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 to pick their favorite.

MATCH OF THE DAY: I was excited to be giving this to Onokatsu and Churanoumi, but it came down to the wire between them and the match between Kirishima and Hakunofuji. Because I try not to cover san’yaku (sometimes with the exception of Komusubi) I’m going to do Chu and Onokatsu, but that Kiri-Haku bout was… pretty epic. I like Onokatsu and I adore Churanoumi, so I was looking forward to this one. Regrettably, it was Onokatsu who walked away with the win, but only after an incredible tsuppari battle. I think Chu just got worn out and Onokatsu was able to take advantage of that. Just very well done from both rikishi, even though it was a yorikiri.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Thank you, great sumo gods, for giving us the gift of this match between Takayasu and Daieisho. There were a lot of highlight matches today, but come on. Kainahineri?! That’s a two-handed arm twist down, in this case masterfully wielded by Takayasu. These are two older, popular rikishi and they absolutely pummeled one another. What great sumo–and there’s no shame in losing to that kind of kimarite, Daieisho.

PINK MAWASHI DAY THREE: I’m sure nobody will be surprised that I strongly disagree with the referees’ call to torinaoshi it today. Shimpan Takadagawa’s reply was, “Onosato’s athleticism and pressure forced the rematch.” I would like to make something clear to my dear friend Takadagawa: when you touch down first, you lose. Even when you’re athletic and under pressure. Maybe this is the JSA’s apology for forcing Onosato to come to this tournament despite his injury concerns. The mono-ii verdict is not Onosato’s fault, so no shade on him, really, like Aonishiki vs Yoshinofuji yesterday. Assuming that Onosato and Aonishiki aren’t bribing all the oyakata, they didn’t actually do anything wrong, which I sometimes forget. But still, we’re not also giving out free wins to Ura? Why not? Anyways, Onosato clearly won the second match and Ura goes to 0-3.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Hatsuyama lost again–I assume he was waiting for a day where I could watch his first-Makuuchi-win interview on NHK. Asahakuryu appears to be the new up-and-comer sensation, not Hatsuyama. His stablemates both won; Asanoyama won his ex-Ozeki face-off with Mitakeumi, and Asakoryu disposed of Tomokaze. Hoshoryu, notably, lost to Yoshinofuji, who’s also on my fantasy team, so that was great–but that means that (with respect to all the other 3-0 guys) Aonishiki and Onosato are currently the leaders of the tournament. Also, I love Yoshinofuji and I’m psyched for the win, but I very much do not like seeing Hoshoryu limp a little on that knee. Just one more gift, sumo gods! Please let him be okay. He gets Ura tomorrow, and Yoshinofuji gets Onosato. Our Maegashira crowd has narrowed down to Shishi, Asahakuryu, Abi, and Oshoma, a pretty small group. Good luck to them all (but mostly Shishi and Asahakuryu) continuing on in the basho.

Down in Juryo, Kazuma’s back trouble rumors seem regrettably credible. Sadanoumi, to my astonishment, beat youngstar Fujiryoga; what is going on in Juryo? Such great sumo! Such irritating injuries! Day 3 was, I must say, far more exciting than the prior two. Both sekitori divisions are interesting in different ways, with an odd cast of leaders in juryo and a set of incredible matchups in Makuuchi.