2013 Nagoya Basho Day 9

Briton-Meyer brought up a great point yesterday when he noted that it seemed like the competition in the top division had improved. He’s absolutely right. Rikishi who benefited from the mass yaocho retirements in the early 2011 gave some guys an unrealistic bump up the banzuke.  This resulted in a weaken top division. Although many deserving rikishi graced the top division, the majority weren’t ready for the level of competition.

I’d argue the banzuke’s equilibrium is healing now with the addition of  Chiyotairyu, and other rikishi gaining experience in the top division such as Takayasu, Myogiryu, Aoiyama, Takarafuji, and Ikio.

Watching Takanoyama’s decline, is probably an even better indicator of the health of the banzuke. The Czech is on track to have his seventh consecutive losing record since his 11-4 Juryo showing last May! The banzuke is healing and when you add the likes of Takanoiwa, a healthy Homasho, and newcomers Oosunaarashi, and Endo to the Makuuchi division soon, things will continue to improve competition wise.

That’s my take anyways.

Let’s get to the action!

Nagoya Basho 2013 Shonichi

Another year and another Nagoya basho. I find it fitting that I fell ill yesterday to heat exhaustion as Nagoya happens to be the literally hottest basho of the year. Two litters of water, three ice packs, a sports drink, and five hours of rest later, I am finally feeling human enough to write about all the shonichi action.  Speaking hot, it appears the crowds are lining up to see if Kisenosato can hang on for a Yokozuna promotion.  If it happens, I’d imagine that would ignite at least a bit more interest in a sport we all love. Be sure to stay hydrated with a cool drink and we’ll be sure to keep the sumo action heading your way all basho long! Now let’s get to the good stuff.

Natsu 2013: Day 14

When I signed up for this day of sumo, I had no idea what the significance would mean.

Natsu Basho 2013 Shonichi

I’m not sure who had the wind-up for this basho. If it’s been posted, I haven’t had a chance to read it. All that said, I am excited to see how injured Masunoyama, Chiyotairyu, Kotooshu, and the ever injured Baruto hold up this basho.

S & S Rikishi on the Rise & Makushita favorites Endo, Osunaarashi, and Sakakiyama all won their first bouts of the basho today

Rikishi on The Rise: Endo & Oosunaarashi set to move up the banzuke in May

Oosunaarahsi taking a breather after another awesome basho

The Egyptian sand storm Oosunaarashi finished the Osaka basho with a strong 6-1 finish. A record good enough to place him in the Joi of the Makushita ranks next May. Newcomer and bull reincarnate, Endo also had a solid debut. After two off bouts in a row, the college grad was able to rebound and pick up his last three wins to garner a 5-2 record. Look to see both of these young stars to become sekitori soon!

Rikishi on the Rise: Endo & Tatsu move to 3-2 while Osunaarashi moves to 4-1

Osunaarashi got his kachi-koshi today by defeating big boy (over 200 kilos) Maeta. There is still an outside chance the Egyptian strong man will have a chance at the Yusho.

Tatsu takes down Kimikaze with some sweet tsupari, followed by a quick pull down.

Endo overpowers Masakaze to round things out.

Day 6 through Nakabi

When I see a Yokozuna go in during a taichi-ai and not gain the right hand grip when it is there for the taking or I see Kakuryu continue to show of some of the best sumo a top the dohyo and then get caught “off guard” by the likes of Myogiryu or Toyonoshima, I can’t help but

Rikishi on the Rise: Akita’s Sasakiyama slow dances his way to 2-0, literally

We are a little late reporting on this one, but it’s worth sharing nonetheless. Makushita 34 East, Sasakiyama, an Akita native, is off to a great start in Osaka. His bout against Ms34w, Mankajo, a 200 plus kilogram giant from Miyazaki lasted approximately two minutes and fifty six seconds, a marathon by sumo standards. Sasakiyama did a great job of slowly gaining the inside grip and holding off the far heavier rikishi for a long awaited uwatenage win. Watch the slow dance for yourself below! Saskiyama, Akita’s third highest ranked rikishi (of seven total) faces 2-0 eleven year veteran Hokkairyu, the Hokkaido native, today.

Rikishi on the Rise: Tatsu picks up early Makushita win

Me man crush from Makushita, Tatsu easily defeated Nankairiki today in his first bout of this basho.

Props to Araibira for the excellent video

Rikishi on the Rise: Osunaarashi & Newcomer Endo pick up early Makushita wins

Sumo & Stogies favorite Ms23e Osunaarashi picked up a nice win today over Ms22w Yamatofuji. The Egyptian Sandstorm overpowered his opponent, standing him up straight, briefly gaining the left outside grip just long enough to quickly shove Yamatofuji out of the ring. We look forward to this young man’s sekitori debut when the time comes.

S & S Favorite Living Out His Dream

Newcomer Endo Shota lined up like a bull, slamming his feet into the dohyo looking to charge his opponent Ms10w Sakaguchi. Endo put an endo (oh the puns) to this bout by methodically  gaining the strong inside grip and easily walking the Ishikawa native out for his first ever victory.

Also worth noting: Goeido simply moved his leg while Tokitenku attempted a  Ketaguri. Goeido moves to 1-0. Artistic representation of the bout below. More random updates to on the way.

Tokitenku’s, nearly patented (to fail), ketaguri

Nakabi Hatsu Basho 2013

Like a phoenix rising

from history’s fiery ashes

a single crash upon dohyo time

foot shakes the champion’s aura

loose onto the ring

its spirit fills each shikona

with a pride and greatness

once known

but today

awoken

Maybe my initial, gut, analysis is wrong, but it sure felt like at least some rikishi fought Nakabi with a little extra pride and passion today. Taiho was without question a phenomenal yokozuna who will be remembered. Let’s get to the good stuff, and for once, it feels like there was a lot of it to go around.

2012 & A Few of Our Favorites

Dear S & S fans,

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for sticking with us in 2012. We’ve been doing this for about five years now, and after a conversations with Valentine and the crew we’ve been posting our reviews/thoughts/reports to this blog for the past three years. We’ve tripled and now nearly doubled our viewership in those three years and considering our lives haven’t gotten any easier we’re pretty pleased to have kept this thing going.

The site has always been about a group of friends trying to entertain each other, but the funny thing about posting things for the world to see is that it slowly becomes something more. Your comments, feedback, and questions inspired a lot of content this past year and we thank you for that.  From helping some cool folks in Canada who wanted to send Kokkai a letter after his retirement to joking  around with some awesome sumo fans on Twitter and facebook, not a day goes by where I don’t think about sumo and the friendships I’ve been able to maintain because of this site. Hakuho recently said he wanted to go after Asashoryu and Kitanoumi’s yusho records in 2013, the year of the snake. It’s our hope that we’ll be able to share the Dai-Yokozuna’s intensity and keep the English updates going strong here with the occasional review of our namesake and unnamed-sake. Thanks for a great year. Below you’ll find a few lists of links (some of our favorite posts in the last three years).

Happy New Year,

Team S & S

• Check out some of our favorite guest reporters
• An Afternoon Exchange Between Aran, Tochinoshin, Matagiyama
• A Word on Facials
• Bushmill’s 16 Year Malt
• A Brief History of Yaocho!
•  The Do’s and Dont’s of Flasks
•  Ten Reasons to Love Sumo
• 4 Reasons Takanoyama is worth cheering for.  Alternative title: One man’s bromance with a guy in a diaper.
• Basil Hayden
• Alec Bradley “Black Market” Churchhill

Kyushu Basho 2012: Shonichi

Welcome one and all to the final basho of 2012. May Kyushu bring fifteen outstanding days of sumo and a few surprises along the way.

It seems like everyone has high hopes for Chiyotairyu, but the kid backs up all too often. Today Tamawashi got the best of the tachi-ai and had the Young Ryu

Questions after Nakabi (Day 8) Aki Basho

With five rikishi with 8 wins a piece, this basho is starting to get pretty exciting. Will Harumafuji gain the top rank? Will Hakuho win the Yusho or will he pretend to be off his game and let someone else take it? Will Kyokutenho shock the world once again? Will Takayasu continue his winning ways (currently he’s won 14 of his last fifteen bouts after losing 7 in a row in July). Finally where would we be without Kisenosato? Will he revitalize sumo with a Yusho this tournament or will he drop yet another opportunity? Stay with us as we do our best to keep you up to date on all the action.

Aki Basho 2012 Shonichi

Welcome one and all to the 2012 Aki Basho. I think Briton-Meyer has done a nice job introducing the big stories of this basho in his warm-up post, and so let’s get right down to business on the day one action!

Poll Plain & Simple: Do you believe Harumafuji can gain the Yokozuna promotion after the Aki Basho?

Harumafuji, with his Zen Yusho in Nagoya, has once again positioned himself for a chance at Yokozuna promotion at the Aki Basho. Can he manage it? Share your thoughts in the comments. If you have facebook vote here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sumo-Stogies/177037952333041 

Otherwise, again, we’ll use our vote for the crowd’s favorite.

Sumo & Stogie’s Favorites rock Nagoya’s face off

Three of our favorites here at Sumo & Stogies rocked Nagoya with winning records and some great bouts. Sure we have other favorites in Juryo and Makuuchi but what fun is there in only looking at the present when the future happens to be torching its own path up the banzuke as we speak! Three rikishi we have our eyes on to make the move to Sekitori status soon enough. 

Facebook Poll: Harumafuji or Hakuho for the Yusho!

Dear Sumo & Stogies Readers

Nagoya has two more days of exciting sumo left and may end in an outstanding 14-0 vs. 14-0 show down between Ozeki, Harumafuji and Yokozuna, Hakuho. We have a little facebook poll running right now on our page. Vote for your favorite here.

You don’t have Facebook you say? Not to worry! Vote in the comments on this webpage. The rikishi with the most votes will win the S & S account’s vote on facebook. Last checked the vote was tied up with over 100 people viewing the poll (and far fewer actually voting!). See the results live tomorrow and on Senshuraku.

Update: Hakuho and Harumafuji to face off on Senshuraku!

Traditionally the top ranked Ozeki will face a lone Yokozuna on Senshuraku. Today however it was announced that top ranked Ozeki, Kisenosato, will face Hakuho a day early. This will leave Harumafuji, the rikishi with by far the most intensity this basho, to face Hakuho on what we can only hope will be an exciting final match!

Nagoya Basho 2012 – Day 3 Guest Report: Don Corleone

Dear Sumo & Stogies Readers,

I like to drink whiskey more than I used to. Anyway, I am drinking more.

When Josef Daly called me for this favor, tell me, how could I respond?

“Godfather,” he said, “I would be much obliged if you would write a sumo report for me, so I can spend more time with my wife’s family on this rare occasion. This I ask of you respectfully, as a favor.”

A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man and with those sentiments in mind, I  decided to do him this favor. Someday, and that day may never come, I may call upon him to do a service for me in return, but that is neither here nor any of your business.