It's time for another sumo tournament and it's surprising how fast a week has flown by. Of course a large part of that might be that I've been going insane at work preparing for my yearly inventory but that doesn't take away my inherent excitement for the sport of Ozumo. After a horrific year for the world of sumo last year, this year has been very exciting with the return of the Dai Yokozuna Asashoryu restoring order to a chaotic universe. I take that back -- he is in fact restoring chaos to a boring and lifeless universe but he's going about it in an orderly fashion. Understand? No?
To put it simply Asashoryu is one tough drill sergeant who will either destroy you or make you stronger. Without him the rikishi fall into complancency and the tournaments just grind along with the other Yokozuna Hakuho just tossing people limply aside while he ambles quietly into another victory. Now that Asashoryu is back, Hakuho has real competition and the young guns look forward to proving themselves! Let's go check on Daemon's favorites and other goings on!
Asashoryu is currently in 1st place with no losses. His ego is still a little out of control and his constant need to over dominate his opponents has, at times, put him in dangerous positions which could result in an embarassing and unnecessary loss. He has begun to calm down during the latter half of the tournament and is exhibiting more controlled and steady sumo so hopefully he will continue on this course. He has received some criticisms (as he always does) for being overly aggressive but that's what he does -- put the fear of God into his opponents.
You might be surprised to find out that contrary to what this photo might indicate Hakuho is actually having a good tournament with only one loss. This is not unusual for him as he has this nasty tendency to suffer a strange loss in the first week and then he goes on to finish the tournament with nothing but wins. The reason the Yokozuna is so angry and trying to stifle an all-encompassing urge to violently attack everyone around him is the way he lost.
The gentleman in the foreground is Aminishiki. He is Hakuho's right hand man and the rikishi who holds the sword for Hakuho during his Dohyo-iri (ring entering ceremony). Aminishiki defeated Hakuho by the technique known as a tachi-ai henka. Basically he jumped to the side when Hakuho charged him and slapped him down. Generally this is considered gutless sumo and is heavily looked down upon but it is not an illegal tactic. It is something that injured opponents do when they just need one more win to get a winning record. It is definitely not something you do to somebody you respect and it's incredibly rare that anybody would have the nerve to do it to a Yokozuna. I can't imagine what would happen if anybody tried that on Asashoryu.
There was a very scary moment a few days ago when Kakizoe crashed into Sakaizawa and hit him so hard that it knocked him clean out and he just collapsed on the ground and didn't move. I have seen many instances where a rikishi was hit really hard and basically TKO'd but he was still awake but just really groggy and out of it for a few seconds. Everyone just froze waiting for Sakaizawa to rouse but he didn't and Kakizoe immediately became very upset and concerned. Sakaizawa finally awoke and they wheel-chaired him away as his dead fall really ripped up his knee something fierce. It's always sad to see somebody suffer a possibly career ending injury in a split second of action.
Ama is having one of those off tournaments. Although an incredibly skilled technical wrestler, he seems to be settling into these regular tournaments where he seems to be over thinking everything and he ends up just violently jerking all over the place with no real plan in mind. He really needs to get this under control if he's to make a serious run for the title of Ozeki. When he's on he's one of the most exciting wrestlers to watch, but when he's off it's really hard to watch.
Speaking of which pretty much ALL the ozeki having been stinking it up this tournament which once again points out how badly we need new blood to replace these guys. A few of the veterans have decent enough excuses as they have been around longer than most wrestlers and several of them have won multiple tournaments. But an Ozeki's job is to challenge the Yokozuna's dominance and to get more than just enough to wins to not be demoted. Unfortunately they all seem to be constantly settling for just that -- just enough wins to not get demoted with no desire to go for the tournament. Embarassing.
Fan favorite Takamisakari (AKA Robocop) is having a great tournament at long last. After several tournaments that threatened to throw him into the minor leagues (and thus off the televised broadcast), he has finally snapped out of his doldrums and has already attained a winning record for this tournament! Typically Takamisakari has a good first week and then, just as he's about to get a winning tournament, he drops every single match for the remaining week. Not so this tournament! Takamisakari is a winner which means the fans are incredibly happy and all of Japan can breathe a sigh of relief that their cash cow will not be sent away.
Two rikishi that have impressed me are Kisenosato and newcomer Wakanoho. Both men consistantly show no fear towards any wrestler and take any punishment they receive in stride. It's always great to see Kisenosato attempt to stare down the Yokozuna and Ozeki veterans, but it was very thrilling to watch Wakanoho just stare deeply into the eyes of the dominant Yokozunas, the eyes of terror, and he would then flex his arms letting them know that he's going to bring everything he's got which really ticked them off. Thrilling stuff and there's still one more week to go!
