MATCH OF THE DAY: In honor of Gonoyama being pretty low down and it being his hometown basho and it being the most climactic day of this basho… we’re going to take a look at Gonoyama-Kirishima. Honestly, I wasn’t too impressed. They had a great tachiai, but Kirishima seemed to swiftly lose the advantage. Gonoyama shoved him back and up against the tawara and Kirishima slipped away and sidestepped, letting Gonoyama flop to the clay beside him. Gonoyama winced and dragged himself up to his feet. He will fight Kotozakura tomorrow while Kirishima will take on his old rival (and friend) Hoshoryu in the musubi-no-ichiban. Kirishima is in sole lead of the yusho race, but he has two great rikishi and Kotoshoho hot on his heels…

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: This is a “wow, what amazing execution!” Kimarite of the Day, not a “wow, what a rare kimarite!” Kimarite of the Day. Also, it’s Yoshinofuji! I was upset to read that neither he nor Hakunofuji had gone kyujo, but as usual, he got genki just in time to prove me wrong today. He took on my other boy Churanoumi today and it really looked like Chu was winning, when Yoshinofuji pulled an Ura and threw himself and Churanoumi. The key part is that he threw Churanoumi better. It was an uwatenage, but it was a hell of an uwatenage. Chu was not pleased. BTW, Yoshinofuji, because the JSA loves him, will have a shot at taking Kotoshoho out of the yusho race tomorrow.

PINK MAWASHI DAY ELEVEN: It was Asahakuryu’s turn to guiltily face the hometown hero. He actually gets a bit of a pass in Osaka because he doesn’t fight his stablemate Asakoryu, so he only has to do it twice if he fights Gonoyama and Ura. The Osakan crowd and the Force was with Ura today, and he Ura’ed! Actually, he kind of Daieisho’ed. But he did Force (see what I did there?) Asahakuryu out with a simple, but strong, yorikiri.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Hoshoryu reached whole new levels of incredible “aura-farming”, as the kids say, or, as I say, badassery today. Takayasu knows he’s scary, but he also knows (on a deeper level) that Hoshoryu is the scariest. Hosh gave him quite a staredown and then quite a hikiotoshi. Aonishiki, on the other hand, secured his first non-double-digit score in a while. His stablemaster did officially say that he’s physically fine, so I suspect he’s either very tired or just very in his own head. Either way, good luck, kid, and heal up, because we still need you even if we get a new Ozeki.

Enho, by the way, won down in Juryo, though his promotion isn’t sure yet. Kazuma lost in Juryo, meaning that he and Dewanoryu are now the dual leaders at 9-2. They will fight tomorrow to determine a sole leader, while Kazekeno, Toshinofuji, and Wakaknosho will be ready to pounce on whoever it turns out to be.

I’ve already mentioned the relevant bouts, so goodbye for tonight. All eyes will be on the musubi-no-ichiban tomorrow to see if Hosh can get his best shot at the yusho race or if we will see Kirishima run away with it. Or not. But we’ll see…!

(Good luck, Kiri.)