MATCH OF THE DAY: Gonoyama and Shodai had a really good bout today. Both of them are experienced rikishi, though Shodai a bit more so. Gonoyama, however, took the W with a lot of Abi-zumo (by which I mean nodowa, or throat-thrusting attacks, basically). Shodai held up well at first but was eventually forced to backpedal and stepped out by oshidashi.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: I really have been struggling with this one; with Hoshoryu and Aonishiki absent, there haven’t been a lot of great throws this tournament, though we’ve had a nice, healthy crop of abisetaoshi. I’ll give it to Shishi for his confusing win over young Hakunofuji, not that Shishi himself is exactly old; Shishi has been fighting really well this basho and was able to take Hakunofuji out with a yoritaoshi crush out.

PINK MAWASHI DAY FIVE: Ura has really not been presenting his best sumo to us, but he’s 3-2; today’s win was more because of Asahakuryu messing up at the tawara. He had powered Ura back at the tachiai but Ura slipped and slid away, and Asahakuryu fell prey to the okuridashi. We’ll definitely always take the okuridashi.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Hakunofuji received a scolding from the JSA for not performing the proper hand gestures while collecting his kensho yesterday. In my opinion, there are more serious things they could be scolding him for, but JSA’s gonna JSA. This is just such a weird basho; now that we’ve lost Takayasu, almost a half of sanyaku is absent and two thirds of it is in bad shape. This is reminding me how privileged we are to have two usually functional Yokozuna and three capable Ozeki, though of course the injuries are messing up both Yokozuna and Aonishiki. Hoshoryu’s, at least, does not seem to be long term.

THE YUSHO REPORT: Down in Juryo, and I really can’t believe I’m saying this, but Enho is in the lead of the Juryo yusho race. I find it difficult to describe how wonderful he is, but if you’ve been into sumo, you probably are aware, so I won’t linger on it too long. Joining him are Kazekeno and two young prospects, Daiseizan and Toshinofuji. Daiseizan is very good, and also Chinese, which is interesting; he’s J1, so we should be seeing him and Ryuden, at the very least, swapping places on the banzuke next time around. Toshinofuji I’d probably expect to see in Makuuchi come September, barring injury, and obviously, I would love it if Enho could join him. They are both ex-proteges of Hakuho, the best Yokozuna of all time, though Toshinofuji is significantly younger and less experienced. Anyway, Juryo looks really fun and I am excited for all of them.

In Makuuchi, of course, our leaders are Kirishima and Kotoeiho. Kotoeiho has really been surprising me, but Kirishima was definitely one of the favorites going into this basho and if he keeps up this performance, we could genuinely be seeing a Yoko promotion next basho. I admit that the prospect alarms me a little bit, but we’ve seen, even with a lot of san’yaku kyujo, really solid and dependable sumo from Kirishima. That is not something we can say for the rest of san’yaku, injured though they may be. Chasing him is a large and capable group at 4-1, consisting of Fujiryoga, Tobizaru, Wakanosho, Fujiseiun, Gonoyama, and Wakatakakage. We have two youngsters, Fujiryoga and Wakanosho, and three more experienced guys, Tobizaru, Gonoyama, and Wakatakakage. Then, of course, we have whatever Fujiseiun is. But this is promising to be a very interesting basho.