SUMO - 2018 Aki Basho (Sept. 9th - Sept. 23rd)

[Fork]

Time for another sumo tournament, this time in Tokyo. Here's the banzuke for the tournament:

Only guy making his debut in the top division is Takanosho from Chiganoura Beya. He's coming off a nice 13-2 record in Juryo, which wasn't enough to win the yusho as he went into a playoff on the final day against Takanoiwa and lost.

Speaking of Takanoiwa, it'll be interesting to see him in the top division again. He's been down in Juryo for ages, and this will be his first return to the top division since the whole scandal with Harumafuji.

I think the biggest news for this tournament is that (as far as I know) everyone should be competing this time. I'm sure a lot of these guys still have injuries (particularly Tochinoshin and Kisenosato) but they should be there on day 1.

If Kisenosato is in the tournament this should be the make-or-break basho for him, as he's said that when he returns if he has a poor performance he'll retire.

This is also obviously a big tournament for Mitakeumi, coming off his first yusho win. It should be tougher this time around with the big names back in the race, but he'll be coming into the tournament with a lot to prove, and maybe even hoping to start an Ozeki promotion drive on the back of his great tournament in July.

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Stay tuned to Kintamayama's YouTube Channel for daily highlights of the top division, and check out Robert Mensing's YouTube Channel for English versions of the NHK digest episodes (although I don't think they include all of the top division matches). Or go straight to the source, on NHK World's Sumo website. There's also a great blog at tachiai.org with news and information.

And as usual, for anyone who'll be watching the sport for the first time, please feel free to ask any questions you might have here and someone will try to answer them. Also be sure to check out my Introduction to SUMO thread for a brief (although quite outdated at this point) overview of the sport.

Hakke-yoi!

(again I'll just @ everyone that has posted in recent sumo threads)
@JkMMA @PurpleStorm @Asurah @Sano @josh from md @Okajima @RJ Green @winterbike @LC Shepard @Bluesbreaker @hyu244 @s_o_c_a_r @Slick_36 @Senshi @Muppettoker @argy-bargy @Edison Carasio @ChainFlow @Oshime2 @DatCutman @catchwrestle

 

[Fork]

NHK World's tournament preview episode:


Kintamayama's preview video:


Jason's preview video:


tachiai.org's podcast about the Aki banzuke:

 

[DatCutman]

Whaaaaaa?! Kisenosanto is competing?! I thought I'd never see the day...

 

[Fork]

Whaaaaaa?! Kisenosanto is competing?! I thought I'd never see the day...

some videos from Kisenosato's preparation (and some focus on Mitakeumi as well):


and everyone's favorite Ura is also returning this tournament. he'll be way down in sandanme, but it's great to see him back and hopefully he'll be able to hang in there. here's a video about his return, showing some of his rehab process:

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Cheers for the heads up, Fork.

I'm both excited and pessimistic about Kisenosato's return.

 

[Asurah]

Great to see Ura back, hopefully the injury doesn't slow him down anymore

 

[Muppettoker]

Was a bit underwhelmed with the last basho as nearly all the big names dropped out, so I am tentatively opptomistic this time.

Thanks for the heads up Fork

 

[hyu244]

Great to see all the top guys in, I imagine quite a few won't make it all 15 days (one may even retire...), but we can hope.

 

[Bluesbreaker]

Was a bit underwhelmed with the last basho as nearly all the big names dropped out, so I am tentatively opptomistic this time.

Thanks for the heads up Fork

I understand how you feel, but I also liked how wide open it was. It was still exciting.

 

[Fork]

kintamayama day 1:

 

[Fork]

Great to see all the top guys in, I imagine quite a few won't make it all 15 days (one may even retire...), but we can hope.

yeah, the top end of the first day felt much better with all of the top guys competing.

good starts for the yokozuna, and while kakuryu had a bit of a tough test, kisenosato and hakuho just steamrolled. good to see tochinoshin and mitakeumi also get off to good starts.

 

[Muppettoker]

I understand how you feel, but I also liked how wide open it was. It was still exciting.

I was cool to see some of the lower ranked guys get a chance to shine. I think I was a little sour that the young up comer I like(Abi) did so poorly haha

 

[hyu244]

yeah, the top end of the first day felt much better with all of the top guys competing.

good starts for the yokozuna, and while kakuryu had a bit of a tough test, kisenosato and hakuho just steamrolled. good to see tochinoshin and mitakeumi also get off to good starts.

Definitely a promising start for the jōi, meanwhile in the lower ranks Yoshikaze comes out the gate with an impressive reversal victory, hopefully a good sign he can shake off his dismal performance last basho

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

Ichinojou just ragdolled that dude and Hakuho came out like a savage. Shot out of a cannon.

 

[Asurah]

That throw from Yoshikaze was insane, hope he's back in form this basho. Kisenosato won but idk how to feel about his chances this tournament

 

[Fork]

day 2 kintama:


and ura's first match back:

 

[Fork]

man, chiyotairyu's tachiai and drive can be so amazing, but he just seems to lack that little bit that would push his opponents out. maybe it's a mental thing, or maybe his technique is off slightly or something, but mitakeumi barely survived the initial charge and fought back well.

pretty much the same with kisenosato, which was some truly amazing defense. to be able to maintain balance in that kind of situation is really impressive. danger signs that he let himself get put in that position, but good that he was able to fight back too.

 

[winterbike]

I always enjoy looking at Tochinoshin, his dad bod with muscles is straight out of a manga, it's hilarious.

 

[Asurah]

My heart about dropped, thought Takakeisho had him when Kisenosato started stumbling across the dohyo. Great to see him fight it off and win though, he's looking fine so far

 

[Fork]

day 3 kintamayama:


day 4 should be up relatively shortly, but day 3 was a pretty wild one.

firstly, mitakeumi should have won outright against tamawashi. looked quite clear to me that tamawash was down way before mitakeumi, but at least justice was done in the end.

takanoiwa did a great job handing tochinoshin his first loss. great use of speed and movement.

and kisenosato again put in some trouble and again pulls out the win. i think pretty highly of yutakayama and he showed once again that he's a really dangerous young rikishi in this match. kisenosato did a great job of absorbing the initial thrusting attempts from yutakayama. then when the tables had turned and kisenosato was pushing yutakayama out, yutakayama did a great job of breaking kisenosato's balance at the edge and allowing himself to fight back inside and get his head on kisenosato's chest. then kisenosato, being pushed back, did pretty much the same thing, breaking yutakayama's balance, but attacked with the thrust down. great stuff from both guys.