Daily Review
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Natsu 2026: SENSHURAKU
KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Fujiryoga had a lot of pressure on his shoulders, with the hopes of Hakunofuji, Yoshinofuji, Kirishima, and Ura resting on his shoulders. You could see it in his eyes as he stepped onto the clay opposite Wakatakakage. I was worried about a henka from the youngest Onami, but I thought wrong;
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Natsu 2026: Day Fourteen
Today, two Sadogatake men got their hair cut: Kotonofuji and Kotohaguro. They are part of Sadogatake’s active channel and are both lovely souls and the tsukebito of Kotozakura and Kotoshoho respectively. We wish them both luck in their retirements, and I will sorely miss their cheer on the Sadogatake cooking videos. Before I forget, a
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Natsu 2026: Day Thirteen
MATCH OF THE DAY: I’m breaking my no match of the day san’yaku rule because I’m yapping so much in the overall summary section (sorry). But oh my gosh, what a match. Kirishima vs Kotoeiho was promised to be a great matchup and it did not disappoint. At points, I thought both rikishi were bound
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Natsu 2026: Day Twelve
Unfortunately, I have two top division kyujo to announce: Kotozakura and Asanoyama. So we have one singular Ozeki left, and Asanoyama forfeits one match away from a positive record, which is no doubt irritating for him. Asanoyama pulled out due to problems with his big toe after yesterday’s match; this man cannot catch a break.
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Natsu 2026: Day Eleven
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
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Natsu 2026: Day Ten
MATCH OF THE DAY: Fujinokawa and Hiradoumi are a delightful little pair of rikishi, and they had an extremely entertaining bout today. They charged at one another at the tachiai and Fujinokawa, after losing the initial tsuppari battle, leapt back. This put him off balance and Hiradoumi followed up, driving him to the edge yet
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Natsu 2026: Day Nine
MATCH OF THE DAY: Today, Asanoyama taught a very valuable lesson to the younger generation of rikishi. The valuable lesson was “Beating Chiyoshoma 101.” Chiyoshoma is perhaps the definition of a wily veteran, often decorating his bouts with a henka (basically a sudden leap to the side; see Shishi’s bout today!) and a badly placed
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Natsu 2026: NAKABI
MATCH OF THE DAY: I did not expect Sadanoumi to be so genki as he came up from Juryo to fight Wakanosho today. I also did not expect Wakanosho to be so un-genki. Sadanoumi is a long-time Makuuchi vet and 38 years old, second only to Tamawashi in seniority. The Juryo man blasted against powerful
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Natsu 2026: Day Seven
As predicted, Asakoryu joins the growing list of kyujo. He hasn’t released the injury report and it’s unclear if he’ll be joining the rest of Makuuchi in Paris, but the assumption is a right leg injury after he staggered around post-bout yesterday. Best of luck to the young man; he hasn’t had a lot of
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Natsu 2026: Day Six
MATCH OF THE DAY: The runner-up absolutely goes to Fujinokawa and Wakatakakage for a fantastic bout, but I wanted to cover this one because it was such a weird one. I have been delighting in the sumo of previously-unknown Fujiseiun, and today, he came up against Oshoma. Oshoma grabbed his arms and then they began
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Natsu 2025: Day Five
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
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Natsu 2026: Day Four
Takayasu is out with a right thigh injury. I did sense some bad mojo from him yesterday but my mind did not go to a thigh injury. The bear’s yusho hopes are down the drain now. Now about half of sanyaku is kyujo, which is a really fun statistic for Day Four. I’m kind of
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Natsu 2026: Day Three
MATCH OF THE DAY: Two rikishi I’m quite partial to, and probably the two least reactive rikishi in the top division, fought today: Churanoumi and Fujiseiun. By least reactive, I don’t mean their sumo; I mean their facial expressions. Churanoumi is the most neutral person on the face of the earth, and Fujiseiun is not
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Natsu 2026: Day Two
Yokozuna Hoshoryu has announced his kyujo. I am, at the very least, very proud of him and Tatsunami-oyakata for not aggravating the injury and taking the time off when he needs it. Rest up, dear Hoshoryu. His oyakata has said that it’s most likely a muscle strain and he’ll need about two weeks of recovery,
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Natsu 2026: SHONICHI
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