Leo C

Congrats to Kiribayama! I'm happy for him. Hopefully he also becomes an Ozeki after the next basho.

As the announcers mentioned, this is the third basho in a row Asanoyama has beaten Shonannoumi (and I assume stopped his yusho chances although I haven't checked the previous results). He looked visibly frustrated after losing. It is very funny how the guy has been doing great and getting promoted but Asanoyama's always there to ruin his day Hopefully this keeps going

Akua actually getting his first win of the basho with the kakenage was nice. Hopefully he kakenage's his way back up to makuuchi (eventually).

That's a very observant comment. The only comment in my household after an entire day of sumo was "big tits!" in reference to Kotonowaka.

I didn't know they had lifted restrictions in the first place, that is good to see.

I think that kotenage was the first time Aoiyama impressed me in any way, except for tit size obviously.

Interesting write-up. I did not know the guy who organized the strike in the 30's also used the same shikona as Tenryu. He does strike me as a guy who always does his own thing, as he also left AJPW in 1990 after a disagreement with Giant Baba and apparently said he'd only return after Baba died, which was in fact the case. A legend in Japanese pro wrestling and someone who delivered quality main-event matches well into his 50's, which is usually not the case. As for whether Tenryu actually liked puroresu from the start as it is questioned in the article, I guess it is pretty plausible, especially back in those days when it was way more popular then it is now. Even in one of the recent chanko making videos there were some guys with wrestling merch. I think the intersection between the fanbases is large.

Ahh, ok, now I get it. That makes more sense, actually, as it is a very common pattern for Japanese-Brazilians to have a Brazilian first name (such as Lucas), then a middle name which is actually a first name in Japanese (Kazuo) and then the Japanese last name (Iima).

As a Brazilian, Lucas is a bigger giveaway that he's Brazilian. And Lima is also a very common surname in Brazil.

I'm happy Hoshoryu got his gino-sho at least. I was rooting for Takayasu, hopefully he still makes it but I don't have very high hopes at this point.

I liked Ichinojo vs Meisei. Maybe I'm mistaken but halfway through it seemed as if they were more interested in slapping each other in the face and not really winning or anything, which is my type of sumo. Azumaryu has shown some fire this basho. I hope he gets his long-awaited makuuchi kachi koshi.

Abema roasting the Waka bros on the replay, first making fun of Wakamotoharu's misstep in the san'yaku ceremony and then complaining Wakatakakage received the arrow the wrong way.

Tamawashi yusho! Congratulations

Nice Roll-idashi by Ura...

I think the condition for both is to win today. They probably just forgot to write the 日 kanji in 今日 for Tobizaru.

Yeah, if a guy gets hurt or old I understand still supporting them, naturally. What surprises me about Shodai's case is that nothing really happened to justify his poor performance. Speaking of being old, I'll be rooting for Tamawashi. But since he's won a tournament before and Takayasu hasn't, I'll be happy either way this time.

Takakeisho and Nishikifuji was great.

Didn't Enho and Chiyomaru have the exact same match last basho?

I see your point. Just a clarification on what I said, I did not mean that because he is Japanese he is going to have more support from the crowd (although that point could be made, perhaps). I meant that because the fans are Japanese, they will be more loyal to the rikishi they like during hardship, regardless of the rikishi's nationality, as I believe in general Japanese fans tend to be more like that.

This got me thinking, how are they still cheering him? I would have given up on rooting for that guy a long time ago. Does he deserve that reaction for a 2nd victory in 11 days as an Ozeki against a random maegashira? I guess that speaks for the loyalty of the Japanese fans when compared to westerners.

Native language is Portuguese. Started learning English when I was around 12 or so; my dad forced me to take lessons, but I did get a lot of practice playing videogames all day and watching pro wrestling. It did turn out to be a good idea, thanks dad. Started learning Japanese by myself in college, again due to pro wrestling but also because it was such a different language from the ones I knew and, well, I had nothing better to do. That also turned out to be a good idea since I wound up moving to Japan and getting a job here. I also speak some half-assed Spanish due to being a native Portuguese speaker (and we did have Spanish classes in high school).

Not only in sumo, but in general Japan isn't closing anything down (so far) due to the latest surge. Trips are scheduled to happen as usual, no mention of even the half-assed state of emergency (manbo or whatever it was called), etc.

I think they were referring to Ichinojo himself being covid-kyujo last basho.

Congrats to Ichinojo! I've always liked him for whatever reason and am happy he made it. Always seemed like he was able of going farther but wasn't putting his all into it; giving up at the bales and such, although now I know that that was more due to injuries than anything else, apparently. A solid outing including a win over Terunofuji which I loved.

I attended the basho in Nagoya today, I liked the feel of the Aichi Gym for sumo. It is smaller than the Kokugikan, so even the cheapest seats kinda feel closer than anything on the 2nd floor at Ryogoku. A more intimate setting, so to speak. Very nice. Terutsuyoshi actually went for the ashitori again, haha that was great. I always enjoy it when guys try for something fancy or entertaining instead of what actually makes sense (i.e. Akua). Happy that Ichinojo got past Tobizaru, the basho coming down to him and Terunofuji in the end again would be fun, at least for me. The crowd didn't seem that happy with Ichi's win though. Not from today, but Teru vs Hoshoryu yesterday was great, I wish I'd seen that one live haha. Much like Kiribayama, I like the story of Hosh inching closer and closer to beating the Yokozuna on the belt. It'd be great to have a torch passing moment in the future with these two. Let's hope. Abi trying to henka Wakamotoharu of all people to start I didn't enjoy, but his sidestep to win I thought was alright. The crowd was a bit reluctant to start clapping probably because of the henka attempt. Wakatakakage's ozeki run may be over, but hopefully he gets his kachi koshi. Even if he can't get it done this time, it's fine, he's young and injury-free so far, so he can still make it in a year or two. He's been going up the banzuke at a steady pace and improving. Being a sekiwake getting consistent kachi koshi, much like Mitakeumi was for so long, is a good spot. I think he can manage to eke out one win from his remaining matches; he's beaten Takakeisho before and Shodai is still Shodai regardless of how scared of Magaki he is. Speaking of Shodai, I was angry when he beat Ichinojo when he had the lead because I was certain he was gonna turn around and lose to the likes of Shimanoumi and whoever else is having a bad basho in classic Shodai fashion, but since he actually had a good consistent run throughout I'm happy for him. Well done. I haven't seen the replay of Teru and Daieisho yet but, yeah, if Daieisho (or other thrusters) don't get Terunofuji straight from the tachiai it is difficult to beat the Yokozuna.