The Delicate Beauty of a Violent Sport
Kotonowaka was promoted to Ozeki, as expected. He came oh so close to a championship and was disappointed to lose in the playoff. His performance over the past three basho has been of a consistent, high quality. But if we look back further, we can see a reliable, top-level sekitori since May of 2022. He…
In recent tournaments there have been contenders from way down the ranks in the Makuuchi Division. And in some cases, tournament champions have included these lesser ranked wrestlers. But this time, the tourney leaders are all from the very top three ranks in Sanyaku: Sekiwake Kotonowaka (10-1) Yokozuna Terunofuji (9-2) Ozeki Hoshoryu (9-2) Ozeki Kirishima (9-2)…
39-year old warrior Tamawashi sent Asanoyama to his first defeat of the tornament. Tamawashi is just months away from his 40th birthday and shows no signs of slowing down. Absolutely amazing and congratulaltions to him. The other big news of the day is that Takayasu dropped out of the tournament. He gave it his best,…
Former Ozeki Asanoyama (who defeated Meisei) has a perfect record after the first 7 days. One behind is current Ozeki Kirishima (who defeated Hokutofuji) and Sekiwake Kotonowaka. Yokozuna Terunofuji and Ozeki Hoshoryu are two behind at 5 and 2. Granted, Asanoyama has been fighting lesser competition from his spot at Maegashira #7, but you can beat…
Maegashira #7 Asanoyama and Sekiwake Kotonowaka reamin perfect at 5 and 0. Asanoyama defeated up and comer Maegashira #8 Hiradoumi by yorikiri and Kotonowaka defeated Komusubi Ura by okuridashi. Yokazuna Terunofuji and Ozekis Hoshoryu (who picked up his first loss of the tournament) and Kirishima (who defeated Abi remain one behind at 4 and 1. Not sure if…
Yokozuna Terunofuji bounced back with a nice win over Abi today. Terunofuji moved to 2 and 1 while Abi remained winless. Takakeisho was the first and only Ozeki to lose so far this basho, going down to a resurgent Wakamotoharu. Bother wrestlers stand at 2 and 1. Boy wonder Atamifuji is still without a victory after…
Terunofuji looked out of shape in his loss to Wakamotoharu today. Not surprising given how long he has been on the sidelines, but worrisome nevertheless. The three Ozeki all went to 2 and 0. It is nice to see them acting like, well, Ozeki. Click here to see all the Day 2 results.
The New Year’s b ash in Tokyo is underway and what a great thrill it is to the see Yokozuna Terunofuji return to the dohyō with a victory (over Komusubi Ura). We wondered if he would retire after more than a year nursing his heavily damaged knees, but the man is a force of nature.…
Both the Ozeki and upstart finish the day at 10 and 2 and in joint possession of the lead. One behind is Ichiyamamoto at 9 and 3 with a slew of rikishi at 8 and 4. Takayasu, Daieisho, Takakeisho, Hirodoumi and Tamawashi all picked up their 8th win to go kachi-koshi for the tournament. A…
After missing the first seven days of the tournament with an injury, former ozeki Asanoyama returned to fight current Ozeki and possible le future Yokozuna, Takakeisho. Former ozeki Asanoyama made a sensational return from injury Sunday by winning his first bout of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament against yokozuna aspirant Takakeisho. The current No. 1 maegashira, who sat out the…
Three wrestlers sit atop the leaderboard – Ichiyamamoto (who took his first loss), Kotonowaka (same) and the newest Ozeki, Hoshoru (who defeated Abi). A bunch of wrestlers are right behind at 5 and 2, including Ozekis Takakeisho and Kirishima and iron-man Tamawashi. At 39 years old, Tamawashi had a consecutive match streak that reached 1448 matches before he…
With the new bullet train, one of the great eating cities of the world is just a mere hour and twenty minutes from the site of the current basho. That’s why Nagaski’s favorite son – Maegashira #11 Hiradoumi – has such strong support this tournament. You can do a food tour and enjoy all that…
Wow! Some terrific matches on Day 5. 21-year-old upstart Atamifuji remained undefeated by beating Kotoeko in a fantastic match that saw lots of back and forth. Atamifuji used his great footwork and eventually tossed Kotoeko slowly to the edge. Kotonowaka also remained undefeated by bveating previously undefeated Daieisho. And finally, Hoshoryu went to 5 and…
Atamifuji is picking up right where the young wrestler left off in the last tournament. He runs his record to a perfect 4 and 0 be defeating previously unbeaten Ryuden. Ichiyamamoto, Daieisho, and Hoshoryu are all 4 and 0. On the other end of the spectrum, an favorites Abi and Endo fell to 1 and…
The three Ozeki – Takakeisho, Kirishima and Hoshoryu – are off to a great start. Takakeisho had a great battle with former Ozeki Shodai and Hoshoryu had a back and forth fight with Ura. Fan favorite Takayasu was defeated by Kotonowaka. And Nagasaki-born Hiradoumi has lost his first two bouts. You can find all the Day 2 results here.
All three Ozeki opened with a Day 1 win and two of my favorites – Takayasu (defeated Wakamotoharu) and Abi (defeated Gonoyama) – also were victorious. Let tournament’s big surprise Atamifuji defeated Myogiryu. You can find all the results here.
The November banzuke has been released, which means it’s only two weeks until sumo starts again.
As reported in Kyodo News, Ozeki Takakeisho captured his fourth top-division title Sunday by winning a championship playoff against 21-year-old rank-and-file sensation Atamifuji at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament. In a somewhat anticlimactic ending to the competition, Takakeisho avoided the full force of Atamifuji’s opening charge in the playoff, shifting to the side and slapping…
Don’t get me wrong. I like Takakeisho and I hope he becomes sumo’s next Yokozuna. I just didn’t want him to win the championship as much as Takayasu or the new wonder kid, Atamifuji. Takayasu for obvious reasons and Atamifuji be cause he is only 21, ranked low on the banzuke and the longest of…
You go, Atamifuji! With his win over Abi (who tried a henka of all things) and just one day to go, Atamifuji holds a one-match lead over Takayasu (who defeated Tobizaru), Takakeisho (who lost to Hoshoryu), Hokuseiho (who defeated Tsurugisho) and Daieisho (who defeated Kirishima). That sets up some exciting matches tomorrow. First off, Atamifuji!…
With Takakeisho’s win over Wonder Kid Atamifuji, the two wrestlers from opposite ends of the banzuke are tied for the lead. Takayasu, who could have joined them at the top, lost to Hokutofuji (who picked up his kachi-koshi) to remain one behind at 9 and 4. In other big news, Ozeki Kirishimna cleared kadoban by defeating…
With wins by Takakeisho and Takayasu and a loss by Atamifuji, the race for the championship became an actual race. Takakeisho defeated Kotonowaka and Takayasu beat Nishikigi (keeping his perfect record against him intact). So both of them stand at 9 and 3. Maegashira #15 Atamifuji went down to Sekiwake Daieisho to fall to 10 and 2.…
With another disappointing loss by Takayasu, Maegashira #15 Atamifuji now has a two-match lead with only 4 days to go. You can be sure that the schedulers are going to ramp up the competition for the young (he is only 22 ) wrestler, and that starts with tomorrow’s match against Sekiwake Daieisho, who is a…
In a battle between the two leaders, Atamifuji bested fan-fav Takayasu to take the sole lead of the tournament at 9 and 1. Takakeisho is now just one win away from clearing kadoban after beating Maegashira #4 Ura. Kirishima, who lost to Komusubi Nishikigi, still needs 2 more wins to clear kadoban. Abi picked up…
An interesting day of wrestling today as the second week of the tournament gets underway. Quite a day for Takayasu and Atamifuji (pictured above) as they both go kachi-koshi and keep the lead. They will face each other in the match of the day tomorrow. Fan favorites Abi and Endo both win. Abi moves to…
Well, all three of the top wrestlers bit the dust . . . er clay . . . on this middle day of the Aki basho. Two of those Ozeki that lost, Takakeisho and Kirishima, are kadoban and now need to pick up at least three wins in the last 7 matches. And don’t forget,…
Okay, he shares it with Maegashira #15 Atamifuji, but no one considers Atamifuji, a serious contender. Takayasu fans know better than to talk about a possible yusho championship, because we have had our hearts broken so many times. Takakeisho’s loss to former Ozeki Shodai was a surprise given that Takakeisho had a 15 to 6…
Another day, another day where the three Ozeki managed victories. Hoshoryu defeated former Ozeki Asanoyama (who looks about 20% short of his Ozeki form). Kirishima defeated another former Ozeki Shodai. And Takakeisho – who is one of five leaders at 5 and 1 – defeated Tamawashi. And who else has a portion of lead? None other than Takayasu!…
For the first time this basho, all three of the current group of Ozeki actually won their matches. Kirishima, like Takakeisho is also an Ozeki that is kadoban, defeated Asanoyama by executing a nifty sotogake (outside leg trip). Asanoyama drops to 2 and 3 and one wonders if he will ever get back to the…
The big match of the day was Ozeki Takakeisho defeating former Ozeki and current Maegashira #2 Asanoyama. The second big match of the day was the other Maegashira #2, Abi defeating Ozeki Kirishima. And while we are on the subject of the Ozeki, Hoshoryu being defeated by another former Ozeki Shodai. So that leaves two of…
Sumo’s flying monkey Tobizaru (which means flying monkey) defeated the newest Ozeki Hoshoryu by sending him airborne into the third row. Kirishima, the other new Ozeki, also lost – this time to Hokutofuji who advances to 3 and 0. Sorry to see Asanoyama lose to Nishikigi. Also to watch Takayasu go down to Onosho. Here are the full results.
You often hear that an Ozeki is kadoban. Kadoban means an Ozeki who has suffered make-kochi (a losing record) in his previous tournament and so will be demoted if he fails to score at least eight wins. The present rules date from July 1969 and there have been over 100 cases of kadoban ozeki since that time. Ozeki Chiyotaikai…
Kadoban Ozeki Takakeisho had a nice bounce-back win against Komusubi Nishikigi today. But surprisingly, Maegashira #1 Hokutofuji defeated the newest Ozeki, Hoshoryu. Surprising because prior to this match, Hokutofuji was 1 and 6 against the golden boy of sumo. Asanoyama dispatched with another Sekiwake today (Kotonowaka). Asanoyama looks Ozeki sharp so far this tournament. Maegashira…
A great opening day of sumo wrestling. Everyone – well, almost everyone – looked in fine form to start the Aki Basho. The worry is with kadoban Ozeki Takakeisho who lost to Hokutofuji. Takakeisho needs eight wins to clear kadoban and hold on to his Ozeki rank. Less than that and he drops down to…
The Nihon Sumo Kyokai released the Day 1 & Day 2 schedule for the top division, as well as the Day 1 schedule for Juryo. Yokozuna Terunofuji will be absent. You can see the Day 1 Schedule here and the Day 2 here. Despite the lack of a Yokozuna, there are many exciting stores this…
Well, the September tourney is off to a bad start even before it begins as teenage phenom Hakuoko is out. As reported in the Japan Times: Up-and-coming No. 9 maegashira Hakuoho has undergone surgery on his left shoulder: and will miss the entire 15-day Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament starting Sunday in Tokyo, his stablemaster Miyagino said Monday.…
The recent Yokozuna Deliberation Council’s practice session was open to the public. The Kyokai has posted a great video of the action on their YouTube channel. Tachiai provided an excellent summary of the video: The video opens with a sparring style called “mōshi-ai.” Here they take turns facing the winner of the previous bout. They’re…
The official September banzuke has just been released! Not many big surprises. The teen prodigy Hakuoko jumped up from Maegashira #17 to Maegashira #9. Former Ozeki Asanoyama and former Sekiwake Abi are both at Maegashira #2. Fan favorite (and also a former Ozeki) Takayasu is at Maegashira #7. Here is a link to the official…
The Way of Salt – Understanding Japan and Sumo by Ash Warren is a must-read for any sumo fan. The Way of Salt is an exploration of Japanese culture as seen through the lens of country’s national sport – sumo. This book will help you understand Japanese cultural history and the way of thinking that…
I found a great video of the training going on in former Yokozuna Hakuho’s sumo Miyagino stable. Some sumo stables allow visitors, but just know that there are strict rules. The visitor who filmed this training session was none other than Gagamaru, a former Komusubi. Gagamaru, a Georgian by birth, lives in Japan and has…
Mongolian sumo wrestler Hoshoryu has been promoted to the second highest rank of Ozeki. The Japan Sumo Association made the decision at an extraordinary meeting of its board of directors on Wednesday. Hoshoryu won the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday with 12 wins. That gave him 33 wins in his three most recent tournaments…
Congratulations to Hoshoryu, who wins his first Emperor’s Cup and secures an Ozeki promotion. Hoshoryu’s promotion to ozeki is expected to be officially decided on July 26. The 24-year-old Mongolian native first defeated the rookie Hakuoho and then Hokutofuji in the playoff. Hakuoho picked up the Technique special prize and the Fighting Spirit special prize…
You couldn’t ask for a more exciting final day. Teen prodigy Hakuoho (and protege of Hakuho, the greatest Yokozuna ever), Maegashira #9 Hokutofuji (whom Hakuoho just defeated) and Sekiwake Hoshoryu are all 11-3 going into the Day 15. Fighting in just his fourth senior tournament and first in the top division, the No. 17 maegashira grabbed a…
Hokutofuji defeated Endo to pull one ahead of Hoshoryu (who beat the lone Ozeki Kirishima) and the youngest wrestler in the top division – Hakuoho (who defeated Nishikigi to create a three way tie for second. former Ozeki Asanoyama won for the second time in a row since returning from injury by defeating another former Ozeki,…
What a day in Nagoya!. Maegashira #4 Asanoyama, showing a tremendous amount of courage by fighting with a torn bicep, made his return to the ring a victorious one by defeating Maegashira #1 Tobizaru. Newly crowned Ozeki Kirishima (himself returning from an early injury absence) dashed the Ozeki hopes – at least for now – of…
Though ordered by a doctor to take 4 weeks off due to a torn bicep (suffered during his match against Hoshoryu), Asanoyama has decided to return to the ring. Sumo wrestlers are tough, but this seems ill-advised. Let’s hope that he doesn’t create more problems for himself in the long-run.
This is the part of the basho where you get a lot of mismatches between ranks. The schedulers create these mismatches so that lower ranked wrestlers with leading records get a dose of real competition to ensure that the ultimate tournament winner has faced a true test of their skill. Today, Maegashira #1 Nishikigi defeated…
There are now only two leaders (Nishikigi, Hokutofuji) and three chasers (Endo, Daieisho, Hoshoryu). Only Daieisho has won a championship so even though he is one behind the leaders, I peg him as the favorite. The pressure really begins to build at this point and wrestlers can wilt. One thing working in favor of the…
Leaders: Hoshoryu, Nishikigi, HokutofujiChasers: Daieisho, Wakamotoharu, EndoHunt Group: Tamawashi, Shonannoumi, Takarafuji, Hakuoho Promotion-seeking sekiwake Hoshoryu remained tied for the lead with rank-and-filers Nishikigi and Hokutofuji after all three improved to 8-1 Monday at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament. The leading trio, each gunning for a maiden top-division championship, became the first wrestlers to secure winning records at the…
We don’t have the reason just yet, but Asanoyama has withdrawn from the tournament. While his technique is still Ozeki-grade, it has been evident that his core strength, endurance and intensity have been lacking this tournament. If he has been wrestling injured that would explain the deficiency. We hope he has a quick recovery. Three…