YDC Soken-Hatsu 2018

[Kintamayama 45,522]

The YDC soken was held today at the KKan. Hakuhou had 7 bouts against Shoudai and won them all. "Were you intending to do any sumo today? " he was asked, to which he responded: "Well.." Kakuryuu was 13-1 (9-1 against Ounoshou and Mitakeumi, 4-0 against Kisenosato and Takayasu). Kisenosato was 2-6. Kitamura the YDC chairman, who was critical of Hakuhou's tachiai of late and said it was not Yokozuna- like, was satisfied today, as Hakuhou hardly did any slapping. "I'd like to see him do that kind of sumo during the basho, and not only pulling.,." he wished. Takanohana Oyakata was not present. Ozeki Takayasu was 1-4 against Kakuryuu and Goueidou. "Not a lot of bouts but it was good keiko," he said. The tachiai was OK but he was too high. "I will work on that and do stubborn sumo from day 1 to senshuraku, hoping to stay in the yusho race, " he explained. Goueidou took on Takayasu and Kisenosato and was 6-3, showing quick footwork ."I was able to do forward moving sumo so that was good. I hope to have a solid year," he said later.

"I hope he does Yokozuna-sumo today.."

 

"No, you tell him.. I'm scared.."

Edited January 5, 2018 by Kintamayama

[dada78641 884]

Some TV images.

Hakuhou zenshou'ing the souken.

Kakuryuu not looking too shabby.

Kisenosato, on the other hand...

[Kintamayama 45,522]

Takakeishou did only three bouts and lost them all, against Yoshikaze and others. "It's all good. I'll just gambarize during the basho," he said. Ounoshou was beaten five times by Kakuryuu. Mitakeumi was 1-4 against Kakuryuu. "I'd like to better my tachiai," he said. Looks like Kakuryuu is ready, though.

[Akinomaki 40,773]

o o ooo

  o  oo oo o  oo  o 

ooo

 

 

   o

   o  oo

o

Edited January 5, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Kintamayama 45,522]

"If Kisenosato feels he is not ready, he should sit this one out.." said YDC Chairman Kitamura after seeing Kisenosato’s dismal performance at the soken today. This will be his fifth straight kyujo if he sits this out. " It's not like this kind of thing has never happened before.. It looks like his strength has not returned. I'm worried.." he added.

Edited January 5, 2018 by Kintamayama

[Churaumi 745]

43 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

"If Kisenosato feels he is not ready, he should sit this one out.." said YDC Chairman Kitamura after seeing Kisenosato’s dismal performance at the soken today. this will be his fifth straight kyujo if he sits this out. " It's not like this kind of thing has never happened before.. It looks like his strength has not returned. I'm worried.." he added.

I can’t help feeling bad for the guy, he finally gets his rope and almost immediately the injuries piled on. At least the YDC isn’t pushing him.

[ryafuji 815]

17 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

I can’t help feeling bad for the guy, he finally gets his rope and almost immediately the injuries piled on. At least the YDC isn’t pushing him.

Should have the surgery... too late now. He's permanently crocked.

[Dapeng 236]

18 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

I can’t help feeling bad for the guy, he finally gets his rope and almost immediately the injuries piled on. At least the YDC isn’t pushing him.

His injury was in last March? I think it's not the injury that should have healed months ago but the lost strength.

[Dapeng 236]

14 minutes ago, ryafuji said:

Should have the surgery... too late now. He's permanently crocked.

When he was ozeki he was only 1-2 wins (per basho on average) better than his ozeki peers. After the injury and the loss of strength of left arm, he may be able to perform at ozeki level but not yokozuna level.

[Ryoshishokunin 323]

Without surgery it wasn't an injury that can heal (properly).   That strength will not return, because some muscles are no longer attached to what they are supposed to be attached to.  There's a reason that surgical intervention is common in sportspeople in other sports...

[Dapeng 236]

15 minutes ago, Ryoshishokunin said:

Without surgery it wasn't an injury that can heal (properly).   That strength will not return, because some muscles are no longer attached to what they are supposed to be attached to.  There's a reason that surgical intervention is common in sportspeople in other sports...

Although he struggled to win that basho, the injured muscle inevitably got worse. He should have gone kyujo and had the surgery immediately. 

[rhyen 1,846]

3 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

"If Kisenosato feels he is not ready, he should sit this one out.." said YDC Chairman Kitamura after seeing Kisenosato’s dismal performance at the soken today. this will be his fifth straight kyujo if he sits this out. " It's not like this kind of thing has never happened before.. It looks like his strength has not returned. I'm worried.." he added.

So Kisenosato gets a free pass this time?

[Asojima 2,874]

7 minutes ago, rhyen said:

So Kisenosato gets a free pass this time?

Only if he does not step up to the dohyo.  The next time he participates, he has to look very good.

[Akinomaki 40,773]

9 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

Kitamura the YDC chairman, who was critical of Hakuhou's tachiai of late and said it was not Yokozuna- like, was satisfied today, as Hakuhou hardly did any slapping.

But some media people thought he tried to provoke the YDC by actually doing harite at the YDC keiko soken  o http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00381070.html

- and did they say something about Kakuryu for this ?

o

o

Kakuryu with Kisenosato

ooo o  oo  

 

oo

Hakuho

ooo

o 

Takayasu with Goeido

o 

Edited January 5, 2018 by Akinomaki

[Kintamayama 45,522]

Just now, Akinomaki said:

But some media people thought he tried to provoke the YDC by actually doing harite at the YDC keiko soken  http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00381070.html

o 

That's why I wrote "hardly". It seems he did it once, but made it count..

[Dapeng 236]

16 minutes ago, Kintamayama said:

That's why I wrote "hardly". It seems he did it once, but made it count..

Hakuho uses it as a distraction to gain advantage at the tachiai. I don't see him using it during the bout. It's weird that the YDC criticized him for it. Maybe that YDC chairman thinks that Hakuho is so much superior over other rikishies that he is supposed to beat them gracefully and beautifully 

[dada78641 884]

8 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

Hakuho uses it as a distraction to gain advantage at the tachiai. I don't see him using it during the bout. It's weird that the YDC criticized him for it. Maybe that YDC chairman thinks that Hakuho is so much superior over other rikishies that he is supposed to beat them gracefully and beautifully 

That's actually exactly it. A yokozuna isn't "supposed" to use those tactics for exactly that reason, according to the YDC.

[sekitori 492]

3 minutes ago, Dapeng said:

 Maybe that YDC chairman thinks that Hakuho is so much superior over other rikishies that he is supposed to beat them gracefully and beautifully 

Despite all this talk of grace and beauty, sumo is a violent activity. It involves one very large person trying to knock (maybe not a very descriptive word) another one to the ground or push him out of the ring. There are rules to be followed and if they are, I see nothing wrong with taking full advantage of them. Harites happen to be perfectly legal, yet Hakuho who can produce the most graceful and beautiful sumo ever, is accused of using them because they aren't "pretty". There are exactly two solutions to this problem:

1. Make harites, blows with the elbows, and other "unbeautiful" sumo techniques illegal. 

2. Do nothing and let a great champion continue to do his sumo. 

I prefer option number 2. 

[Atenzan 1,084]

24 minutes ago, sekitori said:

Despite all this talk of grace and beauty, sumo is a violent activity. It involves one very large person trying to knock (maybe not a very descriptive word) another one to the ground or push him out of the ring. There are rules to be followed and if they are, I see nothing wrong with taking full advantage of them. Harites happen to be perfectly legal, yet Hakuho who can produce the most graceful and beautiful sumo ever, is accused of using them because they aren't "pretty". There are exactly two solutions to this problem:

1. Make harites, blows with the elbows, and other "unbeautiful" sumo techniques illegal. 

2. Do nothing and let a great champion continue to do his sumo. 

I prefer option number 2. 

Because as we all know the sumo word is solely based on a rulebook, and things like rank, public personae and their appeal to the elders, tradition (which may or may not be altered at the behest of whoever is in charge of matters at the time) or personal relations and relationships never affect any of the actual rikishi's careers.

I think Hakuhou could win without the initial harite, for sure. But he chooses to do it for whatever reason- if I were to guess, I'd say it either complements his tachiai philosophy of  "go no sen" or he wants to stagger his opponent's charge a bit before it reaches Hakuhou's head and torso. After all, he has fought 1200 or so tournament bouts and many many more non-tournament bouts, and his body might be complaining about that by now.

However, the harite as an action and whatever it potentially stands for falls under "beauty", or dohyo no bi to use the sumo-specific Japanese term, which in turn can be shoved into the tradition folder. The YDC don't like it, yet it's still legal. Hakuhou can keep doing it, causing the ire of the YDC (little love will be lost there, I feel) and potentially his shisho, other oyakata and fans, in which case he'll never hear the end of it; or he could stop doing it and calm things down a bit. It's just the way things are, and this is one of the times I kind of wish they were not.

Edited January 5, 2018 by McBugger
every single damn time I post something without proofreading my eye immediately falls on the only typo in the post

[Unkonoyama 105]

NHK always does a "Looking Back at the Year's Sumo" show around New Years and Hakuho's harite at the tachiai was a big topic this time.  After Mainoumi and others expressed their disapproval, the show aired a recorded interview with Hakuho.  When asked the purpose for the harite, Hakuho said (my wife's translation, she is a native speaker) that he is getting older and is dealing with more and more injuries.  The initial harite helps reduce the impact at the tachiai and the resulting wear and tear on his body.  

[Kintamayama 45,522]

It seems like Hakuhou did not intend to do any bouts at the soken today. Paper says whenever he intends to get in the ring, he always has his toe, wrist and right elbow taped. Today, no tape. Kakuryuu and Kisenosato were already having some bouts as Hakuhou stood outside the ring. "Get out there!!" shouted Hakkaku rijicho unto him, very loudly. Hakuhou, who hasn't trained lately, seemed to be a bit taken aback, and then called out to Shoudai and faced him seven times, winning all bouts. Before that, as Hakuhou was doing some suriashi foot dragging stuff, Kasugano oyakata asked him if he intends to have some bouts.. "Yeah.." he answered, halfheartedly. Then he changed his manner and entered the ring. All this of course, coming off his salary cut and after YDC Chairman Kitamura said his slap and grab/kachiage tachiai was unfitting for a Yokozuna, which may have caused him to not be "in it." Still, no "ugly" kachiage and only one SAG (slap and grab), drawing some praise from the YDC chairman. Kitanofuji TV commentator had a different take. "He was warned not to do it, yet he did it. That's quite rude, isn't it? Is he looking to pick a fight with the YDC? " asked Kitanofuji, who is famous for his candor, half-jokingly, but not..

[Kintamayama 45,522]

In case you were wondering, AWOL Takanoiwa did not show up for the soken today. To not participate in a soken, you need to file a "reason for absence". According to sources, a fax (it works, apparently..) from Takanohana beya in Takanohana's name arrived at the Kyokai offices. "He will be absent because he needs to rest.." it said. No details as to the nature of the rest were given.

[Dapeng 236]

3 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

It seems like Hakuhou did not intend to do any bouts at the soken today. Paper says whenever he intends to get in the ring, he always has his toe, wrist and right elbow taped. Today, no tape. Kakuryuu and Kisenosato were already having some bouts as Hakuhou stood outside the ring. "Get out there!!" shouted Hakkaku rijicho unto him, very loudly. Hakuhou, who hasn't trained lately, seemed to be a bit taken aback, and then called out to Shoudai and faced him seven times, winning all bouts. Before that, as Hakuhou was doing some suriashi foot dragging stuff, Kasugano oyakata asked him if he intends to have some bouts.. "Yeah.." he answered, halfheartedly. Then he changed his manner and entered the ring. All this of course, coming off his salary cut and after YDC Chairman Kitamura said his slap and grab/kachiage tachiai was unfitting for a Yokozuna, which may have caused him to not be "in it." Still, no "ugly" kachiage and only one SAG (slap and grab), drawing some praise from the YDC chairman. Kitanofuji TV commentator had a different take. "He was warned not to do it, yet he did it. That's quite rude, isn't it? Is he looking to pick a fight with the YDC? " asked Kitanofuji, who is famous for his candor, half-jokingly, but not..

If Kisenosato had been doing fine and could beat Hakuho regularly, they won't say those nonsenses.

[Gurowake 4,100]

3 hours ago, Kintamayama said:

In case you were wondering, AWOL Takanoiwa did not show up for the soken today. To not participate in a soken, you need to file a "reason for absence". According to sources, a fax (it works, apparently..) from Takanohana beya in Takanohana's name arrived at the Kyokai offices. "He will be absent because he needs to rest.." it said. No details as to the nature of the rest were given.

I hear fax machines are popular in Japan still.  But even here in the US we very occasionally get information we need faxed to us.  I don't have a clue why, since it's always much worse quality than any decent scanned document sent through another medium.  We probably get more spam faxes than important ones.  More importantly though, is that we often have to fax signed Power of Attorney forms to the IRS for their immediate viewing in order to get them to talk to us about a taxpayer we have as a client.  Apparently they can't accept an emailed scanned copy of one?  Perhaps random agents' email addresses can't be used?  I know even ten years ago, I faxed something to someone on official business and they said they expected me to scan it and email it and the fax was not actually received.  Obviously we don't have a dedicated machine for just faxes; the printer/copier does just about everything except the actual accounting.

[dada78641 884]

I don't want to bring up this whole discussion again of what constitutes "beautiful sumo", but I just want to say I can understand Hakuhou's feelings. He's the greatest of all time, won an unparalleled 40th yuushou, and they're complaining that it's not beautiful enough for their liking. You can point to the tradition aspect of sumo all you want, but to me this just looks incredibly disrespectful for no reason.