Apologies for the very late, very brief post; January is the busiest time of the year and I had to skim the Abema highlights instead of NHK today, as I will tomorrow as well. But I’m holding out hope for a free Saturday!

MATCH OF THE DAY: Oshoumi vs Shishi and Midorifuji vs Asakoryu were both strong highlight bouts, then Tobizaru vs Nishikifuji; a very strong showing from the averagest of the Maegashira today. My personal favorite was Asakoryu vs Green Monster Midorifuji, because they have very fun, very similar vibes and body types, which is short, muscled, and high-energy. Midorifuji knocked Asakoryu’s hand out of the way and spun him around, hugging him from behind and forcing him over and out. Very well done–a very simple but very efficient okuridashi victory for Midorifuji.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Takayasu won with a mundane tsukidashi today, so he didn’t get to keep his streak going. Oshoma gets the award for his brutally clean uwatedashinage of Kinbozan; good job, you jerk. He’s 5-0.

PINK MAWASHI DAY FIVE: I will preface this with two things: it’s hard to root against Atamifuji, and at least Ura got to sit next to Ichiyamamoto on the sidelines, which I’m sure he was happy about (since as we all know, they’re best friends.) He lost; I will say nothing more. What’s done is done; he is 0-5.

OVERALL SUMMARY: It’s hard to find a less likable pair than resident henkamasters Abi and Chiyoshoma, but someone had to win. Chiyoshoma very nearly outpowered Abi but Abi again showed his superior ring sense and advanced to 5-0. The Miyagino-Isegahama twins (my nickname for the powerful pair of Yoshinofuji and Hakunofuji) made it a double win today, with Yoshinofuji’s win over Ichiyamamoto (sorry, buddy, but someone had to win that and it had to be him) and Hakunofuji’s powerful takedown of Kotozakura today, following in Ichiyamamoto’s footsteps. I’m very fond of the MIT (nickname acronyms, man!) and I’m happy to see them winning.

Kirishima lost his winning streak in a fantastic bout with Oho; no shame in that one, big guy. Takanosho almost pulled off something incredible against Onosato, but not quite. Incredibly, our leading pack is just Oshoma and Abi, with the fantastic chase group of Onosato, Hoshoryu, Aonishiki, Takayasu, Kirishima, Asanoyama, and my personal favorite horses in this race, Fujinokawa and Oshoumi. What a star-studded bunch… plus Oshoumi and Fujinokawa, who are great! I love those guys.

Good luck to them as we start thinking about potential kachi-koshi…