Hatsu 2023 discussion (results)

[Tochinofuji 385]

Is it me or does Wakatakakage seem to be going for actual belt grips in his yotsu sumo more often these days, rather than either underhooks or the armpit grip? Seems like a slight style change up. 

[Hakuryuho 335]

5 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Kiribayama's sumo has been very gradually improving over the past two years, but this tactical flexibility might just take him over the edge with how one-dimensional most rikishi are today. His sumo today was very Tamawashi-like. As long as things go to plan at the tachiai and he doesn't fall back on instinct into yotsu against a better belt person (e.g. Wakatakakage going to ottsuke against Terunofuji), things should go alright. Off the top of my head maybe the only people who can do both well are Hōshōryū, Takayasu, and Mitakeumi.

I'd add Kotonowaka to the list, yotsu fighter most of the time but can hold his own when a bout evolves into a tsuki/oshi battle.

[Benevolance 2,501]

WHY DIDN'T YOU ALL TELL ME THE BASHO ALREADY STARTED???!!?!??!
 

Edit: I had to learn from NSK on Instagram of all places!!!

Edited January 10, 2023 by Benevolance

[Tsuchinoninjin 1,274]

13 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Aoiyama yūshō anyone?

Jokes aside,

Aoiyama yusho is NEVER a joke!!!

[Sumo Spiffy 568]

9 hours ago, Hakuryuho said:

I'd add Kotonowaka to the list, yotsu fighter most of the time but can hold his own when a bout evolves into a tsuki/oshi battle.

Now how do we remind him of this before his basho is truly lost in the first week?

[Katooshu 3,247]

Ochiai - what a bull.

I love Shonanoumi's hot pink mawashi

And Roga.......he seems to have gone up a level since his promotion. 3 years in makushita, but he could make makuuchi within 3 or 4 juryo basho at this rate...

Edited January 11, 2023 by Katooshu

[Seiyashi 4,097]

25 minutes ago, Katooshu said:

Ochiai - what a bull.

Does he have any yotsu skill or is it just mostly oshi at this point?

[Katooshu 3,247]

Yotsu is his preference, but he can do everything. Power and skill. The only thing he's lacking is a bit of height....although then again he's not that short and arguably our top yokozuna prospect is a hamster.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Katooshu

[Koorifuu 1,003]

3 hours ago, Seiyashi said:

Does he have any yotsu skill or is it just mostly oshi at this point?

Setonoumi was effective in ensuring Ochiai had no mawashi time, but the difference between them was very clear regardless. Ochiai is clearly operating at a much higher level already, especially if this wasn't even his normal sumo.

3 hours ago, Katooshu said:

Ochiai - what a bull.

I love Shonanoumi's hot pink mawashi

And Roga.......he seems to have gone up a level since his promotion. 3 years in makushita, but he could make makuuchi within 3 or 4 juryo basho at this rate...

I love that mawashi as well.

Roga's upper makushita slump always felt more mental than anything, with Futagoyama never the nicest of people, and I'm really glad that he's now doing just as it used to be expected of him. I was certainly hoping so.

‐------

I'll say this again; this forum tends to underestimate Hokuseiho's strength just because he looks languid while using his 2m sumo. He's consistently been able to withstand barrages from people who can rarely be stopped once they get going - this time it was Kinbozan.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Koorifuu

[Tigerboy1966 1,449]

48 minutes ago, Koorifuu said:

Setonoumi was effective in ensuring Ochiai had no mawashi time, but the difference between them was very clear regardless. Ochiai is clearly operating at a much higher level already, especially if this wasn't even his normal sumo.

Ochiai was impressive today, but he now faces a very different challenge against the hulking veteran Akiseyama, a man who,  two years ago, was beating the likes of Hoshoryu and Kotonowaka in the top flight. This is a fascinating match up. Who wins?

[Hankegami 537]

Good Day 4 to everyone. My usual ramblings à la carte.

Before passing to my usual banalities about the matches, Day 4 has been also statistically interesting as "Upset Day". Eleven matches out of twenty went to the disadvantaged rikishi by previous records, three were draws, and only six previous records reflected the actual result. WW1 trenches were clean and ordered in comparison with my chart for Day 4 after corrections.

Takarafuji dropped one today against Mitoryu, so his Yusho run is going uphill (). Anyway, he clearly lost because he injured his right hand. I hope it's not going to be some nasty injury, considering he's almost dead last and I root for him to bounce back up the ranks. Another guy dealing with newly made injuries is Tochinoshin, who was holding his left shoulder after his defeat against Kotoshoho. The latter finally won after a 0-5 record against the Georgian. It's also the first time he starts out with a 4-0 in Maakuchi. His only precedent was back in Juryo - Haru 2020, he finished 7-8. Let's hope he's going to center his KK this time around. A guy who is still heading the Yusho race is Aoiyama, who manhandled Kagayaki and ended his straight four loss record against him. Big Dan is really on his way to scoring big in this basho. Tomorrow my hearth aches for Takarafuji vs. Tochinoshin (11-15), particularly unfortunate considering how them both ended up today.

Going up, my "keep a look on him" pick Onosho just rammed through Endo and went 4-0. Tomorrow he will face Ryuden, against whom he holds a 5-3 record. Nishikifuji, another promising lad, got his first win against Myogiryu after three straight losses. His shikona cousin Nishikigi did a similar feat by winning against Sadanoumi, against whom he was 2-6 in their last eight matches. Told you, Upset Day. Tomorrow Nishikifuji vs. Nishikigi (3-4) to decide who is the best Nishiki.

And here comes the joy, and the Utchari Prince with it. Wakamotoharu did it again and poor Meisei fell down from the dohyo in a nasty way. The shimpan called for a torinaoshi but there was no history. Meisei improvised a henka but it simply didn't work. My impression is that he was concussed from the fall. Going up, Takayasu relieved his worried fans by making quick work of Tobizaru. I hope this means he's ok after all. Now, the Nephew. Tamawashi almost pulled one on Hoshoryu, but the latter recuperated and jeeted the Old Fox out of the dohyo like he were your usual Tobizaru. Still an impressive show of muscle power by the Nephew, but that failed hatakikomi from Tamawashi reminded me of every time Takayasu almost lost his matches recently. Anyway, he's now 4-0 and that's good. His main rival for the Yusho (barring Aoiyama ) remains at this point Abi, who won against Shodai today. Speaking of Shodai, he was actually holding his own against Abi's pushes, but once he reached the rope he just went out. Another wrestler would have sidestepped easily. He's really uncomfortable to watch. Who's not good is Wakatakakage, who was equally jeeted out by Daieisho. WTK is apparently suffering many oshi wrestlers - first Mitakeumi and now Daieisho. At 2-2, he should wake up unless he's interested in delivering another 8-7 for the excitement of his fans. Finally, Takakeisho won smooth enough against an underwhelming Mitakeumi. The Hamster definitively bounced up, and he's now waiting for the no loss guys to drop one.

To resume, Hoshoryu and Abi are still leading the "arasoi that matters", with Takakeisho chasing them out. I didn't write about Kiribayama because I'm probably still unused to count him in, but he won convincingly against Kotonowaka after a match fought on the belt, and at 3-1 he's also hunting down the front-runners. He could have even been 4-0 were not for that torinaoshi decision in his match against Tamawashi (I still think Kiribayama deserved the nod), but that's sumo life. Tomorrow's main highlight is certainly Wakatakakage vs. Abi (2-2). WakaBro3 must absolutely get back in track for whatever goal he has for his future, while Abi would certainly appreciate to go 5-0 and keep up with Hoshoryu. The latter is going against Daieisho tomorrow, but their 4-2 record strongly favors the Nephew. Another potentially interesting match is tomorrow's musubi no ichiban, Tamawashi vs. Takakeisho (8-12).

[Tigerboy1966 1,449]

Takarafuji's bright start ended with a tame loss against Mitoryu and it looked very much like the left arm has "gone" again. He fought the whole of the last basho with one arm so I can't see him going kyujo, but I think he is really going to struggle.

[RabidJohn 1,793]

I got the impression Takarafuji had either dislocated or broken a finger. Whatever it turns out to be, it looked like the pain just took his attention away from the match.
Then there was Tochinoshin's arm or shoulder, which wasn't apparent to me until he was over the tawara. They are up against each other tomorrow. Double fusen?

I hope Kotoshoho's straight win start is an indicator of his recovery from that knee injury a couple of years ago. I rated him above Kotonowaka before that.

Oho looks totally outclassed at his current rank.

Not only are Onosho, Abi and Hoshoryu winning, but they've all got that mean, deadly serious look on their faces afterwards. I don't believe any of them are his equal, but it's a thing I associate with Chiyonofuji, and I love to see it. Of the three, I think Abi does it best. Mentally he is now a very different rikishi from the one who got suspended. 
Btw, I expected him to lose because Shikoroyama was in the commentary booth...

Edited January 11, 2023 by RabidJohn

[dingo 1,265]

1 hour ago, RabidJohn said:

I got the impression Takarafuji had either dislocated or broken a finger. Whatever it turns out to be, it looked like the pain just took his attention away from the match.
Then there was Tochinoshin's arm or shoulder, which wasn't apparent to me until he was over the tawara. They are up against each other tomorrow. Double fusen?

In the Japanese live commentary they thought Takarafuji injured his finger and the pain distracted him enough to lose. Likewise I hope it's not too serious. In Tochinoshin's case the commentators thought it was either the shoulder or chest, but obviously it's difficult to know from the broadcast only. 

[Chiyotasuke 295]

Looks like his left shoulder was dislocated. You can hear a pop right before he was forced out. oof

Spoiler

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Chiyotasuke
put image in spoiler

[Seiyashi 4,097]

It's quite sweet to see Mitoryū show obvious concern for Takarafuji, from the time the bout ended and all the way through collecting the kenshō. He kept glancing at Takarafuji walking down the hanamichi.

Okinoumi will be gone within the year if he keeps up at this rate.

Shame about Tochinoshin - he was doing fairly well this basho, too. Traces of Kotoshōgiku's gaburi yori in Kotoshōhō's win, incidentally.

Nice to see Nishikigi's old trademark kime-hold return (and Hokutofuji borrow it for the subsequent bout). Shikoroyama sounds terrible, even if I didn't already know he looked terrible. Is it just me or has his voice gone up a bit?

While Hōshōryū is taking care of business by recovering very impressively against Tamawashi (and bettering his own basho start record), Kiribayama seems to be taking over as the resident entertaining trickster of the sanyaku. I've to say, I'm surprised the three non-Kiribayama komusubi are doing as badly as they are when they're largely fighting the same opposition as they have been in past basho. 

Down in jūryō, Asanoyama wasting no time at all, while the Miyagino duo are carrying on where they left off last basho.

[Seiyashi 4,097]

2 hours ago, RabidJohn said:

Hoshoryu winning, but they've all got that mean, deadly serious look on their faces afterwards.

More importantly he's been able to do multiple things in a bout. He recovered very nicely against Tamawashi and went immediately on the offensive, whereas the Hōshōryū from one year ago would have been done for.

[dingo 1,265]

I think Tamawashi also didn't react fast enough and wasted a chance to slap Hoshoryuu down. 

[Yamanashi 3,860]

1 hour ago, Chiyotasuke said:

Looks like his left shoulder was dislocated.

Yeah, it literally looks like it.  Usual treatment: 1)immediate ice, 2)eventual relocation but being careful not to tear muscles in doing so, 3) rest and 4) rehab for a couple of weeks.  Probable heya treatment: 1) pop that sucker back in, 2) gambarize®.

[Yubinhaad 11,710]

An entertaining bout in Jonidan today, slender Najima was very active but Amamidake's greater mass (and patience) prevailed for a rare sabaori win, the first since 2017 Aki.

[Reonito 1,469]

11 hours ago, Tigerboy1966 said:

Ochiai was impressive today, but he now faces a very different challenge against the hulking veteran Akiseyama, a man who,  two years ago, was beating the likes of Hoshoryu and Kotonowaka in the top flight. This is a fascinating match up. Who wins?

It would be a lot of fun to see Ochiai face Kototebakari, but if I've got the bracket right, they would both need to get to 5-0 for this to happen as part of the yusho race.

[Katooshu 3,247]

Many of you have probably seen this match between them before, but for anyone who hasn't.

Yoshi, Otsuji, Wakanosho, and Hanafusa were in the tournament as well.

 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Katooshu

[Benihana 1,929]

On the one hand, the race for the Y/O-slots picks up speed, which is very exciting, on the other hand it looks we're going to lose some regulars in the immediate future. Takarafuji (35) had 2 abysmal bashos and got injured today. Tochinoshin (35), injured again. Okinoumi (37) getting ragdolled. And those guys are the old guard. Much younger guys like Chiyoshoma and Terutsuyoshi aren't looking better. I wonder who will be the next to leave.

[Koorifuu 1,003]

FWIW the impression in my household is that Takarafuji's arm went limp after something pretty bad happened to it and the finger bit was that he was softly trying to hold his arm in place - not anything finger specific. 

She was right about Takayasu last time, let's see now.

Edited January 11, 2023 by Koorifuu

[mugatake 44]

Indeed it was Takarafuji's right pinky finger, and grotesque enough that an image wouldn't be appropriate here. It was pulled backwards against Mitoryu's elbow when the latter pushed.