September (Aki) Basho- offical thread (yay..)

[WAKATAKE 2,671]

49 minutes ago, Akinomaki said:

Confirmed and causing plenty of reactions in the kyujo thread

Given he’s one of the more famous of the gyoji and his fan following, this shouldn’t be a surprise 

[Seiyashi 4,108]

Is it just me or are the audience more vocal this time around? 

[Kaninoyama 1,818]

11 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

Is it just me or are the audience more vocal this time around? 

Is there a restriction on vocal cheering this time as there was last basho, or has that been lifted?

[Seiyashi 4,108]

3 minutes ago, Kaninoyama said:

Is there a restriction on vocal cheering this time as there was last basho, or has that been lifted?

I'm not sure. I was under the impression there's still a restriction on vocal cheering, and not just are there more audible exclamations at conclusions on bouts, it just generally sounds noisier.

[pricklypomegranate 730]

Personally never understood the ban on cheering in the first place - I thought the audience always had to have their masks on, which would stop the spread of saliva and what not. Maybe it's just an extra precaution? Anyways, I welcome any increase in cheering. 

[Seiyashi 4,108]

I don't think they're all necessarily required to wear surgical-grade masks, which aren't normally rated for anything more than breathing anyway (at least in their intended use). Single layer cloth masks would probably not stop very much if someone was actively shouting either. But to borrow an RPG analogy, it's a case of stacking measures to reduce risk - past a certain point, every additional measure you take gives increasing marginal returns on the cutting down of new cases, and better safe than sorry.

It's interesting though that the one thing the audience hasn't done is to actually shout out shikona. There's a lot of general murmuring in the background, a lot of exclamations at exciting conclusions to bouts, but no actual bellowing of names yet - but then again, that could be because the non-makuuchi rikishi are less well-known or have less of a following. Guess we'll see if that changes in makuuchi.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Seiyashi

[Tigerboy1966 1,474]

I miss the cheering at the ring entering ceremony, which was always a fun way to gauge the relative popularity of the wrestlers. Now we have to rely on the intensity of the clapping which ranges from "polite" (Sadanoumi) to "vigorous" (Enho).

[Seiyashi 4,108]

One good thing about Hakuho and Kakuryu kyujo is that you get to see Enho's and Kiribayama's usual kesho-mawashis much more frequently. I know Enho wore his own once even while scheduled to be tachimochi, but that seemed to be a once-off (and caused him to have to scramble for the yokozuna dohyo-iri afterwards).

[Benihana 1,937]

Anyone in for a Hoshoryusho? Superb debut match.

[robnplunder 976]

29 minutes ago, Benihana said:

Anyone in for a Hoshoryusho? Superb debut match.

He did well against healthy-looking Ichinojo. But I think the latter (an M17! - ) has a better chance at Yusho than the debutant.  

Takayasu looked good against Takarafuji.   IMO, he is a legit yusho contender along with a dozen others.  This is a wide-open yusho race.

[Joaoiyama 313]

Shodai is looking huge, seems to me he put some muscle and gained some weight.

[Seiyashi 4,108]

The moment when you realise Asanoyama, Endo, and the gyoji are all wearing almost the same colour.

Bloody good barn-burner to end the day!

[Kashunowaka 300]

The two guys who fought for the yusho last time, where did they go? 

[robnplunder 976]

Match of the day 1 =  Endo vs Asanoyama.   Damn, that was good.

[Karasukurai 166]

Wow - great move by Endo - what a bout.

[Seiyashi 4,108]

4 minutes ago, Kashunowaka said:

The two guys who fought for the yusho last time, where did they go? 

Giving a handicap to the rest of the field to look good with.

Might be another tournament where the breakout stars are the dark horses no one really expected to win, or put any pressure on to win - Hoshoryu, Ichinojo, the two winning sekiwake, Endo, and Takakeisho. I've never seen Takakeisho look this good ever since his promotion.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Seiyashi

[Jakusotsu 6,049]

9 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

Might be another tournament where the breakout stars are the dark horses no one really expected to win, or put any pressure on to win

Kotoshogiku yusho - you heard it here first.

[Seiyashi 4,108]

3 minutes ago, Jakusotsu said:

Kotoshogiku yusho - you heard it here first.

My own ridiculous prediction is now Endo.

[Tigerboy1966 1,474]

46 minutes ago, Seiyashi said:

I've never seen Takakeisho look this good ever since his promotion.

Agreed, but that isn't saying an awful lot. Coming into today's match I thought Terunofuji would win, but gave Takakeisho a chance if he did three things: keep  balanced, get Teru going backwards and keep him off the belt. We saw the plan executed to perfection. Maybe the black mawashi helped.

[sumojoann 1,268]

Another great bout was Yutakayama vs Terutsuyoshi.  Terutsuyoshi was terrific!!

[RabidJohn 1,855]

I really liked Hoshoryu's agility and strength winning out against the bulk and technique of Ichinojo.

I really liked Terutsuyoshi's great win against Yutakayama. He's become the small guy to watch, hasn't he?

I really liked Takakeisho looking mean in black and showing Terunofuji who's boss.

I really liked the astonishing back and forth nature of the Asanoyama-Endo bout, though the result wasn't what I wanted.

But bout of the day for me was Kiribayama doing exactly what he said he was going to do and emulating his shisho's sumo beautifully against Tochinoshin. Even if you can't actually pick them up and get the tsuridashi, they can't resist the yorikiri. 

I've got no idea who's going to win!

[pricklypomegranate 730]

Tamawashi's tawara ballet against Daieisho was a thing of beauty. Zoop and the shin-sekiwake went down. 

 

[Morty 1,505]

Takakeisho looks fit for the first time in a while. To push back Terunofuji that way is not easy yet he made it look easy. 

And that Asanoyama/Endo match was the best sumo bout I have seen in a fair while. Great, great sumo from both of them

 

[Eikokurai 3,437]

Takayasu seems to be on a mission to make sure sumo fans get more bout for their bucks. Last basho he was in the ring for ages and today was another long slog.

Asanoyama-Endo was a great fight. Asa had Endo but that was a great kakenage at the end, inexplicably called a sukuinage (surely the leg hook was key to that move?)

[Amamaniac 2,079]

12 minutes ago, Eikokurai said:

Asanoyama-Endo was a great fight. Asa had Endo but that was a great kakenage at the end, inexplicably called a sukuinage (surely the leg hook was key to that move?)

Absolutely agree with you on that one.  I was thinking the same thing.  Perhaps sukuinage was called since it was a belt-less throw, whereas a kakenage may require a hand on the opponent's belt.  Maybe Yubinhaad will weigh in on that decision...