Sumo - AKI Basho (September)

[Tamura]

Day 8 at NHK World pace.

Spoiler

 

Day 1 started fine for the four ozeki, with them all winning. Considering it took till somewhere around day 11 for the three ozeki to all win on the same day in the last tournament, that's quite an accomplishment. Obviously that didn't last long as three of them lost on day 2. Ishiura's slap on day 4 was a thing of beauty.

Hard enough to knock out an elephant, and possibly did. Recipient Akiseyama subsequently withdrew before day 8 with a jaw injury, although it's claimed he was injured the day before the slap heard round the world. It certainly didn't help matters, that's for sure.

Right now it's looking like a two man race for the championship. Ozeki Terunofuji is undefeated, and fellow ozezi Takakeisho has one defeat, everyone else is further back. Based on past experience, and I'm guessing they purposefully design it to increase drama, should that still be the case on the final day it'll be Takakeisho facing off against Terunofuji, with the former needing to win to force a play-off for the championship.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Tamura

[Tamura]

So it's the final weekend of the July tournament. Various things were happening going into this tournament, mainly the return of yokozuna Hakuko and the potential promotion from ozeki to yokozuna for Terunofuji, the latter needing to either win the tournament or have an equally strong showing. The latter isn't explicitly defined, as neither are the wider criteria for promotion to yokozuna. But the de facto standard is two consecutive tournament wins or equally strong performances while an ozeki. It's generally speculated that losing a play-off for the championship or having a 13-2 or better record might do. But anyway, on to the tournament.

 

Spoiler

Ozeki Asanoyama is suspended for this tournament, and the next five, for breaking COVID-19 protocols and going out to get drunk. By the time he returns he'll be down in the lower (non-televised) divisons and will have to fight his way back up. Fellow ozeki Takakeisho was in with a chance of yokozuna promotion also after being runner up in the previous tournament after losing a playoff to Terunofuji, but he pulled out early with a back injury.

Right now the tournament is a two elephant race between Hakuko and Terunofuji, who both have perfect 13-0 records. Even though it's speculated he's on the verge of retirement Hakuko has looked impressive, he's even qualified for the Japanese Olympic Staring Team.
 

Terunofuji and Hakuho will meet on day 15, so even if either of them lose on day 14 they'll be able to force a playoff for the championship (unless of course they both lose on day 14). Terunofuji appears to have done enough for promotion to yokozuna already, but going 15-0 for a third consecutive tournament win would be the icing on the cake. Obviously his promotion would have to be discussed by the Yokozuna Delberation Committee who then forward their recommendation to the Sumo Association, but I can imagine all hell would break loose if his promotion was blocked without a very good reason.

 

Edited July 17, 2021 by Tamura

[Keith Houchen]

I caught some on the NHK channel, thanks for the tip!

[waters44]

The next tournament starts tomorrow on NHK by the looks of things!

[Carbomb]

Right. I'm making a point to catch this now. @Kaz Hayashi, you may want to change the title to "Aki Basho". And let us know when you do a podcast! Might be able to catch it this time.

[Kaz Hayashi]

Not sure if any of you play the Kachi Clash game, but it’s fun while the tournament progresses. You need to submit your team before the first day of the Basho, so you can’t join during.

However, get yourselves signed up and join in for the November Basho. 
You pick a roster of 5 sumo, 1 from each category (see pic) and you must keep them, no subs, for us duration of the basho. Naturally, some of your sumo will fight each other and you get injuries. 
You get a point for each victory on each day (5 points total possible each day). There’s a few hundred people take part each time. See other pic for top end of leaderboard.

link to play: www.kachiclash.com

I’m not going to do the write ups like last time and the pod is too busy with other stuff for this Basho, but we’re planning to bring it back in November.

If a bunch of you do make Kachi Clash teams in November, it could be fun to chat about progress in here? Save that for November.

In the mean time, I think the writing is on the wall for this Basho.

Hakuho’s entire stable are out with Covid. Terunofuji is going to absolutely piss all over this Basho. I can honestly see him going 15-0 again. 
I’m hoping for strong outings from Wakatakakage & Hoshoryu too. Even though Waka’s isn’t in my team, I really root for him every basho.

 

[bAzTNM#1]

On 1/13/2021 at 11:58 AM, Scott Malbranque said:

Genuinely - hand on soul - thought Yokozuna was a reference to Godzilla or something like that, when he was in the WWF.
Everyday's a schoolday.

I remember the Sumo Association being really hot at the WWE for using the name "Yokozuna". Threaten to sue and all that good shit.

[Tamura]

On 9/13/2021 at 6:03 PM, Kaz Hayashi said:

link to play: www.kachiclash.com

Maybe I'm being a bit thick, but there's nothing on there about sumo at all, or how to sign up or anything.

Day 5 spoilers

Spoiler

Been an interesting tournament so far. Terunofuji is looking strong like usual, tough to see anyone mounting a serious challenge the way he's going. Ozeki Shodai is looking like a potential challenger on 4-1. He's very inconsistent though, and distinctly average in his last three tournaments with records of 7-8, 9-6 and 8-7. Hidenoumi used a rare winning technique with an ushiromotare (backward lean out), first time in the top division since 2016. Then not to be outdone Ura (if anyone watched the July tournament preview show about his return to the top ranks you'll know he's got a reputation for pulling rare techniques out of the bag) hits an okuritsuridashi (rear lift out, although I thought he was going for a Dr Death style backdrop driver at first), only the third one ever in the top division with the last one occuring in 2005.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Tamura

[Kaz Hayashi]

Sorry, try this link mate:

 

https://kachiclash.com 

[Kaz Hayashi]

Day 8 - Interesting day 

3 take aways from the day.

Spoiler

Terunofuji - Very close to being defeated today. We’ve seen similar several times this basho, but he digs deep and completely dominates after looking a bit sketchy. Good win today, he goes 8-0, meaning he gets his Kachi-Koshi. He’s gonna go 15-0 IMO.

Tsurugisho - Can’t believe he won today. His leg was damaged yesterday, and it looked absolutely nuts today. His leg was twice the size and red raw. Impressive win.

Hoshoryu- He came back today after dropping out a couple of days back due to tonsillitis. He battled hard against the marshmallow man Ichinojo today. They had to restart after both hit the deck simultaneously, but Hosh managed to fight hard and win, which he followed with a a slight outburst after the fact. Great to see him back. I think he’ll be an Ozeki in the next year. Incredibly young, and I’m hoping a future yoko.

 

[Tamura]

According to various media reports (and I don't mean wrestling newz sits, I'm talking proper Japanese media) Hakuho is retiring. He retires as the winningest riskishi in history, holding the records for most wins, most championship, most undefeated championships, most playoff wins, most consecutive championships and most wins in a calendar year. A bit more about this in my comments on the tournament, bit difficult to talk about what's next for sumo without talking about the tournament results.
 

Spoiler

In largely expected news, Terunofuji won the championship, which is rare for a newly promoted yokozuna but he made it look relatively straightforward. Rank-and-filer Myogiryu was one win behind going in to day 15, but lost so Terunofuji was champion whether he won or lost on day 15. But he won anyway, manhandling ozeki Shodai to finish with a 13-2 record. Speaking of the ozeki I generally try and ignore the ramblings of Murray Johnson, who's one of the commentators. He's so bad at times, I was watching the day 15 live action and he was commentating alongside what I assume was a Japanese woman, and couldn't believe the amount of mansplaining he was doing. But anyway, back to his views on the ozeki, which are that they are a useless shower at present. Takakeishio was struggling with injury so maybe he had an excuse, but Shodai certainly didn't, and they both finished with 8-7 records which for ozeki is pretty mediocre. Looking at the current crop you really do wonder if there's anyone that can challenge the Mongolian domination, since going forward with Hakuho gone you can probably make Terunofuji the strong favourite for every tournament for the forseeable future.

 

[Tamura]

January basho starts this weekend, 25ish minute daily shows will be up on NK World like normal. For anyone wanting to catch up on what's been going on NK World also have a look back on 2021 here, and there's also a documentary about recently retired GOAT Hakuho here.

 

[BigJag]

Has anyone been watching this?

 

[Egg Shen]

nope, but I like the look of that

[Tamura]

November tournament starts on Sunday, preview show is up on NHK World here, including a recap of September's tournament. NHK World also has live coverage of day 1 from 8.10am on Sunday and can be watched here. If you have Freeview and an internet connected TV you can watch NHK World on your TV just by selecting channel 286. For those that don't want to sit through the lengthy pre-match ceremonies there's also a daily highlight show on NHK World at 4:30pm and 11:30pm on Sunday, and the same time every subsequent day for the rest of the tournament. 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.