MATCH OF THE DAY: It could be no other than Kirishima and Aonishiki, which was just so well done from Aonishiki. Aonishiki spun him around, Kirishima lost the grip, and Aonishiki forced him out from behind in an okuridashi. I’m sure Kirishima isn’t thrilled to be second to Hoshoryu, but there’s no shame in losing to Aonishiki and he’ll fight Tamawashi tomorrow. Aonishiki will fight winless Takayasu.
KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Ura’s match was genuinely the best candidate for kimarite of the day, I feel, but his will be covered below. Second place goes to the surprisingly 4-1 Ryuden, who narrowly beat narrowly built Asakoryu. Some part of me is legitimately surprised every time I see Asakoryu lose simply because of how visibly gigantic his muscles are. But then again, he’s little and he’s young, so I can see the faults. Still, not a bad win and a good fight. Ryuden gets an uwatenage victory.
PINK MAWASHI DAY FIVE: I forgot to check the torikumi and freaked out slightly when I saw who Ura was fighting. I’m actually very fond of Kusano, so it was kind of sad, but as I’m not an idiot, I was rooting for Ura throughout. I think Kusano is an easier opponent for him despite his ridiculous strength, simply because he’s on the larger side, and quite frankly, he’s just young. He lacks the experience that most people Ura fights have, and he certainly doesn’t have the experience of fighting Ura, which is an unusual one. I was a little surprised he didn’t just overpower Ura, but this has been a bad start for him, and Ura was able to pull off a spectacular hikiotoshi win. 4-1!!!
THE YUSHO REPORT: The biggest upset of the basho remains Hakuoho’s defeat of Onosato on Day Four. Hoshoryu is the sole yusho leader with Onosato, Kirishima, and Ura (obviously) leading the charge behind him. On the other side, Takayasu, Gonoyama, Abi, and Hitoshi are clearly fighting for me to create a “worst rikishi of the basho” award for Day 15. And I’m very much considering it now. Hitoshi is not ready for Makuuchi, that much is clear, but Takayasu and Abi at least are long-time veterans and Gonoyama has more than proven himself, so it’s pretty surprising to see them doing so poorly. The undefeated rikishi are down to two in Juryo: young prospect Mita and injured ex-Makuuchi wrestler Kotokuzan. Makushita was unbalanced today so I’ll cover that tomorrow.
OVERALL SUMMARY: Kotozakura, I should mention, is doing well at 4-1, so evidently he’s threatened by Wakatakakage’s Ozeki run. (Waka can afford two more losses for the rest of the tournament, maybe three, and beat Abi today.) Shodai, Ryuden, Tomokaze, Takanosho, Churanoumi, Wakamotoharu, and Hiradoumi are the Maegashira threats so far and will be fighting each other in the second week to narrow the playing field for the lower ranks. I’m rooting for Churanoumi and Shodai, of course, but wouldn’t it be nice to see poor Wakamoto do well, too? Well, we’ll see…
Fun fact of the day: Wakatakakage and Wakamotoharu are obviously brothers, but the third brother is down in Makushita, Wakatakamoto. As an additional fun fact, their shikona (ring names) are taken from three mythological brothers from Japanese folklore.