Thorbjarn

I totally disagree, at least regarding this Forum. Right from the get go, the narrative was for Hoshoryu to follow in his uncle's footsteps among those who were easily hyped. Some of the hype even got going before even maezumo. Those who were a little more conservative thought there was a shot for him to get into sanyaku and maybe even Yokozuna If he gained a bit more physical strength and some other pieces fell into place. People always saw the potential, but with the tumultous change of guard, the general consensus was that Hoshoryu has not been quite there yet. Which was probably fair to assess up until the last two bashos. As for Yokozuna Promotion, there are three factors making me thing Hoshoryu has a good shot: - the results: the most important two records of the last two bashos, while Not incredibly outstanding, fullfil the criteria "equivalent of Yusho + Yusho." Even with the Yusho being less Ws, the actual Tournament win coming after the equivalent has immense worth. In General, the Ozeki run was pretty stable and the last makekoshi of Hoshoryu's run in Makuuchi dates from November 2021. Shows how he is undoubtedly among the best performers. - His Style of Sumo: great technical mixture of traditional mawashi Game and the mongol bok-influenced Style. Not only is it good to look at, it's proven to be good Yokozuna Sumo. He also doesn't seem to Feed into the "ill-tempered-Mongolian" stereotype, at least I don't recall him getting criticized for his behaviour. - the Timing: even before the Terunofuji intai, the time had come for a new Yokozuna. Since the rest is "good enough", my guess is that the YDC will suggest Hoshoryu and the JSA will agree and pay him a visit.

Looks like the painkillers wore off, but nontheless: Congratulations, Takerufuji. That is one hell of a feat, pulverizing records left and right. He even destroyed the Ms Ts Yusho record. Very interesting, very wild Basho. We are still at a point where I can't say for sure if there even is a next Yokozuna on the horizon. After starting watching in an era, where there were four of them, it feels a bit weird to say that.

I always hate seeing Rikishi getting wheeled out, I hope it's nothing too serious. Tobizaru looked impressive against Kirishima and continues to absolutely overperform imo. As is the norm atm, we have multiple Rikishi contending at the halfway point of the tournament. Asanoyama is severely underranked, I expect him to be moved up around day 11 should he stay at one loss. Onosato and Onosho probably the same, maybe a day or two later. Kotonowaka will face both Ozeki and Terunofuji anyway (and Daeisho tomorrow, who is only one win behind) , he did his homework against all lower rankers. All the remaining top guys are still in the race, so yeah, that's a pretty exciting week 2 with the possibility for a successful Yokozuna bid as an extra to an exciting Yusho race.

Heat of the battle applies for both combatants. There is not always a rationale for being / getting mad.

That was a hell of a heel turn. It's also Takakeisho's fourth Yusho, his third as an Ozeki. Perspective matters and injuries sometimes skewer our perception towards him, but that's a damn good Ozeki overall.

... which is pretty much everyone around here.

Looks like Aoiyama is the next big gaijin riding off into the sunset.

Hoshoryu has been progressing quite steadily and still seems to have untapped potential. Therefore I think this was a really good outcome to a very entertaining basho in the grand scheme of things. Sentimentally I would have loved to see Nishikigi win this, but he quite clearly ran out of steam early in the second week. Hats off to Asanoyama for somehow eeking out a kachi koshi with injury and mid-basho absence. I also have to give credit and respect to Aoiyama. He's quite easily my least favourite Rikishi, but this isn't the first time I wrote him off with a big makekoshi and he managed to get back into decent numbers or even kachi koshi.

Kirishima should 100% sit out the reminder of the tournament. This is such a pointless endeavor at this point. Hoshoryu looked dialed in today, I feared he was injured aswell yesterday. Mitakeumi looks finished. Outside of yesterday's emphatic win, he is sluggish and doesn't generate any power whatsoever.

I'm going to say it now... It's TaMawashi. We all know it. And I don't know what is going to happen to the world with three time Yusho winner Tamawashi at 73 years of age. It's crazy just how wild and out of hand this tournament seems be getting. I'm thankful the Takayasu Yusho hopes are basically over (he's not going to win out). Couldn't deal with another heartbreak.

You are absolutely entitled to feel that way and with about 220 matches left in Makuuchi alone, I'm sure there will be a bout or two good enough to meet your personal criteria for bout of the tournament. As for me, a wild bout with a lot of near finishes, a little bit of controversy/talking points while still being within the confines of the rules, an upset victory and an engaged crowd qualifies. It's all subjective.

So far it is for most people I guess. It was a spectacle and a win for a clear cut underdog. Terunofuji will very likely drop out, everything else would be astonishing. I hate to say it, but he looked 100% injured.

They had this in the past already, then came Covid and the feature got canned. Looks similar to the guy they had before.

It's Terunofuji's 8th top division tournament win, he does have two Juryo Yusho aswell.

Totally down with that. I think outside of Hoshoryu who got beaten quite convincingly, all the Sekiwake gave Terunofuji good matches. He is the best, like his rank implies, but he is not as far ahead as Hakuho or Asashoryu seemed to be. It's great to have him back, hope he can stay around.

I don't want to seem too frustrated, I initially was genuinely interested to know what the reasoning was since I don't speak Japanese, and I really thank you for the explanation of the decision. I assumed dead body, but as you could see I saw it differently. Therefore I actually wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else I missed like some kind of foul. Frustration levels are actually really low though, mainly for the great crop of Sekiwake we have this basho. =)

Maybe, but even than he was already airborne. Dead body should work both ways, it often does not. Still think torinaoshi would be a better choice in those situations.

Yeah, but at the same moment Kotonowaka was parallel to the the ground and his hand down on the dohyo to me.

What was the explanation behind the call between Kotonowaka & Ura? From the replay I thought this should be torinaoshi or gyoji call stands.

Who had Shodai bulldozing out Hoshoryu like it was nothing? Whoever you are, I hope you did put some money down for that one. Ochiai winning... I think I heard a collective sigh of relief from the GSB guys.

Since Tobizaru hit Maegashira 5, I expect him to hit a wall and get destroyed with a 3-12 or something... That guy continues to amaze me with his results, and his sumo is fun to watch. Takakeisho winning the Yusho with a throw... is this a ridiculous prediction thread come alive? Congratulations, so we do have a Yokozuna run in March.

Matchmaking is exactly the right choice. As for Yokozuna, I'm quite sure Takakeisho lost the chance at getting the rope now on Thursday and I agree he has to win to keep his chances alive. That being said, if Takakeisho wins this (not set in stone IMHO), I'm sure they would promote him with another Yusho or Jun-Yusho in Osaka, in both cases even with a 12-3 probably as long as he is in the race on senshuraku. It would count as 2 Yusho equivalents and one Yusho over three tournaments and I can't see them passing that up. All unhatched chickens of course and I'm sure someone will have data / precedents that make my scenario look stupid.

The Basho picked up a bit imo during the weekend, several wild bouts. I expect quite a bit of derivation from the usual matchmaking, which is probably not a wild guess.

I honestly think the fairest solution would have been to give Abi another high quality bout against Takakeisho instead of having the joi-Maegashira who went through the top of the banzuke once again getting the toughest probable match up, but there is definitely bias there I'll admit. The powers that be probably know this is the best shot at a 3-Way-Dance...

It sucks to be hyped while not having time to watch live on the weekend. I fully buy into Takakeisho. Takayasu will probably slip against Kagayaki, definitely against Abi who I expect to be the Senshuraku matchup. My heart is meant to be broken.