Paid Members BigJag Posted November 28, 2023 Paid Members Posted November 28, 2023 The latest tournament popped up on my YouTube feed today. It's on the NHK World channel. Not sure who the commentator is but he seems to be very good at explaining the bouts. Very engaging. @Tamura any chance you could give us an overview of the current state of play in Sumo. It's been ages since I watched it properly. Just watched a great match from Day 10. Quote
Tamura Posted November 29, 2023 Posted November 29, 2023 (edited) 23 hours ago, BigJag said: The latest tournament popped up on my YouTube feed today. It's on the NHK World channel. Not sure who the commentator is but he seems to be very good at explaining the bouts. Very engaging. @Tamura any chance you could give us an overview of the current state of play in Sumo. It's been ages since I watched it properly. Just watched a great match from Day 10. There's a few commentators and it tends to vary each day, see here for the team. The only one I don't like is Murray Johnson. He knows his stuff, but once during day 15's live coverage he was talking to a younger Japanese woman and it came across as very mansplaining and strange that a gaijin was explaining to a Japanese native about their national sport. The current state of play is probably best off described as a state of flux since the retirement of Hakuho in September 2021. Since then there's only been one yokozuna, Terunofuji, but he's been out of action for most of 2023, winning the tournament in May then pulling out after a handful of days in July. For the rest of the year he's been out injured, and the Yokozuna Deliberation Council have requested that he participate in January's tournament, indicating that they may issue a formal notice if he doesn't. This would only be the fourth notice issued since 1950, the previous one being in 2020 when yokozuna Hakuho and Kakuryu were both issued a notice also for their failure to compete. Basically the ticket buying public want to see the yokozuna in the ring competing, not sat out injured. Below yokozuna you have the ozeki who are a mixed bag. Recent demotions from ozeki are Shodai and Mitakeumi. Shodai and Mitakeumi both looked good prior to their promotion to ozeki but struggled badly at the rank. Takakeisho has been an ozeki since December 2019, and the best that can be said about him is that's he's consistently inconsistent. Every now and then he'll look dominant and win a tournament (although he recently won a play-off for a championship with a henka, or dodge at the initial charge, which is very much frowned upon when being considered for promotion to yokozuna) and the expectations will be lifted that he'll also win the next tournament and finally secure promotion to yokozuna (for a long time he's been tipped as the next Japanese yokozuna, to stop the Mongolian domination), only for him to struggle badly in the next tournament. Following his three tournament wins as an ozeki, his records in the next tournaments are 2-8-5 (the 5 is days skipped due to injury), 3-4-8 and 9-6. Mongolian ozeki Kirishima (formerly Kiribayama) will enter the January tournament as a yokozuna candidate having won in November, and fellow Mongolian ozeki Hoshoryu (nephew of former yokozuna Asashoryu) has been in consistent (albeit mostly unspectacular) form for the last two years, he hasn't had a losing record in a tournament since November 2021. The lower ranks are probably where there's more intrigue right now. Atamifuji is looking like a star in the making. He failed miserably in his top division debut in November 2022 with a 4-11 record, but since being promoted back afer winning the jūryō (second highest) division in July, he's been neck and neck for the chanpionship in the last two tournaments before ending up runner up with an 11-4 record, losing a play-off in September. He'll be ranked higher in January so facing tougher competition each day, so it'll be interesting to see if he's up to the challenge. The one I really had my eye on was Hakuoho, who ented sumo's top division aged 19 after only three tournaments in the lower divisons which was a meteoric rise, so fast he hasn't even had time to grow his hair long enough for the regulation top-knot. He looked great in his top divison debut in July with an 11-4 record, but has been out since with a shoulder injury and might return in January (obviously in a lower division as absence equals demotion). Edited November 29, 2023 by Tamura Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 18 Paid Members Posted January 18 What's all this about then? @Tamura Quote
Paid Members BigJag Posted January 18 Paid Members Posted January 18 (edited) Had a quick scout around WCSUMO.com. Looks like somebody is trying to set up an American Sumo league. Edited January 18 by BigJag Quote
NeverYield Posted January 18 Posted January 18 Interesting read this thread? Encouraged me to have a deeper look at the prestigious sport of sumo wrestling. Quote
Paid Members BigJag Posted January 21 Paid Members Posted January 21 Martin Licis, high level strongman and former WSM, checks out Sumo. As part of his very impressive Strength Unknown web series. Quote
Tamura Posted January 21 Posted January 21 On 1/18/2024 at 10:11 AM, Egg Shen said: What's all this about then? @Tamura Basically there's amateur sumo worldwide, the main reason being there's no easy way to become a professional sumo wrestler in Japan. I say easy, because it's certainly possible if you have the means and the motivation, but you'll need lots of both. These short (two minutes each) videos give some useful background, apologies for lack of embedding but Youtube doesn't allow them to be for some reason.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZt7WEfbGYshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dicAVdozx70 I'll exclude Mongolia which does seem to have a decent system for feeding people into sumo (hence the high number of Mongols in sumo). But to get into professional sumo you'll need to be under 23, travel to Japan (and I'm guessing you'll need a working visa, which probably isn't easy to get). take part in the application process, be accepted by a stable, do menial chores around the stable while sleeping in a dormitory with the rest of the wrestlers while slowly working your way up the sumo pyramid to hopefully reach the second highest jūryō division. Why the second highest you may well ask? Well, until you reach that division you don't even get a salary only a small allowance. Some current and recently retired gaijin demonstrate the timescale involved, Aoiyama (Bulgaria) took two years from debut to reach jūryō, Kaisei (Brazil) took nearly four years, Tochinoshin (Georgia) took nearly two years. I can point to plenty of Japanese rikishi who've taken even longer than that. So bearing all that in mind there are probably some decent amateur sumo wrestlers outside of Japan, who simply aren't willing to make the rather extreme sacrifices needed in order to became a professional in Japan. So it might be worth a look. Quote
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted January 22 Paid Members Posted January 22 (edited) Yeah, seeings as its free on Fite, i might take a look. Nice one @Tamura Edit* must be free in the States, listed at £7.99 here Edited January 22 by Egg Shen Quote
Paid Members BigJag Posted January 27 Paid Members Posted January 27 (edited) Did anyone watch ? On 1/18/2024 at 10:11 AM, Egg Shen said: What's all this about then? @Tamura Doesn't seem to be much info about. Edited January 27 by BigJag Quote
Tamura Posted March 27 Posted March 27 Haru (March) basho spoilers. Spoiler Wow. Just wow. I got totally hammered in the fantasy sumo thinking that last tournament's hot debut and this tournament's hot debut might struggle this time round, but sumo is much healthier for it. Ōnosato debuted in the top division in January (in only his fifth tournament, he skipped a couple of steps on the pyramid due to excellent performance in amateur sumo) and looked really impressive finishing with an 11-4 record. Obviously that meant promotion from lower maegashira ranks to the upper ones which means fighting stronger opponents, but he still managed to finish this tournament with an 11-4 record. However he was completely upstaged by Takerufuji, who won the title on his top division debut with a 13-2 record, writing himself into sumo record books in the process. He equalled Taihō's record of 11 consecutive wins in the first 11 days of a top division debut, he set the record of fastest Emperor's Cup win since debut after 10 tournaments, was the first wrestler to win their debut tournament in the top division since Ryōgoku Kajinosuke II in 1914, and was the first wrestler to gain all three special prizes (outstanding performance, technique and fighting spirit) in a single tournament since Kotomitsuki in 2000. He lost to ozeki Hōshōryū on day 12 and left the arena in a wheelchair after suffering a leg injury to former ozeki Asanoyama on day 14, leaving everything up in the air on day 15. If he didn't compete and Ōnosato won his match, Ōnosato would have ended up with an equal record but would have won the tournament by default as Takerufuji wouldn't be able to compete in the required play-off. Which ended up largely academic after Takerufuji decided to gut it out and Ōnosato lost later anyway. With those two having red hot debuts (and not forgetting Atamifuji, runner-up in his first two top division tournaments) the Japanese crowds seem red hot right now, have a read of the Japan Times article Takerufuji’s triumph is one for the ages for some more detail. Obviously it's a bit premature to be talking about yokozuna promotion, but there's definitely lots happening right now. Natsu basho starts on 12 May. Quote
Tamura Posted November 5 Posted November 5 (edited) Final basho of the year starts on Sunday. Here's what's going on. Sole yokozuna "Sicknote" Terunofuji will probably be a coin-toss as to whether he competes or not. After sitting out most of 2023 injured he's only managed to complete two full basho this year. That he won them both is a bit ominous for everyone else, but there is a new star, or possibly two, on the horizon. The new star is Onosato, who was promoted to the second highest rank of ozeki after winning the September basho. He was the runner up in Takerufuji's record-setting tournament win in March, but since then has been on a tear. He won the May basho only seven tournaments after his debut, breaking Takerufuji's record set the tournament before. In doing so he also became the first newly promoted komusubi (fourth highest rank) to win a tournament for 67 years, and by winning the outstanding performance and technique prizes (the other special prize is for fighting spirit) he was the first rikishi in 25 years to win special prizes in his first three top-division basho. He had a minor blip with only nine wins (and one special prize) in July, but rebounded in September with thirteen wins (and two more special prizes) securing his promotion to ozeki. His promotion after only nine tournaments is the quickest since the six-tournaments per year system was introduced in 1958, and the previous record-holders were three wrestlers who managed it in twelve tournaments. So his rise is pretty unprecedented, and he's doing it with aggressive, moving forward sumo and is looking mostly unbeatable. Fellow ozeki Kotozakura and Hoshoryu had pretty mediocre tournaments in September, only achieving 8-7 records thereby meaning they aren't in immiment danger of demotion, but they also aren't about to be promoted to yokozuna any time soon. Long-time ozeki Takakeisho has retired. He was demoted to the third highest rank of sekiwake after back-to-back losing tournaments in May and July and could have immediately returned to ozeki if he'd won ten matches in September, but withdrew injured after losing his first two matches. He had no obvious path back to ozeki unless he got ten wins, as he'd need 33 wins over three consecutive tourmaments and the general consensus is that he was so much of a physical wreck that was an impossible goal. Second potential new star Takerufuji returns to the top division for the first time since his March victory in his debut tournament. He injured his ankle in that tournament resulting in him being absent and dropping back down the rankings, but he won the second-division tournament in September with a 13-2 record. If you have Freeview and an internet connected TV you can watch NHK World on your TV just by selecting channel 286. The daily highlight show is on 4:30pm, 11:30pm (and 4:30am if you're nocturnal like me). Or for people who don't want to watch the highlight show live they will be available here, I believe they get added some time around the end of the 11:30pm highlight show, I've never sat around waiting for it to be added so not 100% sure. Edited November 5 by Tamura Quote
Moderators neil Posted November 18 Moderators Posted November 18 I've been watching some of the daily highlights of this November tournament. Pretty good stuff, funny it is highlights but you see the full match, not sure if some matches they don't show, but seems like it covers everything you need. I do wish that sumo wasn't so much based on force outs as that seems to the normal winning method, I love it when they are able to get some judo going. Quote
Moderators neil Posted November 20 Moderators Posted November 20 Enjoying keeping up with the daily highlights. Kotozakura is an absolute beast, not to mention having 4 titties. One thing I've never really noticed before is the amount of headbutts happening, absolutely brutal. Quote
Tamura Posted November 22 Posted November 22 On 11/18/2024 at 2:22 PM, neil said: I love it when they are able to get some judo going. Ahhhh yes, I see that you know your judo well. Quote
Moderators neil Posted November 25 Moderators Posted November 25 Great final match between Kotozakura and Hoshoryu - felt like Hoshoryu lost more than Kotozakura won, he seemed to slip and that was that. Has been great watching each day of this...looking forward to January Quote
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