As we knew heading in, the May basho opened with two sekitori kyujo, Yokozuna Onosato and Ozeki Aonishiki. No surprises there, except for that one person drafted Onosato and one person drafted Aonishiki out of the roughly 50 people in one of my sumo fantasy leagues. So I guess they were astonished.

MATCH OF THE DAY: Two smaller men, Shiko King Kotoeiho and Tokihayate, took to the clay for a beautiful bout today. Tokihayate was the early driving force in the bout and kept Kotoeiho on his toes and on the tawara. Kotoeiho sort of started to lose his balance but then was able to yank the older Maegashira down before he could fall. A clean uwatenage for Kotoeiho to start off what promises to be a fascinating tournament.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: I feel like Kinbozan has had many appearances in this category, but usually on the wrong side of the winning kimarite. But today, he took on the remaining Ukrainian, Shishi, and to my surprise, overwhelmed Shishi entirely and shoved him back and to the clay. Shishi was either not ready at the start or just really wasn’t up to fighting, but it was not his best look. Kinbozan takes the abisetaoshi win on shonichi, and he and Kotoeiho, coincidentally, will trade opponents tomorrow.

PINK MAWASHI DAY ONE: My initial reaction to checking the torikumi was, “Damn it, Ura, not again!” But then I remembered Hakunofuji’s injury. He spent the last basho and a good bit of the jungyo (the tours between basho) out, which Ura did not; Ura actually had a very fun time in the jungyo because basically no one else good was healthy, so he got to show off a bit. Hakunofuji seemed extremely unprepared, and Ura blew him out of the water with a hectic oshidashi. We don’t usually see this from Hakunofuji, so I wonder if injury, fatigue, or both is getting the better of him; better luck next time.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Our sole debutant, Wakanosho, cleared Oshoumi off the dohyo and had an impressively bland interview on NHK. In somewhat less exciting news, we might be looking at another Yoko kyujo; Takayasu and Hoshoryu shared a climactic staredown, but almost immediately after starting, Takayasu forced Hoshoryu to the clay, and he went down hard, clutching his hamstring. Obviously, that’s not good. He was down for a while, and Takayasu gave him an encouraging pat on the butt until he got up and staggered over to bow. He made it mostly down the hanamichi hallway before getting into a wheelchair. Hoshoryu, as I’ve seen some people pointing out, is a tough guy; he was going through some difficult medical times last basho and came out with eleven wins, so he might do it again, and yes, he does lose a little too much on Day One. But, like Onosato and Aonishiki, he does need to rest sometimes.

It seems like our main yusho threat has been at least partially taken out of commission. To my surprise, everyone’s third and fourth hopes, Atamifuji and Kotozakura, also went down, though Kirishima did have a nice and easy win over Takanosho. I hate to say it, but it seems like Kirishima’s yusho to lose. Hopefully, this means some random Maegashira will get it, but then, Hoshoryu could be totally fine. Only the sumo gods know.

If he shows up, Hoshoryu will take on Fujinokawa tomorrow. Kotozakura will battle the hit-and-shifty Wakatakakage, Kirishima will fight Yoshinofuji, and Atamifuji will take on little Hiradoumi. Wakanosho and Fujiryoga will fight and Ura will go up against Nishikifuji, yet another Isegahama match.

Heal up, Hoshoryu.