Takakeisho made an appearance on the Abema broadcast; I rarely say this, but he looks lovely. He’s lost so much weight! In less adorable news, Nishikifuji is out with both some arthiritis in his elbow and neck problems, possibly a herniated disc. Eugh. You take care of yourself, buddy. He was doing pretty well so he’s unlikely to fall into Juryo.

MATCH OF THE DAY: Oh, Fujinokawa. Don’t let it get to your head, or your belt. He had a rough match against Asanoyama today; you all know I love Fujinokawa, but Asanoyama is on my fantasy team, so… you win some, you lose some. Fujinokawa got his elbow twisted background in a similar situation to Asakoryu and Midorifuji and had to give up the bout or give up the arm. Asanoyama won by oshidashi.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Midorifuji appears here a lot, usually with katasukashi victories, but this time he got his little body thrown by ex-Ozeki Shodai. A lovely win. Kotenage.

PINK MAWASHI DAY TWELVE: Ura got a win against Hakunofuji, whose knee is clearly not in great shape, but that didn’t really seem to be the issue today. Ura wriggled his hand into Hakunofuji’s armpit and leapt out of the way on the tawara so Hakunofuji fell down first. Well played! A katasukashi victory for the Pink Man.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Hiradoumi and Wakamotoharu shared a bizarre match where it was close on the tawara, the gyoji pointed to Hiradoumi, and after he knelt and received his prize money, they called a mono-ii. They supported the gyoji’s decision, but… what a weird late mono-ii. In terms of the actual yusho race, Kotozakura had a fantastic takedown of Abi today, actually lifting him out by tsuridashi instead of a plain old yorikiri. Well done.

Unfortunately, Atamifuji lost to Aonishiki, and they both went tumbling off the dohyo and into Kirishima. Aonishiki loves to snuggle his opponents and go down together. It’s a very nice habit. He was also sporting a new mawashi; good style points. Is this his Yokozuna mawashi? It looks possible, though Kirishima won over Hoshoryu in a concerning win. Not for Kiri–he looks great–but rather for everyone’s favorite Yokozuna, who bent over and held onto his knee for a good while after his bout. His torn meniscus seems to be plaguing him, unsurprisingly. But he’ll fight Aonishiki tomorrow, so, uh, good luck with that, Hosh. Onosato beat Takayasu with one side again–Takayasu keeps screwing up and the last minute and it is not doing wonders for his record.

Tomorrow, Aonishiki will fight Hoshoryu in the musubi-no-ichiban. Oh boy. Right before them is Onosato vs Kotozakura (oh BIG boy) and Kirishima vs Shishi. The older Ukrainian is fighting up! Before them is my personal highlight match, Asanoyama vs Takayasu. In large, smiley rikishi Matchup #2, Ura will take on Takanosho.