Sumo

[RyuShiKan]

Originally posted by Dronak

Yes, Takanohana is excellent and I always enjoy watching his matches.

Takanohana & Akebone-head (Akebono) are one reason I stopped watching Sumo.
I found Taka to be an arrogant bastard that slid into the rank of Yokozuna because his family is connected "big time" in the Sumo world.
His father is an Oyakata, so is his uncle who is also Sumo "elder" as was his Grandfather. Nepotism is rampant in Sumo.
The conditions under which he got his rank are rather dubious. (Long story which I don't feel like typing out, let's just say there are things that would make you think "oh how convenient" )

He was dating and engaged to Miyazawa Rie an actress that is half Japanese and half Dutch not to mention very well liked.
Seems Taka's "mommy" and the Sumo Elders didn't like her for some reason (rumor has it because she wasn't "pure" Japanese and having a "1/2" for a wife wouldn't sit well with the "Sumo Elders") so at the drop of a hat he dumps her cold. When asked why on national TV he said point blankly "I don't love her anymore". To which the media dubs Takanohana as "Takai-no hana" meaning "high nose" or snob.
After which Miyazawa goes into deep depression and tries to commit suicide on several occasions and isn't seen for a couple of years.
(Sumo wrestler's wives are supposed to be very "conservative ladies of high society".........oddly enough several have married stewardess'.......go figure.)

The other reason is I read an interview with 2 former high ranking wrestlers that told how many bouts in Sumo are fixed so wrestlers can either advance to higher ranks (as in the extremely fast promotions of Takanohana) or keep their present ranks.
(Evidently Taka's Grandfather, who was a Sumo Elder, wanted to see him promoted before his death, which happened oddly enough)
After watching and actually doing Sumo for many years I can say that I have seen more than a few "dives" in professional Sumo.

 

[Dronak]

The July basho ended yesterday and Chiyotaikai won the championship, his second, with a record of 14-1. Asashoryu was the runner-up with a 12-3 record. There's some talk on the sumo mailing list as to whether or not he'll get promoted to ozeki. One post said he should because he's made the minimum numbers they want and not to promote him would imply their standards have gotten even harder which will likely cause problems later on. It sounds like he has a good chance, but we'll have to wait and see, I guess. Musashimaru finished at 10-5, not a very good showing for the yokozuna. This tournament had an awful lot of rikishi withdraw, I think setting a new record with something like 13 out, including 4 of the 6 in the top two ranks.

As far as Takanohana goes, I just got a message on the sumo mailing list summarizing a meeting of the Yokozuna Review Committee. Seven of eight members were present and they all agreed to advise Takanohana to aim for at least 12 weins in September. Apparently they won't accept him being completely absent again or withdrawing after a few days -- it's finish the basho or retire.

 

[Cthulhu]

As always, thanks for the update, Dronak!

ESPN2 showed a tournament recently, but it wasn't the one you posted about. It was a 2002 tournament won by Musashimaru, with Kaio one win behind.

Cthulhu

 

[Dronak]

Yes, I watched some of that when it was on, too. They're always a bit behind. I assume the reason is just because it takes time to produce a show from all the video they made of the basho. I'm pretty sure they do their own commentary, too. I think I turned on the program a little late and missed the date of the event, but I think that it was the March basho.

A little something else about Asashoryu -- it seems that he will get the promotion to ozeki. I was reading some saved messages from a few days ago where they have short interviews with the rikishi and get their comments about things. I deleted the message already, but I think it said something like the judges requested that some committee meet after the basho was over and that this was an indication that Asashoryu was virtually guaranteed promotion. As I recall, the official announcement would be made in a couple of days, assuming it happens, so I'm sure you'll be able to find something on the Grand Sumo Homepage then. BTW, the sumo mailing list archives are kept at http://www.banzuke.com/ should you want to look up anything. It seems to update like once a week though, so I can't find the "rikishi talk" post with the stuff about Asashoryu.

 

[arnisador]

There's a short sumo sequence in Austin Powers in Goldmember, played for humour of course. Not very interesting.

 

[jeffbeish]

I watched one day of Sumo on Japanese TV in March. They viewed all the different things I saw during when I was in Japan 42 year ago and went to a big sumo "tournament." Our TV cuts out all the false starts and ceremony. Anyway, I enjoyed it and would have watched sumo for several days but was visiting my son and we were busy coming and going.

 

[Dronak]

Yes, that's true. What we tend to see here, at least on ESPN(2), is normally just the matches without any of the false starts and little of the pre-match rituals. They do show a little bit of different rituals like when coming back from commercial breaks, but they don't show the whole thing which is kind of a shame.

Update for those interested -- the September basho started this week on Sunday and Takanohana is back competing again. He's got a good start at 3-1 after 4 days (WLWW). He'll face the highest ranked opponents towards the end of the tournament, of course, so he's not in the clear yet. But I've heard that the first like five days will be very important, too, and he's doing OK there. If he gets another win tomorrow, he'll be 4-1 over five days; if he only loses one match from each five, he'll end up at 12-3 which isn't bad at all, especially since he hasn't competed in well over a year. I'll try to remember to post some more info later into the basho and/or at the end.

 

[jeffbeish]

Back when I was stationed on Okinawa and when we were in Japan several of us would go to the sumo early in the morning and stay until a couple matches were over. It was quite the thing to watch all the activities. It is great that Takanohana is back. I missed his last basho and by the next televised event he was just gone leaving big Mash as top dog. Of course, my favorite will probably not return – Nakabono (spelling is worng).

 

[RyuShiKan]

Taka tumbles again

Takanohana suffered a setback in his comeback from injury as the yokozuna went down to his second defeat against a rank-and-filer at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday.
Takanohana lost to Kotoryu in the day's penultimate bout at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan to fall two wins behind early leader Asashoryu, who remained unbeaten with a win over Tosanoumi.

Takanohana (3-2) had withdrawn from a record seven consecutive tourneys after securing his 22nd Emperor's Cup in May last year as he bids to recover from a career-threatening knee injury, but he looked a shadow of his former dominating self against Kotoryu (1-4).

The No. 3 maegashira, who headed into the bout without a victory at the meet, went on the offensive immediately at the charge and pushed the yokozuna to the straw bales before slapping him down in the dirt.

Newly promoted ozeki Asashoryu kept up his spotless record by downing sekiwake Tosanoumi (3-2) to move into the sole lead, but had to get out of jail for a second straight day.

Tosanoumi gained the upper hand from the face-off and looked to be heading for victory as he headed the Mongolian toward the edge of the ring, only to be felled by an underarm throw on the ropes.

Meanwhile, grand champion Musashimaru (4-1) powered his way out of a tight spot in his bout against komusubi Takamisakari (0-5) to head a list of 10 wrestlers one off the lead.

Joining the log-jam of fighters at 4-1 were ozeki trio Kaio, Chiyotaikai and Musoyama.

Kaio, needing eight victories to remain at sumo's second-highest rank, moved halfway to the mark after steamrollering over top-ranked maegashira Tochinonada (0-5).

The Japan Times: Sept. 13, 2002
(C) All rights reserved

 

[Dronak]

True, RyuShiKan, but he's still holding in there fine -- he's up to 6-2 now after day 8. A few interesting things have been posted to the sumo mailing list recently regarding Takanohana. I posted a link to their archives earlier (banzuke.com, I think, I don't use it much) where you can look up more if you're interested. I read them then summarize the general ideas here; you can go there to read what I did. One is that sumo seems to be tremendously more popular with Takanohana present. There was a number of points brought up in support -- TV ratings are spiking around the time his bouts come up, lots of people gather around TVs (I'm guessing this means like in public) to watch his matches, he's getting tremendous cheers from the crowd, the first day of this tournament (the Sept. one) sold out for the first time in 5 years, sports pages of papers that focused on other sports are putting Takanohana on the front pages, maybe a few other points. Apparently even the other rikishi have commented that Takanohana brings a certain aura with him and no one else can replicate that. Things are different with him around.

The other point is that the Yokozuna Selection Committee (of whatever, I forget) has apparently gone back on their previous statement that Takanohana should win 12 matches or retire. I forget exactly what their reasons were -- we never claimed he had to win 12 or retire or that they did but they're changing their minds now. In any event, the statements indicated that they'd prefer that Takanohana make his own decision as to whether or not to retire. I'm sure they're hoping that he'll get a winning record, at least 8 wins, and he's 2 away from doing so. But there were remarks like quality is more important than quantity and if he does fairly well and feels he can continue, then he should do so and they shouldn't force him to retire. I suspect part of this is because a lot of sumo's popularity seems to surround Takanohana and no one else commands the sport quite like he does, so they don't want to be seen as forcing him to retire before his time is really up.

Anyway, I thought I'd pass that along. If I see something else interesting come up, I'll post that, too. Time for me to make breakfast (late, yes, but I wake up as late as possible on Sundays ).

 

[arnisador]

Thanks for the info. everyone! I keep looking for it on ESPN*.

 

[RyuShiKan]

Originally posted by Dronak

True, RyuShiKan, but he's still holding in there fine -- ..............

If you look at the bottom of my post you will notice that was an article from the Japan Times and not written by me.

 

[Dronak]

Yes, I know. I think that article was posted to the sumo mailing list before. It looked familiar. Since you were quoting it, I kind of figured your opinions were similar to the ones in the article. Plus I wasn't about to address a reply to The Japan Times. Anyway, Takanohana is up to 7-2 now, one win away from a guaranteed winning record. Being Takanohana's return basho, I suspect this should air on ESPN(2) at some point, but I wouldn't expect it until at least a month or two after it's over, arnisador. That's a sort of highlights show so they have to have all the footage first, then put it together into a show. I think about two months after the basho is about the earliest you'll see it on TV (unless you get satellite or something from Japan to see it as it happens). BTW, if you want to see some matches now, there's a site with sumo movies on it. I think it moved since I posted the URL in here earlier; it's now at http://www.banzuke.com/sumomovies/movies.html and http://dohyo.com/sumo/movies.html (they mirror each other). I've downloaded a bunch of them from this basho to save, but I haven't watched them yet. I should make time to watch them.

 

[Dronak]

Takanohana is still performing pretty well for his first tournament in over a year spent recovering from a bad knee injury. He is up to 10-2 now and recently defeated Asashoryu and Musoyama, two of the four ozekis competing this basho. His last three bouts should be against Chioytaikai, Kaio, and Musashimaru, I think in that order.

It's still a close race for the championship -- Musashimaru is the current leader with 1 loss, Takanohana, Chiyotaikai, and Kaio are next with 2 losses each, and Asashoryu, Kotomitsuki, and Tamakasuga follow with 3 losses each. Since we're into the last few days where most of the top ranked guys are facing each other, it should be a good finish.

 

[arnisador]

Hoepfully they'll eventually televise some of it.

 

[RyuShiKan]

Maru overpowers Taka to take title

By CLYDE NEWTON
Special to The Japan Times

Yokozuna Musashimaru overpowered fellow-yokozuna Takanohana on the final day of the Aki Basho to win his 12th title with a 13-2 record. It was the 31-year-old Hawaiian-born yokozuna's third yusho this year; he also triumphed in March and May.
Musashimaru rallied despite a first-day upset to komusubi Takanonami, a former ozeki. His only other loss was to ozeki Kaio on the 13th day. Whereas in most recent basho Musashimaru has tended to fall apart at the end, the opposite was true this time.

Musashimaru was competing at his highest weight to date -- 237 kg, also the greatest weight for a yokozuna in centuries of recorded sumo history. Nevertheless, the veteran yokozuna was quite mobile and considerably more powerful than he was in July, when his record slipped to a mediocre 10-5 mark.

Since none of the five ozeki appear to be within striking range of yokozuna promotion at this point, Musashimaru is likely to continue to be the dominant figure in sumo for the immediate future, despite his advancing age.

The highlight of the Aki Basho was Takanohana's attempt at a comeback after being absent since the final day of the May 2001 tournament. Takanohana had done very little training in the last few months, facing three aging veterans in his Futagoyama stable on the rare days when he trained with other rikishi.

The consensus of opinion prior to the Aki Basho was that the 30-year-old yokozuna was doomed. There were even those (including this writer) who felt that he'd drop out winless after the first few days and retire.

Takanohana's Rip Van Winkle-like return generated a level of excitement which has been missing from sumo in the last few years. Taka got off to a rocky start, losing to little-heralded No. 4 maegashira Kyokutenho on the second day and to No. 3 maegashira Kotoryu, who was also returning from an injury, on the fifth day.

Taka appeared to be only a loss or two away from retirement after his second defeat, but from that point on he rallied dramatically and, almost unbelievably, became the favorite to take the yusho in the last few days of the tournament.

Obviously rusty, somewhat flabby, and at times desperate, Takanohana was not the nearly invincible yokozuna of several years ago. He was criticized for sidestepping ozeki Chiyotaikai on the 13th day, the first time he had done so in a bout since July 1999, but nevertheless Takanohana's comeback was nothing short of incredible. Had he defeated fellow-yokozuna Musashimaru on the final day, and thereby taken his 23rd title, his comeback would undoubtedly have gone down as one of the most remarkable in history.

Takanohana maneuvered deftly in the first seconds of his clash with Musashimaru, but once Maru found an opening and pushed forward, Takanohana was quickly overpowered.

If he can avoid getting injured again, and provided he does more training, there is no reason to believe that Takanohana will not take the yusho again; indeed he will be one of the favorites at Fukuoka in November.

However, having reached makuuchi at 17, Takanohana is battleworn and a very old 30. He is covering declining strength with his experience and technique, but given his strong fighting spirit on the dohyo, he could last another year or so.

With the exception of Kaio, who shared runnerup honors with Takanohana with a 12-3 record, the performance of the ozeki this time was disappointing, especially in the final days. New ozeki Asashoryu roared off to an 8-0 start, only to fall apart in his bouts with the other top-rankers, finishing with a 10-5 record.

Musoyama barely eked out an 8-7 record, while Chiyotaikai, who would have been promoted to yokozuna if he had won the tournament, dropped to 10-5, which means that he must start again from scratch in his quest for yokozuna promotion. The fifth ozeki, Tochiazuma, was absent, and must win eight or more bouts in November to avoid demotion.

Of the sekiwake and komusubi, only sekiwake Wakanosato achieved kachikoshi, with an 8-7 record. He will retain his rank, but has lost his foothold toward promotion to ozeki. Tosanoumi fell to a 6-9 record after his fine 10-5 comeback in July, while new komusubi Takamisakari had a poor 4-11 mark.

Komusubi Takanonami defeated yokozuna Musashimaru and two ozeki, but failed with a 7-8 record. The 30-year-old former ozeki tends to be very erratic, but he is still capable of upsetting the yokozuna and ozeki and should be around for a while yet.

With Tosanoumi, Takamisakari and Takanonami falling from sanyaku, Takanowaka, Kyokutenho and Kotomitsuki are likely to rise from the maegashira ranks to take their place. Takanowaka will probably be ranked at sekiwake and the other two rikishi at komusubi.

Two popular old veterans lost their battle for survival in September. Thirty-nine-year-old former sekiwake Terao, probably the second most popular rikishi in sumo after Takanohana, announced his retirement on the final day, with a 5-8-2 record at No. 11 juryo. Terao's fighting spirit was apparent to the very end; he won the final bout of his career against Oginishiki on Sunday, to thunderous applause.

The lanky, ever-youthful Terao was the last rikishi with a career stretching all the way back to the 1970s -- he made his debut in July 1979. One of three brothers who had sumo careers, he long outlasted his siblings Kakureizan and Sakahoko.

Terao was promoted to juryo in May 1984 and was thus a sekitori (ranked in the two top divisions) for a remarkable 18 years. He was the last survivor of the Hana no Sanpachi Gumi (rikishi born in 1963), which included yokozuna Futahaguro and Hokutoumi and ozeki Konishiki.

Something of a living legend and one of a kind, Terao will be greatly missed. He will remain in sumo as Shikoroyama Oyakata.

Former sekiwake Takatoriki withdrew with a 3-10 record on the 13th day, after losing to Terao, and announced his retirement. He will remain in the sumo world as Odake Oyakata and will eventually take over Taiho Beya, which is operated by his father-in-law, the great former yokozuna Taiho.

Takatoriki, who is nearly 35, won the makuuchi yusho in March 2000 and was a strong sekiwake in the early to mid 1990s. The aging veteran seemed to lose heart in the last few tournaments, and he announced his retirement after his demotion to makushita became a certainty. There is no precedent for a former makuuchi championship winner to fall below juryo.

Former No. 3 maegashira Minatofuji also retired in makushita and has become the new Tatsutagawa Oyakata.

The juryo championship was won by Tamarikido with an 11-4 record. The makushita title went to Shishio, the sandanme to Nadatsukasa, the jonidan to Russian Roho and the jonokuchi to Tokitenku, all with 7-0 records.

The Outstanding Performance and Technique Prizes were not awarded this basho, with No. 7 maegashira Kotomitsuki (11-4) taking the Kantosho, or Fighting Spirit Prize.

The Japan Times: Sept. 23, 2002
(C) All rights reserved

 

[RyuShiKan]

Winners Losers
Tochinohana 8-7 Akinoshima 7-8
Otsukasa 5-10 Oikari 4-11
Daizen 4-11 Takanotsuru 8-7
Iwakiyama 10-5 Kasuganishiki 5-10
Gojoro 8-7 Asanowaka 7-8
Ushiomaru 9-6 Aminishiki 7-8
Hokutoriki 9-6 Wakanoyama 8-7
Kyokushuzan 9-6 Buyuzan 5-10
Tokitsuumi 7-8 Toki 4-11
Shimotori 5-10 Tochisakae 2-9-4
Kyokutenho 8-7 Tochinonada 4-11
Miyabiyama 7-8 Tamakasuga 10-5
Takanonami 7-8 Takanowaka 8-7
Kotoryu 5-10 Takamisakari 4-11
Tamanoshima 8-7 Tosanoumi 6-9
Kotomitsuki 12-3 Wakanosato 8-7
Asashoryu 10-5 Musoyama 9-6
Kaio 12-3 Chiyotaikai 10-5
Musashimaru 13-2 Takanohana 12-3


By CLYDE NEWTON
Special to The Japan Times

Yokozuna Musashimaru overpowered fellow-yokozuna Takanohana on the final day of the Aki Basho to win his 12th title with a 13-2 record. It was the 31-year-old Hawaiian-born yokozuna's third yusho this year; he also triumphed in March and May.
Musashimaru rallied despite a first-day upset to komusubi Takanonami, a former ozeki. His only other loss was to ozeki Kaio on the 13th day. Whereas in most recent basho Musashimaru has tended to fall apart at the end, the opposite was true this time.

Musashimaru was competing at his highest weight to date -- 237 kg, also the greatest weight for a yokozuna in centuries of recorded sumo history. Nevertheless, the veteran yokozuna was quite mobile and considerably more powerful than he was in July, when his record slipped to a mediocre 10-5 mark.

Since none of the five ozeki appear to be within striking range of yokozuna promotion at this point, Musashimaru is likely to continue to be the dominant figure in sumo for the immediate future, despite his advancing age.

The highlight of the Aki Basho was Takanohana's attempt at a comeback after being absent since the final day of the May 2001 tournament. Takanohana had done very little training in the last few months, facing three aging veterans in his Futagoyama stable on the rare days when he trained with other rikishi.

The consensus of opinion prior to the Aki Basho was that the 30-year-old yokozuna was doomed. There were even those (including this writer) who felt that he'd drop out winless after the first few days and retire.

Takanohana's Rip Van Winkle-like return generated a level of excitement which has been missing from sumo in the last few years. Taka got off to a rocky start, losing to little-heralded No. 4 maegashira Kyokutenho on the second day and to No. 3 maegashira Kotoryu, who was also returning from an injury, on the fifth day.

Taka appeared to be only a loss or two away from retirement after his second defeat, but from that point on he rallied dramatically and, almost unbelievably, became the favorite to take the yusho in the last few days of the tournament.

Obviously rusty, somewhat flabby, and at times desperate, Takanohana was not the nearly invincible yokozuna of several years ago. He was criticized for sidestepping ozeki Chiyotaikai on the 13th day, the first time he had done so in a bout since July 1999, but nevertheless Takanohana's comeback was nothing short of incredible. Had he defeated fellow-yokozuna Musashimaru on the final day, and thereby taken his 23rd title, his comeback would undoubtedly have gone down as one of the most remarkable in history.

Takanohana maneuvered deftly in the first seconds of his clash with Musashimaru, but once Maru found an opening and pushed forward, Takanohana was quickly overpowered.

If he can avoid getting injured again, and provided he does more training, there is no reason to believe that Takanohana will not take the yusho again; indeed he will be one of the favorites at Fukuoka in November.

However, having reached makuuchi at 17, Takanohana is battleworn and a very old 30. He is covering declining strength with his experience and technique, but given his strong fighting spirit on the dohyo, he could last another year or so.

With the exception of Kaio, who shared runnerup honors with Takanohana with a 12-3 record, the performance of the ozeki this time was disappointing, especially in the final days. New ozeki Asashoryu roared off to an 8-0 start, only to fall apart in his bouts with the other top-rankers, finishing with a 10-5 record.

Musoyama barely eked out an 8-7 record, while Chiyotaikai, who would have been promoted to yokozuna if he had won the tournament, dropped to 10-5, which means that he must start again from scratch in his quest for yokozuna promotion. The fifth ozeki, Tochiazuma, was absent, and must win eight or more bouts in November to avoid demotion.

Of the sekiwake and komusubi, only sekiwake Wakanosato achieved kachikoshi, with an 8-7 record. He will retain his rank, but has lost his foothold toward promotion to ozeki. Tosanoumi fell to a 6-9 record after his fine 10-5 comeback in July, while new komusubi Takamisakari had a poor 4-11 mark.

Komusubi Takanonami defeated yokozuna Musashimaru and two ozeki, but failed with a 7-8 record. The 30-year-old former ozeki tends to be very erratic, but he is still capable of upsetting the yokozuna and ozeki and should be around for a while yet.

With Tosanoumi, Takamisakari and Takanonami falling from sanyaku, Takanowaka, Kyokutenho and Kotomitsuki are likely to rise from the maegashira ranks to take their place. Takanowaka will probably be ranked at sekiwake and the other two rikishi at komusubi.

Two popular old veterans lost their battle for survival in September. Thirty-nine-year-old former sekiwake Terao, probably the second most popular rikishi in sumo after Takanohana, announced his retirement on the final day, with a 5-8-2 record at No. 11 juryo. Terao's fighting spirit was apparent to the very end; he won the final bout of his career against Oginishiki on Sunday, to thunderous applause.

The lanky, ever-youthful Terao was the last rikishi with a career stretching all the way back to the 1970s -- he made his debut in July 1979. One of three brothers who had sumo careers, he long outlasted his siblings Kakureizan and Sakahoko.

Terao was promoted to juryo in May 1984 and was thus a sekitori (ranked in the two top divisions) for a remarkable 18 years. He was the last survivor of the Hana no Sanpachi Gumi (rikishi born in 1963), which included yokozuna Futahaguro and Hokutoumi and ozeki Konishiki.

Something of a living legend and one of a kind, Terao will be greatly missed. He will remain in sumo as Shikoroyama Oyakata.

Former sekiwake Takatoriki withdrew with a 3-10 record on the 13th day, after losing to Terao, and announced his retirement. He will remain in the sumo world as Odake Oyakata and will eventually take over Taiho Beya, which is operated by his father-in-law, the great former yokozuna Taiho.

Takatoriki, who is nearly 35, won the makuuchi yusho in March 2000 and was a strong sekiwake in the early to mid 1990s. The aging veteran seemed to lose heart in the last few tournaments, and he announced his retirement after his demotion to makushita became a certainty. There is no precedent for a former makuuchi championship winner to fall below juryo.

Former No. 3 maegashira Minatofuji also retired in makushita and has become the new Tatsutagawa Oyakata.

The juryo championship was won by Tamarikido with an 11-4 record. The makushita title went to Shishio, the sandanme to Nadatsukasa, the jonidan to Russian Roho and the jonokuchi to Tokitenku, all with 7-0 records.

The Outstanding Performance and Technique Prizes were not awarded this basho, with No. 7 maegashira Kotomitsuki (11-4) taking the Kantosho, or Fighting Spirit Prize.

The Japan Times: Sept. 23, 2002
(C) All rights reserved

 

[arnisador]

An AP photo in Friday paper shows Konishiki next to Barry Bonds as they chat during the American-Japanese All-Stars series. I never quite realized how BIG he really was! He's wearing an American-style (flannel?) button-up shirt that must be huge.

 

[Dronak]

Yes, Konishiki is very big. As I recall, he's the biggest rikishi ever. I looked at my sumo links and the first page I went to has a list of the heaviest rikishi -- Konishiki tops the list at 285kg (about 628 lbs) in March 1996.

For those interested, the November Kyushu basho just began. Takanohana is sitting out again after his knee swelled up. There are probably some news articles you can find with more info; I didn't really try to remember the details. Maybe after his performance last basho whatever committee forced him back then will be a little more lenient on him now and let his knee really recover before telling him to return or retire. *shrug* I've heard Musashimaru is the opening favorite to win this tournament. If you're interested in following the tournament, check out newsgroups and/or web sites; it lasts for two weeks (15 days actually).

 

[Dronak]

A short update on the withdrawls from the current basho. As previously noted, Takanohana sat out from the start due to his knee injury. However, other top ranked rikishi are also out now. I'm a little uncertain of the exact reasons; I probably read them but didn't attempt to keep them in conscious memory. Kaio withdrew on day 4, I think because of back problems, Musashimaru pulled out on day 6, left? wrist was bothering him, and Chiyotaikai left on day 9, don't think I've heard why yet. What this means is that the four highest ranked rikishi are all gone from the basho now. At the time I'm posting this, Asashoryu is the current sole leader at 8-0 with only Akinoshima (M14) at 1 loss and maybe 5 or 6 rikishi with 2 losses. Asashoryu is doing pretty well and as the highest ranked rikishi left in the basho, he's probably now the favorite to win it. We'll see how things unfold over the second week though.