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Abi at Komusubi is really cool. He is very young, I hope he can mature and really develope his Sumo. I thought for sure they'd pick Asanoyama, but I really like Ryuden, so no complaints. 

Mitakeumi has a consecutive 16th tournament at either Sekiwake or Komusubi. Considering the short shelf life at the rank, this is very impressive. 

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The preparations for the next Basho are well underway. At the moment, it seems highly likely that Takakeisho will sit out the basho despite being kadoban. He has only been doing very light fundamentals in training, his knee not really being ok right now. The fact that he is putting health above rank seems positive for me. 

Abi, Asanoyama and Ryuden seem to be training really hard. Abi especially is again trying to work on the belt in training. 

Not many news on the top guys. It's still not clear if Hakuho will enter. Kakuryu seems to be a lock. But I found close to no reports. Takayasu seems to be in the spotlight, his training seems improved from what he showed in the run-up to the Natsu Basho. Heard nothing on Goeido or Tochinoshin, which is odd. None more days! 

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Hakuho seems to be impressive in training. He is definitifely the guy to beat in Nagoya. Kakuryu seems to have problems with his hip and his back. 

The Ozeki are like Evolution, a mystery. Takakeisho has done close to no training and everyone around him tries to talk him out of competing. Tochinoshin has an injured shoulder and thinks painkillers are the answer to his trouble. Takayasu sat out a few days of training with what was described as accumulative injuries. Goeido was not mentioned in any training reports. 

It will definetly be Hakuho's Yusho at this rate. 

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Jeez, Takayasu must be nearly crippled if he's taking days off.

Nobody ever got rich betting on Hakuho; although the Ozeki are frustrating, and hurt and inconsistent. That leaves a huge gap for the two Sekiwake to maybe add a second Cup to their respective mantlepieces. Hard to see shin Komisubi winning, when they're going to have to fight all of the top guys early.

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It might be a decent tournament for the junior sanyaku, with the Ozeki being in such awful condition. Or another Maegashira gets to shine. Well, aside from the usual zensho bet on Hakuho, there could be a potential lower ranked winner... 

Really sorry for Takakeisho. He had some awful luck, even worse than Tochinoshin. 

EDIT: Takakeisho goes kyujo and thereby loses his Ozeki rank. This makes him the shortest reigning Ozeki. It's tragic. 

Edited by ReiseReise
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So, Hakuho and Kakuryu both fended off the challenges of the New Komusubi, Abi and Ryuden respectively. Mitakeumi with a bad loss to Aioyama. Asanoyama and Endo upset Goeido and Tochinoshin with some good sumo. Of the Ozeki, only Takayasu got off to a winning start. 

At the bottom of Makuuchi, Enho and Terutsuyoshi both got tiny men's victories over bigger opponents. I really hope that both have some mileage in the top division. 

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I'll be there live for Day 5. No idea what I'm doing. My Japanese is lacking to say the least and all the guides online are for the Kokugikan, oh well. Very exciting first day of matches but I'm not feeling great about any Ozeki but Takayasu.

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21 hours ago, John E. Dynamite said:

I'll be there live for Day 5. No idea what I'm doing. My Japanese is lacking to say the least and all the guides online are for the Kokugikan, oh well. Very exciting first day of matches but I'm not feeling great about any Ozeki but Takayasu.

Have soooo much fun! This is just great. Unfortunately, I have no idea about watching Sumo live, it's a big goal for me to do that. 

Today was crazy, especially the three Matches at the top. Both Yokozunae narrowly escaped in their bouts. Tochinoshin looks Bad. Ryuden beat Takayasu in arguably the Match of the night (actually in the two Matches of the night). Fantastic stuff. 

Also, just because... 

Terutsuyoshi also won. Rise of the pixies? 

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Hakuho pancaked Hokutofuji today. Hokutofuji gave him a good go, but what are you going to do against Hakuho? He just sees the Matrix.

Has anyone ever had three Mono-i in two days before like Takayasu? I thought he was robbed in the second Ryuden bout and the first one today; although if we're being reasonable, Ryuden should have been given the win first time up yesterday.

Tochinoshin is not looking any better today. Gutted for him.

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On 7/11/2019 at 9:51 AM, John E. Dynamite said:

Reporting live from Nagoya. Enho is over as shit. There's this little girl who wouldn't stop saying "Wa-ka-ta-ka-ka-ge". I spilled my incredibly cheap shochu like a dipshit. Shimanoumi has a posse. More to come.

It would be really great to hear more! Awesome that you get this experience. 

The tiny dudes still have their wits about them, Enho at 5-2, Terutsuyoshi at 6-1. It will be interesting to see how Enho deals with the bullying he received from big Kagayaki, off all people. 

The two Mongolian Yokozuna look sharp so far, Kakuryu even moreso than Hakuho. But both seem strong right now. Don't forget that Kakuryu Trends to run out of gas towards the end, though.

Takayasu leads the chase of a 6-1 Pack and seems pretty strong, but as always things will get really interesting in the second week of the basho. Can he defend the top guys this time around? First he has to handle Tamawashi, whom he is tied with at 12 each in head to heads. 

I will be quite late in checking out the results tomorrow, but I'm still very much looking forward to it. 

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What's amazing about Kakuryu is that this is a basho where he's won at least twice by pulling (once on Abi, forget who the other was atm), and traditionally pulling gets Kakuryu knocked into orbit. So this is just going to reinforce that habit until he tries it on like Takayasu or something and gets sent to the cheap seats. Look forward to it.

Edited by Lamp, broken circa 1988
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Both Kakuryu and Hakuho stay perfect and secure kachi-koshi at the earliest possible point in the process. 

Takayasu is still in the chase, but today saw a wild oshi match versus Tamawashi, and in the end the Ozeki was clutching his arm. Never a good sign in Sumo.

I'm almost certain that the Yusho race is a Yokozuna - affair. 

Little Enho looks in trouble. He wasn't able to put together the lateral movements needed to trouble Chiyomaru and almost got crushed in the end. Kagayaki remained the dwarven destroyer, this time brushing aside Terutsuyoshi. 

 

 

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There are so many fine Matches this tournament! Go and check out Endo vs Kotoshogiku! Great stuff. 

Almost namesake Enho bounced back and is at 7-3, which is not yet reason to celebrate after the last Basho, but should have already gotten him another Basho in Makuuchi. The second time he escaped what was basically a front neck lock. Fellow pixie Terutsuyoshi already has his with a good win over Chiyomaru today. 

Takayasu racked up Kachikoshi and will likely drop out tomorrow. His left arm seems useless. I hope he will drop out off Aki to heal up properly. 

Kakuryu is flawless and the sole leader since he beat Ichinojo today, something his fellow Mongolian Hakuho (9-1) couldn't do the day before. Ichinojo looked ferocious in both bouts, but Kakuryu as off now is in great shape and he might be the best Wrestler on defense in Sumo right now. Quite on the contrarary to what was reported before the basho. Yokozuna Showdown on Senshuraku for the Yusho? 

 

 

Edited by ReiseReise
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Apparently, cooler heads prevailed. Takayasu and Kaisei, both with arm injuries, withdrew from day 11 onwards. This means default wins for Hakuho and Onosho respectively for today. I feel very bad for Takayasu, who looked very solid up until the injury.

The Ozeki were cursed this time around, with none of them staying through the whole Basho. This means one "Osekiwake" in Takakeisho and two Kadoban - Ozeki in Tochinoshin and Goeido for September. Oof. 

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On 7/17/2019 at 7:35 AM, Lamp, broken circa 1988 said:

Hakuho seems mad.

 

Yeah, Tamawashi got clobbered. Hakuho beat Mitakeumi today aswell, but it was a very calmly fought Mawashi Battle.  11-1 to the GOAT. He faces Myogiryu tomorrow. 

Kakuryu won with a leg sweep technique something you rarely see in Makuuchi. 12-0 is his personal best run within a Basho. Kakuryu gets strong up and comer Tomokaze, who has achieved Kachikoshi throughout all his 13 career tournaments so far, this one included. It's their first ever meeting. 

Terutsuyoshi is 10-2 and maybe, just maybe, will get a shot at the title if he wins out and all other stars allign. 

Enho lost a second match in a row despite looking on path to a win against Shohozan. Will he falter AGAIN after going 7-3? Vs Kotoeko tomorrow, who already secured Kachikoshi. 

 

 

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Senshuraku on the horizon, with an unofficial Yokozuna ketteisen looming. 

While Kakuryu marched through Mitakeumi, Hakuho got overwhelmed by Kotoshogiku in quick fashion. With that major surprise, Kakuryu enters the war of the Mongolian Grand Masters one win ahead. This doesn't change the fact that he needs a win on the final day to get the Yusho. Other than Hakuho, he has an extra life to do it, though. 

It wasn't an exclusive Yokozuna-Affair up until Terutsuyoshi's loss to Hokotufuji. The little guy is at an impressive 11-3 score and will likely get a special price. 

While everybody loved Kotoshogiku upsetting Hakuho, the loudest ovation went to Enho, who broke the ceiling and earned his first top division Kachikoshi. Way to go, little guy! 

Endo needs to be mentioned aswell. Career performance in my perception. 

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Kotoshogiku has been really great in the time since I started watching again, which is basically from early January 2017 on. Since he lost Ozeki, he has been in so many spectacular bouts I truly lost count. 

He earned three kinboshi, and all of those when he started slowly dropping down the banzuke. He seems to live his all up on the dohyo. 

Also, he will never cease to be the guy who broke the Japanese Yusho drought of ten years. 

Edited by ReiseReise
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Enho used seven different kimarite for his nine wins and loads of good stuff to get there. He got rewarded with a technique price. There have been worse ginoshos in the past in my opinion. 

Endo beat Hokotufuji today, thereby making the strongest bid for the one free spot at Komusubi. Second time at the rank after Endo's unfortunate stint last year... He was doing decent until injury struck. I hope he will be more lucky this time around. He looked really good all Basho. 

Kakuryu didn't collapse this time, just a lapse of concentation against Tomokaze. Good Yusho winner. It's always a delight to see Mongolian Yokozunae battle on senshuraku. They seem to have a gentlemen's agreement to go for the Mawashi and seem to use all technical abilities they have up their proverbial sleeve.

Hakuho, in all of his defeats, pretty much gave up at the tawara. No spins, no miracle escapes this time. Might be getting old at last. Still, 12-3 and in the race until senshuraku is nothing to sneeze at. 

Edited by ReiseReise
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12-3 considering he's got two bad arms right now too. You're not wrong though, his style is transitioning to a real Old Man style, of maximizing movements and not really winning by sheer power. His leg strength is still fucking nuts so he can pull a lot of that stuff off. Plus, he brought back the slap/elbow tachi-ai a few times this basho and that helps. I imagine he sits the next tournament and makes a hard run at november, and he'll alternate on and off until July for the olympics.

It's easy to forget that Kakuryu is a yokozuna because he's such a low profile character. He's kind of inscrutable, and the only really observable part of his style is his weird over-reliance on pulling despite being just awful at pulling.

That Endo/Hokutofuji match was probably the best match of the basho. I've been a doubter on Endo for a while, thinking he was more hype than top-level rikishi. That one shut me up.

UNRELATED

BigSumoFan is selling a bunch of magnets right now. Here are some that have been purchased by myself and my brother.

My main man, Kotoshogiku.
His weird fav, Chiyoshoma ("he's like the Homsar of sumo wrestling.")
Tochinoshin, Takayasu, Shohozan, Aoiyama & Enho.

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