Critically, due to Meisei’s kyujo, Ura took up the spot of dewsweeper in Hoshoryu’s dohyo-iri today. He did a wonderful job alongside Hiradoumi in his second tournament dohyo-iri for the Yokozuna. I respect Meisei greatly, but some things are for a greater good…
MATCH OF THE DAY: Ichiyamamoto, for some reason, decided to randomly jump whilst attempting to escape Kinbozan–which Abi also did. Maybe a slippery dohyo in Fukuoka? Well, that didn’t stop the little man from Hokkaido: he’s been getting so good on that belt work. Ichi is no longer just a tsuppari boy! Great to see–uwatenage victory for him.
KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Aonishiki and Hakuoho both gave their 100% today, but the win went to Aonishiki with a fabulous kubinage. I’ve been looking for an outstanding kimarite of the day for the last two days, and Aonishiki always gives as good as he gets. His kubinage victory, a headlock throw, was basically exactly as described: he got to the edge and wrapped his arm tenderly around Hakuoho, then smashed his face into the clay. Well done by both rikishi, but better done by the Ukrainian!
PINK MAWASHI DAY THREE: Personal favorites of mine, Ura and Yoshinofuji, took to the dohyo together today. I was (of course) rooting for Ura, but Yoshinofuji continously took the lead and they locked up right at the edge in time for Ura to try something fancy. Long story short, the fanciness failed and Ura’s arm ended up going down a little before Yoshinofuji’s. I wasn’t sure about it at first but the replayclearly showed that Ura’s arm, unfortunately, went down first. Fair’s fair, and Yoshinofuji walked away with his second win while Ura is 1-2 and will face Sekiwake Oho tomorrow. And so the reckoning begins.
OVERALL SUMMARY: Asakoryu and Fujinokawa lead the charge of the Maegashira. Both of their matches were great today in different ways; Asakoryu’s lasted about 0.2 seconds and Fujinokawa (yay!) had a fantastic back-and-forth with Daieisho and solid footwork. In sanyaku, Aonishiki and Onosato look hard to beat, and Hoshoryu is right behind them with one loss. Obviously, these three are the main threats to the rest of the banzuke.
In less fun news, a young prospect and a personal favorite of mine, Juryo 3 Mita, pulled out of the tournament after what looked like a slight head wound and an ACL tear in his right knee. His stablemaster has contradictorily said that he might undergo surgery and that he will need a procedure, and his estimate is that Mita will miss the next three months. Also, in honor of Mita’s injuries, his oyakata ex-Miyabiyama, a former Ozeki who coaches Mita’s Futagoyama-beya, shaved his head to show support for the young rikishi. It’s unusual for an oyakata/stablemaster to show so much unconditional support for one of their wrestlers, but Mita is exceptional and clearly his oyakata recognizes that. It’s kind of a strange choice to shave your head in support of one kyujo rikishi, but I can’t argue with that commitment. Hopefully Mita is okay and will stick to three-month timeline, but if he really has surgery done, it doesn’t seem plausible… well, here’s to Mita and his speedy recovery.
Today’s fun fact is that maezumo, amateur sumo, recruits debut on Day Three of every tournament. Today Ochirsaikhan, the greatest sumo recruit ever to grace the face of the earth, et cetera, was introduced to the world. He easily beat debutant Tenshoyama. Ochi, or rather Asahifuji, the new foreign wrestler allowed to be in Isegahama-beya: each stable is only allowed to recruit one rikishi from another country, who is typically Mongolian, as in the case of Ochirsaikhan. He’s apparently been training with Isegahama-beya for years but wasn’t able to enter the stable officially until the retirement of Yokozuna Terunofuji, who was, at the time, the foreign recruit for his stable. Ochi is said to wrestle at sanyaku level already. So, basically, there’s a lot of lore… we’ll see how well he does in jonokuchi in the new year. And I should definitely start calling him by his new shikona, Asahifuji, especially considering he already has a chonmage (topknot). Here is a picture of The Chosen One:
He looks confused. And he looks strong. We’ll see him in Jonokuchi soon!