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 it all go wrong? He is, to be fair, 6-3. And that’s lovely. However, he had such a great start that he just isn’t following up. He fought Miracle Maegashira competitor Tokihayate. Tokihayate got both hands on the mawashi and chased Fujinokawa around and, eventually, out. I have nothing at all against Tokihayate–in fact, I was a pretty big fan of his before I moved on to greener rikishi, meaning Yoshinofuji, Kazuma, Mita, and this little guy, Fujinokawa. Thus, Tokihayate is no longer solidly in the group of “young rikishi that I really like”, but I guess he’s our hope now for a yusho outside of sanyaku, which is looking less and less likely every day. He’ll fight veteran Chiyoshoma, while Fujinokawa takes on Kazakh giant Kinbozan. That will be a rough one.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Midorifuji, a regular winner of this award, came up against Shodai in the latter’s hometown basho. Shodai really looked like he was about to win when the Green Monster grabbed his arm and threw him, which I wasn’t expecting. They awarded him the amiuchi victory, a fisherman’s throw–supposedly because it looks like reeling in a fish, or in this case, a disgruntled ex-Ozeki. I kind of see it. Anyway, very exciting bout! It’s good to see Midorifuji getting his wins, though I wish it wasn’t against Shodai.

PINK MAWASHI DAY NINE: Ura and Wakamotoharu had a longer bout today. Ura sucked up quite a lot of tsuppari from Wakamotoharu then went in for the ashitori. WKM freaked out and retreated while Ura followed up with a chase. WKM backed out and Ura got the win by yorikiri. Both of them are now 4-5. Wakamotoharu will fight the little cannonball, Hiradoumi, and Ura will fight Takanosho.

OVERALL SUMMARY: I was hoping that Oshoma would make me eat my words from yesterday. He did not, however, as he saw Onosato and just thought, “Oh no.” He was politely escorted off the dohyo by the 9-0 Yokozuna. Hoshoryu also got his win, taking advantage of Yoshinofuji’s leg to throw him to the ground. Yoshi’s going to fight Onosato tomorrow, one of the first guys whom I’d say might have a shot against him. Please take him down, Yoshinofuji. Someone has to. He’s gotten less creative since he came up to the top division, I feel, but maybe he can get a throw against Onosato, since brute force does not seem to be working. This will, interestingly, be the first time they fight.

This is just a photo I find pretty entertaining from the London tour; Asanoyama, now down in Juryo, and Chairman Hakkaku meeting the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. They met in Japan last basho so Hakkaku and Asanoyama could do some PR together for the London tournament. This just reminds me again of how big these guys are…