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    Three days into Nastsu Basho and the dearth of up-and-coming talent is really noticeable. Kakuryuu, Hakuho, Tochinoshin and Ichinojo (I guess he's still young) are all 3-0. Goeido fell to Endo yesterday so he is 2-1 (and that was a good match). Abi is certainly game but he is getting chewed up by the San'yaku. He has a tremendous reach (and so fights like a bit like a really short Akebono) but still lacks both girth and subtlety. Some people think Hakuho is a bit off this tournament but holy shit he took Shohozan out in less than two seconds yesterday it was completely terrifying.

    But, more importantly...I attended my first match yesterday! What a spectacle! The Kokugikan is actually quite a wonderful auditorium, not a bad seat in the house, at least if you don't mind sitting on a cushioned floor for a few hours (an experience which goes from excellent to extremely painful quite quickly.) There are way more middle-aged women at sumo matches than I'd imagined. Also, the souvenirs are hilariously tacky (apart from the sumo cards, which are fantastic, I got my daughter a few and she is over the moon). It can be a bit slow, however. While watching on TV Monday, daughter finally realized how much putzing around there is between bouts (she;s only ever really watched highlights before, which cuts the time by 90%). Her reaction: "I guess i should bring my kindle". Good choice.

    More sumo Thursday and Friday but we may not go quite as early.

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      Day 4 over and the field is starting to narrow. Hakuho, Ichinojo, and Tochnoshin all at 4-0 (along with M4 Shodai who has looked very calm and steady so far).

      One thing I've learned by being at the matches and watching the unedited stuff on TV is to watch Hakuho's preparation from the moment he gets in the hall (when one fight is on, the riksishi for the following two bouts mus sit ringside, so they are in the hall for a good 6-8 minutes beforehand). Basically, he spends five minutes doing nothing but staring directly at his opponent with the meanest possible look on his face. It's this intense glowering which just gets fiercer and fiercer as time goes by. Even when he stands up to give the water ladle to the guy in the bout which precedes his (I will explain this another time), he doesn't look anywhere except at his opponent. It must be just fucking terrifying to be on the other end of that.

      His last two fights have lasted a combined four seconds, btw. He is on one of those streaks.

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        That sounds amazing, AG. Looking forward to more insights and updates.

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          Day five. Hakuho wins again in under two seconds, this time against Daieisho (we are in that period of the basho where the yokozunas are fed a steady diet of chumps). I must find out if there are sumo stattoes who track things like "lowest average time per win in a basho" because he must be getting close to some kind of record.

          Also, Shodai and Tochinoshin both won to keep pace at 5-0. That means Tochinoshin is half-way to the ten needed for promotion and barring some kind of injury this has to be pretty much a lock now. Ichinojo lost to Endo to go 4-1 in one of the most entertaining fights I've ever seen. Real end-to-end stuff. Will post a link if I can find one.

          My daughter is insisting we spend at least five hours a day at these things. It's getting a bit much. But, top tip for anyone going to the Kokugikan: the food options are *waaay* better on the second floor than on the floor seats, which may make it the only sporting venue in the world where the cheap seats get fed better than the toffs.

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            Originally posted by Anton Gramscescu View Post
            Ichinojo lost to Endo to go 4-1 in one of the most entertaining fights I've ever seen. Real end-to-end stuff. Will post a link if I can find one.
            Is this the one?

            (action starts at about 3:20)

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              Is there an English-language round-up show these days?

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                Wouter: Yes, that is the one.

                Drac: NHK has a daily 25-minute highlight package in English which shows you all the san'yaku fights plus a smattering of the rest of the makuuchi division and is usually up 12-18 hours after the day's fights; they also do an excellent pre-tournament preview show. The quality of the commentary is low, though, and mostly what they like to show is oshi-sumo (guys who go in tight for the belt) and talk about who prefers inside grips v. outside grips etc. They tend to not show the up-and-comers who rely on yotsu-sumo (pushers/thrusters) which is irritating because in the last year or so all the exciting up and comers (Onosho & Abi, in particular) are yotsus.

                So, once you start to get into the sport and don't need the colour commentary, you'll never watch anything other than Kintamayama's 15 minute package which is up 1-2 hours after the day is over. Commentary is in Japanese (it's the original NHK feed, tightly-edited) but you won't care.

                If you just want to see one or two "top" bouts of the day, Jason's Sumo Channel plucks these out of the NHK feed, and Jason (who I believe is an English teacher in Japan) does his own voiceover, which can be reasonably informative.

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                  Originally posted by Wouter D View Post
                  Is this the one?

                  (action starts at about 3:20)
                  Nice one Wouter. That's one heck of a bout.

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                    Holy. Shit.

                    Total pandemonium at the Kokugikan today. Shodai lost (had to happen), Tochinoshin won (6-0), which left Hakuho fighting Abi in the last match of the day and, well, Hakuho got careless (start at 4:30). Not nearly low enough on the tachiai and Abi went for it, head-to-chest and pushed him out of the ring.

                    (also, if you can find Ishiura's fight against Daimami today - probably when Kintamayama's highlights come out - watch it. He actually slugged him. You could hear the sound of it at the top of the bleachers. Excellent stuff.)

                    Tochinoshin alone at the top. Six guys chasing at 5-1.

                    Another Kokugikan tip. The one guy who sells sumo cards (this sport is super-resistant to actual commercialization, there is almost nothing sumo-branded here), also runs an informal swapsies thing. So if you buy a pack and get a card you already have, he lets you swap it on the spot for one of the 2-300 cards he has just sitting in a box. This. is. awesome. and my God where was this guy when I was collecting hockey cards?

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                      Amazing head-work from Abi there. Like some kind of battering ram. What was being thrown around afterwards; is it unusual to see that from the crowd?

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                        Those are seat cushions.

                        When a rank-and-filer beats a yokozuna, it's called a "kinboshi". By tradition, the fans in the lower areas, who are seated on cushions, throw the cushions towards the ring, kind of like hats in ice hockey. (they won;t need the cushions any more because since it's a yokozuna fight, the day is basically over - in today's case it was literally the last fight of the day). The yobidashi - the guys who call the wrestler's names, carry the advertising banners around the dohyo, construct, sweep and generally take care of the dohyo - hate this and in at least one non-Tokyo venue (I think it is Fukuoka) the cushions are actually tied down so they can't do this. Fans of course love it.

                        Torontonians of course feel a certain kinship with this tradition because of this

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                          One more crazy fight from yesterday, down in the juryo division: Takanoiwa (he of getting hit over the head by Haramafuji fame) vs.Terutsoyoshi which *somehow* the latter wins. This is one of those matches where you needed a replay because it sure as hell wasn't obvious inside the hall.
                          Last edited by Anton Gramscescu; 22-05-2018, 22:09.

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                            Sumo VAR is awesome

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                              Originally posted by Anton Gramscescu View Post
                              One more crazy fight from yesterday, down in the juryo division: Takanoiwa (he of getting hit over the head by Haramafuji fame) vs.Terutsoyoshi which *somehow* the latter wins. This is one of those matches where you needed a reply because it sure as hell wasn't obvious inside the hall.
                              Incredible! It looks like Takanoiwa (who it's great just to see competing again after that horrible incident) goes to disengage and stand up, thinking he's been pushed clean out of the dohyo and lost – then realises a half a moment later he can still just about feel the perimeter under his toes so he's technically still in. To lift Terutsoyoshi bodily off his feet and to throw him out from that position, somehow using such a precarious footing as a fulcrum for that split-second long enough to be the last one touching the ring, is an amazing piece of work.

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                                Thanks for these updates Anton. My wife and I fell in love with Sumo after visiting Japan last year, and watch the NHK highlights, but the Kintamayama channel is ace without the guff and the handy text, although I do like the NHK preview.

                                Tochi is going to win this I hope, he seems like he's winning hard battles, and as the week goes on should get into his groove.

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                                  Day 8 is done. Tochinoshin is 8-0 after a fusen against Endo (withdraws, apparently due to a bicep tear) and a great win against Ichinojo (start at 3:30), who has gone into one of his low-confidence spirals and is now 4-4. Hakuho and Kakuryuu follow at 7-1, along with surprise package and perennial mid-table mediocrity Chiyonokuni (currently ranked M11 and getting a lot of easy wins as a result).

                                  Goeido loses again, now 3-5 and I am loving this. Kotoshogiku, the ex-Ozeki who has been having a hard time of it lately, is up to 6-2 and having his best basho in nearly a year.

                                  Kakuryuu has one particular genius, and that is an unerring sense for when an opponent is shifting their weight just enough that they can be thrown off-balance. Watch today's match against Chiotariyu (start at 2:45). He doesn't need to push, he doesn't need to throw. He just steps backwards at exactly the right moment. It's quite a sixth sense to possess.
                                  Last edited by Anton Gramscescu; 20-05-2018, 14:03.

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                                    Day 9. No change at the top, still Tochinoshin unbeaten, with Hakuho, Kakuryuu and Chiyonkumi trailing with one loss apiece. The big news today is that Goeido has withdrawn, meaning both current Ozeki will be kadoban next tournament. Endo, shockingly, is apparently coming back tomorrow (apparently the bicep problem not as big as feared) and as a reward for gritting it out (or gambarizing, as they say in Japan), he will be rewarded with a match against Hakuho.

                                    What is 'kadoban', you ask? Well, there are basically three sets of rules around promotion/demotion in sumo. For 99% of rikishi, sumo works like a squash ladder: if you win, you go up, if you lose you go down. The better/worse your record in a basho, the more you rise/fall. Injured? Have to sit out a tournament? Tough beans - that's the same as losing 15 matches. For Yokozuna, as we've discussed before, it's the exact opposite: you can never be demoted even if you miss several basho in a row. The only rule is: you can never have an actual losing record. Because then you wouldn't be a champion anymore, and since yokozuna = champion...well, time to retire.

                                    Ozeki occupy an intermediate spot on the dial. A sekiwake with a winning record doesn't automatically rise to Ozeki; you need a few really good performances in a row (the standard is usually 33 wins over 3 bashos, a standard Tochinoshin is rapidly approaching). The benefit of being an Ozeki is two-fold. The first is that a losing record in a single tourney is not enough to get demoted. You need two losing records/missed tourneys in a row for that to happen. if you lose one, then you are "kadoban", which essentially means you're on probation. Another loss and you're demoted back down to sekiwake or further (depending on how bad the record was). BUT you get a third chance! If, in your first basho back after demotion you post a winning record, you get your Ozeki rank restored immediately. No farting around with 33 wins again.

                                    With Takayasu skipping this tournament because of injury, and Goeido withdrawing because of ankle injury/crapness, both Ozeki are now kadoban. But of course barring some serious disaster, they aren't going to be the only Ozekis next tournament, as Tochnoshin will have joined him by then. With Goeido out, his last six fights are now going to be: Chiotariyu, Shodai, Kotoshogiku, Ikioi, Hakuho and Karuryuu. Barring injury, hard to see how he ends with fewer than 12 wins out of that.

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                                      Chiyonokuni finally lost his second match. Other than that no change at the top: Tochinoshin with 10 wins, Hakuho and Kakuryuu with 9 apiece.

                                      In theory, 10 wins gives Tochinoshin his Ozeki status because that gives him 33 wins over three bashos. Some people think the fusen earlier this tournament means he needs 11 because wins need to mean something. But I think it's academic at this point.

                                      (Ozeki status is not automatic. There is a committee that meets to review applications; candidates have to be "suitable". If Tochinoshin were to win the tournament and make hugely insulting gestures to the crowd at the presentation ceremony, or start talking about Japanese War Guilt in his post-tourney interviews, he could still be denied promotion).
                                      Last edited by Anton Gramscescu; 22-05-2018, 22:08.

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                                        Day 11. Wins all around at the top. Tochinoshin at 11-0, the two Yokozunas at 10-1. Schedulers have decided to stop fucking around and paired Tochinoshin and Hakuho for Thursday's bout. Lifetime, Hakuho is 25-0 in this match-up but the last 8 months have seen a completely different Tochinoshin so who knows?

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                                          Day 12. Tochinoshin beats Hakuho. This is the only thing that matters.

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                                            Awesome! Tochinoshin has been immense the whole tournament! Can't wait to check highlights later.

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                                              Video here.

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                                                Was just about to post but you beat me to it. Thanks.

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                                                  Surely this should clinch Ozeki status for Tochinoshin, barring some grotesque faux pas. Between 36 and 39 wins across the last three tournaments, including either one or two tournament wins, and several beaten Yokozuna.

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                                                    What a battle that was! Impressed with both of them but Tochinoshin just looks like a monster right now, he's one of the few wrestlers who looks made of muscle, his upper body is scary.

                                                    What are the chances of him reaching Yokozuna? Is it possible, does promotion from Ozeki work the same way?

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