his own!

And finally,the two Yokozuna bouts for the day:

Asashoryu v. Toyonoshima - A win for the playboy Yokozuna by way of a yorikiri (grab the belt and lift the opponent over the ring border).

Hakuho v. Tochinoshin - The plucky Georgian West Maegashira was easily handled out of the ring with a yorikiri.

Of course, for more detailed coverage including the Juryo and lower half of the Makuuchi division, check out the Japan Sumo Association web site - and I’m sure that Sumotalk.com will have something up today with their usual incisively humorous commentary.

By no means is this intended to be a comprehensive round-up of Sumo (in general or for this basho - that is, tournament).

Rather, a few highlights from a fan of a few particular wrestlers.

First up: Kotooshu, the East Ozeki from Bulgaria who has been making quite a name for himself over the past few years seems to be off to a good start in this basho, by slamming Toyonoshima through the ring! I suppose neither the Bulgarian nor the up and coming maegashira (Toyonoshima) expected to be pleasing the crowds by actually ending up in the crowd!

Then, Asashoryu, the West Yokozuna lived up to expectations by powering out the young East Komusubi Kotogoshiku, while the East Yokozuna Hakuho made short work of fellow Mongolian, the West Komusubi, Kakuryu.

A certain aging West Sekiwake, Chiyotaikai, may already be facing a tough uphill battle since his demotion from Ozeki in last year’s Kyushu-Basho - with being forced out of the ring in under three seconds by the young Maegashira (M3) Kisenosato. Chiyotaikai has indicated that if he is unable to pull off the 10-15 record (10 wins for this tournament) needed to re-gain his Ozeki rank, he will retire after just over 17 years in the sport, and after nearly10 year tenure as an Ozeki.

Then there was the exciting display of power shown by Sekiwake Baruto (Kaido Hoovelson of Estonia), who may be on track this year to become Ozeki, following somewhat in the footsteps of fellow European Kotooshu, as he toppled East Maegashira (M3) Hokutoriki. The kanji in Hokutoriki’s name (北勝力) literally mean “Northern Victory Power”, but when faced against the power of a “Warrior from the Baltic Sea”, he was not so lucky: Baruto’s sumo name, or shikona, is a homophone of “Balto-”, a reference to the Baltic Sea.

But other bouts spoke of upsets, as in the case of West Maegashira (M2) Miyabiyama pushing out (oshidashi) the veteran west Ozeki Kaio, who will be celebrating his 22nd year in Sumo in the upcoming Haru-Basho (March 2010)…

…or the equally upsetting under-arm throw-down (shitatenage) executed by East Maegashira (M2) Goeido against East Ozeki Kotomitsuki.

I’ll be looking forward to tonight’s expected match-ups for Kotooshu v. Miyabiyama and Baruto v. Kisenosato, as well as seeing how the two reigning Yokozuna perform.

For more thorough coverage, please see www.sumotalk.com - or refer to the homepage of the Japan Sumo Association:

http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/hon_basho/

….and all that sort of thing.

I’ve never been big on “new year resolutions”, particularly ones centered around some fitness goal. Particularly in the season where one tends to indulge in the gooey, fat-laden goodness of so many social functions that happen around Christmas and the New Year.

Particularly also, when those conveniently targeted/placed fitness magazines - whose publishers keep several actors/fitness models - most of whom are college kids at the peak of their metabolism and sports performance envelopes - gainful employed for several hours per day in gyms to guilt us into (a) buying those mostly useless and repeated/regurgitated diet and exercise plans repeated each year by the publishers and (b) provoke a slight fit of envy or sober realization that the many of us who are sedentary office schlubs will probably never even come close to looking like these kids.

So it is with this partly in mind, considering the (primarily American) obsession with slim and trim good looks as the basis of their new year resolutions (which might be a bit ironic as most Americans are rather obese), that I look forward to upcoming tradition in Japan, the “Hatsu Basho” or New Year’s Grand Sumo Tournament!

Most Americans can hardly take a sport like this seriously, with most people I’ve ever talked to about Sumo referring to the sport as “a bunch of fat men in diapers stomping about and then slamming into each other”.

Hardly a fair assessment, though while some of these guys do tend to have quite a bit of fat, underlying it all is no lack of muscle and skill.

And they do not wear “diapers”, but a type of stylized loincloth called a “mawashi”, which can be quite expensive given that for the upper-ranked wrestlers (sekitori) they need about 9 meters (30 feet) of silk. They also have a much more luxurious version with an embroidered apron front called a “keshō-mawashi” which can cost upward of $10,000 USD and is used primarily for the massed ring-entry ceremony.

Much of the tournament’s time is consumed in very many ceremonies and rituals, all of which harken back to some rather ancient purifying elements in the native Japanese religion, Shintō; the actual combat portion of the bout typically lasts only a few seconds.

In particular, the two current reigning Yokozuna, Asashōryū and Hakuho are known for their lightning-fast force-outs, and long standing Ozeki (recently demoted to sekiwake) Chiyotaikai has proven to be a perennial favourite amongst Japanese viewers.

There are also recently a number of Eastern European sekitori as well, most notably Kotoōshū (born as Kaloyan Mahlyanov from Bulgaria) and Baruto, an Estonian. These two have a fairly good shot at making Yokozuna and Ozeki, respectively… in this coming year.