Daily Review
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Hatsu 2026: Day Three
I didn’t get to watch on NHK today, but I did get to see ex-Takarafuji make an appearance on the Abema broadcast, which was a lovely surprise. His elder name is, I believe, Kiryama now, so I should call him that, but he’ll always be either Takarafuji or Bald Spot McGee. I invite my readers
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Hatsu 2026: Day Two
MATCH OF THE DAY: Fujinokawa and Hiradoumi are examples of what rikishi should bring to the dohyo every day: vibes. No offense to Shodai, but these guys always show up with 100% effort and 100% awesomeness, rather than looking kind of sleepy. They’re both popular and on the little side, and they’re absolute firecrackers on
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Hatsu 2026: SHONICHI
Asahifuji led off 2026 today with a victory against Tenshoyama in sumo’s lowest division, Jonidan. Asahifuji is hailed as being the greatest rookie to ever debut, a title which I’m sure Onosato isn’t so sure about. Speaking of Onosato, he and Aonishiki received special prizes at the beginning of the basho today; he received the
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Kyushu 2025: SENSHURAKU
The shocking news out of the infirmary is that Onosato is kyujo. Apparently, he dislocated his shoulder in his bout against Aonishiki. He did look to be in a little bit of pain in his bout yestereday but I took it as embarrassment and didn’t think much of it; evidently that was a poor decision.
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Kyushu 2025: Day Fourteen
MATCH OF THE DAY: Two of my favorite boys, Ichiyamamoto and Yoshinofuji, fought each other today–Ichiyamamoto pulled and slapped Yoshinofuji down to the clay with a variety of techniques. Poor Yoshinofuji’s nose was spurting blood, and when he blew out after the match, he basically blew blood over his nose. It was extremely disgusting. But
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Kyushu 2025: Day Thirteen
MATCH OF THE DAY: Ichiyamamoto! What a joy to be talking up his bouts. He makes a point to stare deeply into the eyes of every rikishi he can at any given time, which often results in a comment by Murray Johnson on the NHK broadcast. He went in with strong tsuppari against Roga but
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Kyushu 2025: Day Twelve
MATCH OF THE DAY: Atamifuji takes the prize for the second day in a row. Shoutout to the clear second-place bout of Roga and Shonannoumi, which was also a great bout. Back to the winners, though: the young man from Isegahama took on Tokihayate, who’s been on fire this tournament. Atamifuji was effectively grappled by
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Kyushu 2025: Day Eleven
Down in Juryo, Kise-beya’s Shiden went up against Kayo and seems to have hurt his hurt knees on the way down. It doesn’t look great–he pulled out of the tournament and was taken to the hospital. This might be the end of his career–more updates when there are any from Kise-oyakata. Wishing him luck… MATCH
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Kyushu 2025: Day Ten
MATCH OF THE DAY: For once, there were several great bouts to choose from, due to the slew of mono-iis from our Maegashira today. Good to see them all stirring it up in the last week. Midorifuji vs Ryuden, Roga vs Churanoumi, and Shodai vs Tobizaru were all mono-ii, with the first two both ending
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Kyushu 2025: Day Nine
The news from the infirmary is that, surprisingly, Meisei is back! I don’t have any updates on his health, so clearly his back is okay. Or maybe he’s just trying to hold on to Juryo. He will fight Nishikifuji, who is, by the way, in great form. MATCH OF THE DAY: Oh, Fujinokawa, where did
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Kyushu 2025: NAKABI
Short again… yet another prior commitment! MATCH OF THE DAY: Asakoryu and Tokihayate pranced around the dohyo together for quite some time. They’re both pretty small and low-ranked, so it could have been a survival match-up–but both are doing very well. Tokihayate wasn’t baited by Asakoryu’s attacks and dragged him to the tawara. They grappled
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Kyushu 2025: Day Seven
Short one today… prior commitment. Sorry! MATCH OF THE DAY: Asanoyama and Tokihayate went early on but ultimately won the award for the best match. Asanoyama is an injured ex-Ozeki once exiled for some COVID scandals, and is now fighting his way back up after right knee trouble. He’s in Juryo and looking to come
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Kyushu 2025: Day Six
MATCH OF THE DAY: I don’t usually make this about sanyaku, but I’m making it about our sanyaku henka-er today… Wakamotoharu! I’m concerned for Arashio-beya. I’m a supporter of both Onami brothers and have always been more of a Wakamotoharu fan, and clearly, I was a little upset with Wakatakakage yesterday. But today was just
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Kyushu 2025: Day Five
MATCH OF THE DAY: Churanoumi and Midorifuji took to the clay for an incredibly long bout today, where Midorifuji eventually emerged the victor. As the president of the “Chu-Chu” fan club, I was not happy with this arrangement, but the Chu-Chu train ran out of steam faster than the little Green Monster. There’s a lot
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Kyushu 2025: Day Four
There’s no fresh news about Mita, though some photos were released, including this one. His oyakata clarified that he had shaved his head after seeing how “depressed” Mita was after his injury. No other sekitori are kyujo as of yet, except Meisei, who (as we knew prior to the basho) is extremely unlikely to be