Kyushu Basho 2013 Prebasho Report

In a few hours this year’s kyushu basho will begin.  There are more than a few exciting points to cover here, retirements, promotions, possible ozeki; there is the possibility for lots of drama.  Let’s get going down in the lower ranks.  Takanoyama has sunk back down to makushita 2, where, let’s be fair, he continues to struggle.  I love the guy he’s a great wrestler, and i think he’s great for the sport, but if it hadn’t been for the yaocho scandal he never would have made upper juryo, much less makuuchi.  I think he’s more at home here win/loss-wise.   Tochinoshin is going to be absent again this basho, and since he’s scraping the bottom of the juryo barrel after an injury and an entire basho healing up it means he’ll be staring off 2014 in upper makushita.

Kyushu Basho 2012: Day 14

Aloha and welcome to Day 14 of the Kyushu!  Chalmers here, reporting to you from Hawaii where the sun is shining and the NSK stream is lagging!  It’s okay, though, as the plot has stopped thickening and has congealed like the gravy in my arteries from yesterday’s Thanks Giving festivities.

Kyushu 2012 Day 2

Kyushu; typically a tense basho.  A basho of change; when all of the rikishi fly down south to avoid the cold, much like the Siberian swans that migrate to Akita.  Every year the less-than-magestic honking of these portly birds reminds me to always wear a hat, and watch where I step, but also that the Kyushu basho is on.  Change; I mentioned it before.  We have a new yokozuna.  Perhaps he’s the panacea the NSK is looking for, perhaps he will bring in more ticket sales, perhaps he will make the sport appealing to younger audiences, perhaps he will cleanse the sport of scandal, gambling, and all the other ailments of every major professional sport.  But who are we kidding… it’s sumo time, always wear a hat, cause zabuton might be flying, and watch where you step, cause the birds are back in town.

Kyushu Bazuke

Here is the official banzuke for the upcoming Kyushu basho. It sure is nice having two yokozuna on there again!

The official Makuuchi banzuke for the 2012 Kyūshū (Nov) Basho

The official Juryo banzuke for the 2012 Kyūshū (Nov) Basho

Connolly

Virgil Valentine’s Kyushu Basho Top 10

Did Kisenosato earn his promotion to Ozeki?  The old unwritten rule of minimum 33 wins over three basho has evolved into the unobserved rule…for Japanese rikishi.  The JSA elders were gushing so much about his promotion, they blew their loads one day early only to see him fail to reach magic 33.  At the end of the day, the question is not

Kyushu Basho 2011: Day 14

Tonite was a bit lackluster.  No huge upsets, no overwhelming victories or defeats… well ther were a couple of overwhelming defeats (most notably Kimurayama…) and one over whelming victory (doesn’t take much imagination to guess who).  Although there were a few small surprises and a bit of decent sumo to be had.  In case you hadn’t heard, down in juryo Takamisakari secured his kachikoshi, and Ikioi has, without a doubt, secured the juryo yusho with a score of 12-2 so far.  As for makuuchi…

Kyushu 2011: Day 9

So introductions are required are they, Mr. I’ve-got-the-biggest-profile-picture? Well then, here it goes so…. This morning I woke up with an awful hangover, in a city over an hour away, in a hotel that was overpriced, in a double bed, with exactly no one beside me. I struggled through today, watching the clock at least every 15 minutes and when I eventually got home, to my extremely cold house, I depressed at the realisation that I won’t be able to come home to a warm house for another 5 months. I then sat on the cold tatami floor, in an awkward position in front of my computer which is on a table that that was obviously designed for small dwarfs, and waited my heater to get going. I look right to where the TV is, and there is a bout between bandy legged snake at the tachi-ai. My first thought is, “Oh please, please loose!” But he doesn’t, and that does absolutely nothing for my present state of mind. I’ve had better days.

Good evening.

Kyushu 2011: Day 5

As I’m sitting here thinking about some semi-retarded way to open today’s coverage of Day 5 sumo, several different idea pop into my head…. parody of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood… too pedophilic; medieval knights prancing about as rikishi… too gay/involved; horror story turned sumo basho…what the hell.  Noticing that my smoke is almost gone and the coffee is getting cold I have come to conclude that this is the worst brainstorming session ever.  Why are introductions to a coverage even necessary? To set a flow and/or tune for the entire report… however if anyone

Kyushu 2011: Day 4

Kimurayama vs. Tsurugidake
Today started off with the least favourite rikishi here at S&S… well depending on who you talk to I guess, but I had my Tsurugidake flag on when this fight began! Kimurayama unsurprisingly henkad at the tachi-ai. But with incredibly slow footwork failed to capatalise and allowed Tsurugidate to recover. Tsuru then drove forward and pushed Kimura out via oshidashi.

Masunoyama vs. Sadanofuji
Masanoyama happily came up from the Juryo rank to fight against the less happy Sadanofuji. Masa pulled of a beautiful sukinage (beltless arm throw) to keep Sada… well Sad.

Kyushu 2011: Day 3

I know you all want to get to the big results, but bear with me for a minute here.  The juryo feed went in and out for a while.  We say that “Nihon Ganbarou” screen for a few bouts, although we could hear what was going on.  So I didn’t catch every juryo bout, but one in particular stuck out.  Sotairyu v. Hokutokuni.  I like Sotairyu because of his explosive tachi-ai, and unwillingness to quit at the edge,  but yesterday

Kyushu 2011: Day 2

I’ll start things out today with a glance down into juryo.  Last basho’s Makushita yusho winner Asahisho lost to Ikioi leaving him at 1-1 whilst Sticky Icky advances to 2-0.  Sotairyu bounced back from yesterday and got the W over Tamanoshima.  It was ruled a hatakikomi, but looked more like a tsukiotoshi.  Takamisakari  (now at juryo 10) gave it his all against Kotoyuki looking to keep his career alive,

Kyushu Basho 2010: Nakabi

Hump-day, Hump-day, Hump-day!  Nakabi, Day 8, a day in the middle of a two week sandwich, and how did Virgil Valentine spend it?  Sumo, a bottle of Evan Williams Single Barrel Vintage, and a Bolivar Double Corona.  While there was some ho-hum sumo overall, the smoke was fabulous and the bourbon was essential.

Day 7 was something else, eh?  If you didn’t see/hear what NHK dragged in for Day 7, consider yourself fortunate.  We rag on Hiro Morita cos he’s no Murray Johnson or Ross Mihara, but yesterday you had to feel sorry for the guy, suck in the NHK booth with a man who identifies himself as a “Demon” of some cult.  Granted, the Demon does know sumo and is quite the wailing tenor, but listening to him as an *English commentator*…it was like

Aki Basho 2010 Wrapup

S&S Sansho

to be announced 9/29

Best Bout of Aki Basho –  Hakuho v. Baruto

Most Improved Rikishi – Tochiozan

Keppare-sho – Takekaze

Booby Prize – Bushuyama

Lets begin this Wrap-up from the bottom up.

Jyonokuchi Yusho goes to W30 Oazuma (巨東) with a perfect 7-0.  Oazuma is a 20 year old Fukushima native that fights from Tamanoi beya.  He had made it up as far as Sandanme E80 in January, but an injury put him on kyujo for 3 basho, forcing him back down.  Expect to see him do well in Jonidan come Kyushu.  Other noteworthy performances came from