Current Events > Sumo Basho Winter 2023

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://youtu.be/E4UIW-KKFOA?feature=shared

Day 1 highlights:

Both making their top division debut, Roga vs Churanoumi goes a lot like a failing airplane, with a lot of spinning, stalling, and a clumsy landing that has the win decision overturned by the judges, in favor of Churanoumi. A bit of saved face there, as Roga got his start in 2019, whereas Chura had been at it since 2016.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxQgms3kWaPgKD_Rm-cv5gHy7S8V8FRIQK?feature=shared

edit: dangit, timestamps don't work and clips don't embed.

Alrighty, found videos of individual fights.

Tobizaru vs Kotonowaka
https://youtu.be/vtsvnbyg8ps?feature=shared&t=250
fight starts @3:58
Kotonowaka is in the prime of his career, and it shows. The very aptly-named Tobizaru, which means Flying Monkey, was caught being uncharacteristically orthodox, and lost to plain, direct experience. And a significant range gap.

None of my Sumo's are in the game anymore. No Tochi, No uncle Aki, Enho is questionable.

Who do I root for? Terutsuyoshi?

Takayasu vs Wakamotoharu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt9zP_fA5EY
Hilariously long staredown at @4:33, actual fight @5:08

Both longtime veterans with some shared history, Wakamoto has only recently breached the hire ranks after years of struggle. Yasu, on the other hand, has all the talent, experience, bulk, and overall one would expect among the highest ranks, but he just cannot seem to finally get to the top, through a string of unusual situations or unfortunate injuries. Some say that he has developed a sort of neurosis or phobia concerning the final days of major tournaments.

But enough about that: Wakamoto is the struggler, Yasu is the high bar. It shows, as Takayasu has the cleanest match of the day in tossing Wakamoto over with a textbook uwatenage.

wanderingshade posted...

None of my Sumo's are in the game anymore. No Tochi, No uncle Aki, Enho is questionable.

Who do I root for? Terutsuyoshi?

God I feel that pain. Tochi is my sumoshii. Frankly, I don't think Enho's coming back to the top ranks. Midori is the closest thing to a smol we have left. Salty might recover, maybe, Tochi's coaching some good candidates, and Hokutofuji is still in high spirits.

I'll bet my hat that Terunofuji announces retirement in the next 7 months.

Abi vs Gonoyama
https://youtu.be/gShrmKmVPqM?feature=shared&t=205
fight starts @3:25

Abi is the bad boy of sumo. He's why they have restricted access to twitter, his hard partying got him demoted to the division equivalent of college debut drafts. But he bulldozed his way back, with his freakish orangutan arms and singleminded focus on slapping the shit out of necks.

Gonoyama is relatively new, having skipped a few divisions exactly via the equivalent of being the top pick among the rookie drafts. Almost all of his tournaments so far have ended with positive win/loss, and he shows no signs of slowing down.

But no, Abi absolutely slapped the shit out of his neck. And I mean, this guy barely has a neck. Fucking brutal. That he gets back up and shows no signs of pain is a testament to the power of Ozumo.

Hoshoryu vs Shodai
https://youtu.be/7ywXmTdpHI8?feature=shared&t=243
fight starts @4:03

Hoo boy, this is a match-up. Shodai has almost been a yokozuna candidate for quite some time, but like Takayasu, he never quite gets there. In his case, it's more about (unfortunately) standard injuries; he's not quite so cursed, just he handles injury unusually poorly. When he's on top of his game, he is arguably a match for any yokozuna.

Hoshoryu. This fiery dragon, this angry young man. His uncle, Asashoryu, is one of the most celebrated yokozuna of all time, all at once a source of inspiration, insight, and a sizeable chip on his shoulder. He takes losses to heart and has pushed himself in training, perhaps more than a human should. But the talent runs in his blood, and he has practically forced himself through the ranks. He has a uniquely flashy signature move, a wide angle, sometimes revolving shitatenage.

Hoshoryu proves his talent and dedication in an odd way here: While he had increasingly favored belt grappling in prior tournaments, he handily won against Shodai, solely with a pushing-thrusting style. It is very unusual for a wrestler favoring grappling to fight solely with strikes, and vice versa. It is practically unheard of for anyone to choose to do this against a wrestler favored to be yokozuna, let alone to win, and so cleanly. Asashoryu was known to excel at all forms of Sumo, and it seems Hoshoryu intends to do the same.

Takakeisho v Hokutofuji
https://youtu.be/jzu-drZ3Knk?feature=shared&t=267
fight @4:27

Takakeisho! Yet another almost-yokozuna, who has clung to his second-highest rank for years via getting just barely enough time to take care of his injuries. You may be noticing a pattern here. Of all yokozuna contenders, he is considered most likely to actually make it to the top. He favors a technical striking style, but is quite capable of clinching a win with a throw.

Hokutofuji is the most spirited man in Sumo. Everything he does is full of passion. The way he walks down the hall, goes up the steps, wipes his sweat down, everything. Even his salt tossing looks like prayer. This man is the epitome of a faith-based build. A less devout Hokutofuji would merely sit in obscurity, bouncing around between middle divisions. But through sheer SPIRIT, he's gotten to, and stayed in, the top division, never going back down. You cannot help but cheer for this man in everything he does. I wholeheartedly believe spontaneous musical numbers occur whenever he so much as makes breakfast.

Alas, Takakeisho is considered highly for a reason. He pushes Hokutofuji out and makes it look like a practice run. But damn if Hokuto isn't fighting it with every instance of his being, on what is clearly an injured leg.

That's it for Day 1 highlights, apologies if I didn't cover any favorites. There's a lot of matches per day, and I get hungry.