MATCH OF THE DAY: Oshoumi may be out, but he doesn’t fight like it. I really like to see rikishi who are makekoshi keep giving their all, and in his case, winning out will probably be the only thing that can keep him from Juryo, though three more wins could be enough. He evidently had that in mind against Shishi, who was struggling to avoid makekoshi; the Ukrainian pushed Oshoumi round and round the ring then locked up. Then, surprising me and evidently the shimpan on the side of the ring, Oshoumi rallied and powered the larger rikishi out.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: We see both the okuri- and the -nage a lot, but rarely together. Today, Kotoeiho wielded the okurinage rear throw down against Oshoma in a really odd, but also really good, bout. They seemed to agree that going over to the tawara was the play but were at a loss for what to do once they got there; both rikishi tipped over and as the commentator on NHK said, Kotoeiho used his magnificent lower body flexibility to keep in the air as Oshoma tumbled over. The judges checked the call and it was confirmed that the young man from Sadogatake stayed in the air just long enough to win.

PINK MAWASHI DAY ELEVEN: I really like Wakanosho, and my heart goes out to him; no one wants to fight Ura when they’re not certain of their kachikoshi. However, Ura is just better than everyone, so, sorry, Wakanosho. Wakanosho overpowered Ura competely and Ura backed up against the tawara, then basically just wildly pumped his arms and stared imploringly at Wakanosho. Somehow, that worked, and Wakanosho staggered back. Ura grabbed him and swung him down in a katasukashi victory. I mean… wow. Ura is in this yusho race, guys! I’m very, very excited for him.

OVERALL SUMMARY: We are now left with, oh no, just three rikishi in the lead: Kirishima, Kotoeiho, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Tobizaru. I don’t hate Tobizaru, but I do not like that man. Kotoeiho is a very fun rikishi and I’m excited for him, as I am for all the littler guys. Kirishima… I mean, Yokozuna is not too far away. I want this for him and I’d be really excited to see him get it, even though I can’t picture him quite as a Yokozuna. They are all chased by Wakatakakage, Gonoyama, Hakunofuji, Yoshinofuji, Fujiryoga, and, best of all, Ura. Rapid-fire reviews: Wakatakakage has almost made it to Ozeki and it would be cool if he could get there. Gonoyama is getting stronger but I’m not sure he has what it takes. The -fuji boys are from what’s left of Miyagino-beya and I know they want to make Hakuho proud. Fujiryoga is also a great rikishi but after his bout today I don’t think he’s got it either. And Ura is Ura, which means Ura is freaking awesome. Now, moving on, because there’s a lot to talk about in the lower divisions as well.

It was not an exciting day for Juryo; Kazekeno just keeps winning and took down Enho today. He widened his lead to a margin of 2 over Kise-beya prospect Kazuma, or as I call him, Kazu-Kazu. He, unfortunately, lost to Onokatsu, who looks like he might be back up in Makuuchi come July. I don’t know much about Kazekeno or how Shonannoumi managed to beat him, but so far, no one else has! If he wins, which is looking likely, I will write more on him in my basho wrap-up, probably in June.

Down in Makushita, there were two great matchups. The first one was young Makushita tsukedashi Omori vs the GROAT, Asahifuji. I was very excited for this one. Prior to this bout, neither had ever had a career loss; Omori debuted this basho using the makushita-tsukedashi system catapulting him directly to Makushita 60 so he doesn’t have to fight up through the bottom three divisions. Somewhat more impressively, Asahifuji debuted two basho ago and has won both his career yusho; the main reason he wasn’t a tsukedashi like Omori is because he’s been training with Isegahama-beya for so long. Because of the limit of one foreign-born rikishi per stable, he couldn’t join Isegahama until Yokozuna Terunofuji retired, and then I believe he had to have something with his visa sorted out. But, they had a good fight today which was anticlimactically won by Asahifuji by yorikiri. Akua and Tanji also fought; Akua is an ex-Makuuchi and Tanji is a good young rikishi from Arashio-beya, home to the Waka bros and also Daiseizan. Akua took that win, leaving him as the sole leader of the Makushita yusho race. I don’t know how they’ll resolve it, but I look forward to Tanji’s Juryo debut next basho.

Quick note before leaving: today, I learned that Tokihayate and Shodai are graduates of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and there were a lot of fans with inflatable daikon radish in the stands today. This makes me extremely happy. That is all. Good night.