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 it was really a great bout! These two are on fire this basho. I’m so happy for both of them–Yoshinofuji is no surprise, and Ichiyamamoto has improved in leaps and bounds this year. Ichiyamamoto ended up with a slap down hatakikomi victory.
KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Nobody did anything fun today in the kimarite department, so I picked the best one we had: sukuinage, a beltless throw from everyone’s favorite rikishi (except Ura). Fujinokawa and Asakoryu had the very first bout of Makuuchi. The youngest rikishi in the top division henka’ed against Asakoryu, though it wasn’t a very dramatic one, and Fujinokawa threw Asakoryu out by sukuinage. Great job, buddy. Maybe if he gets up to 10 wins tomorrow, he’ll get a special prize.
PINK MAWASHI DAY FOURTEEN: Ura had a long bout against the treacherous Tobizaru. He had a very nasty slap in Ura’s face that was completely unnecessary, so he’s back off the list of people I like. They tried basically everything, but Ura came out on top, just as it should be. Tobizaru got his make- and Ura his kachi-koshi today. Tobizaru just looked worn out by their bout today. Ura knows that we’ll always take the oshidashi.
OVERALL SUMMARY: Well, well, well. The time is here and Makuuchi is on fire. All eyes were on the the Golden Trio of Aonishiki, Hoshoryu, and Onosato. Kotokakura put up a very, very good fight against Onosato and ended up taking out the Yokozuna with a yorikiri. And Aonishiki’s record against Hoshoryu improves to 3-0, which I’m sure Hoshoryu would love to change tomorrow. So, if Aonishiki wins tomorrow against Kotozakura, he forces a playoff against the winner of the Yokozuna showdown, and if he loses, whoever wins of the two Yokozuna wins the yusho. It’s rare to have three rikishi even at 11-3, but thanks mainly to each other, Kotozakura, and Yoshinofuji, it’s worked out that way. Obviously, the Yokozuna will fight each other, Aonishiki will fight our Ozeki, Yoshinofuji fights Takayasu, Hakuoho fights Shodai, and Ura fights Kirishima in some highlight bouts.
Fujiryoga did not force the win in Juryo, but he’s clinched at least a shot. He’ll fight fellow youngstar (coinage!) Hatsuyama tomorrow. After tomorrow’s coverage of Senshuraku, I’ll post the Pink Mawashi Sumo Awards and a basho overview. And I’ll also cover which one of our two Otowayama boys wins Jonidan. So, updates then!
Today’s fun fact is in honor of the fact that there might be a playoff tomorrow! The largest playoff we’ve seen was in 1973 Jonidan when 12 men tied and faced off for the yusho. The most recent playoff we’ve seen was Hoshoryu, Oho, and Kinbozan in January–excepting, of course, Onosato and Hoshoryu last basho. It would be very interesting to see Hoshoryu take the Ukrainian again tomorrow, which is what I’m rooting for.
Also very interesting is that the JSA has officially announced that they will hold a meeting about Aonishiki’s potential promotion to Ozeki. So, if he wins the yusho… it looks good.
Rest well and pick your favored candidate; tomorrow is going to be interesting.