The heck is up with Yoshinofuji? He beats the higher level guys and loses to the lower. Did he only study tape on the higher guys? And the lower guys did their homework against him? He has Kotoeiho tomorrow, who's having a blinder of a tournament. I have no idea what will happen but I'm looking forward to it.
Asakoryu comes out with a fake stiff arm only to immediately dodge left to put Abi down with a henka.
Mitakeumi fails his henka and his first drive as well against Daiseizan, and after a stalemate Daisei walks him out.
Shishi showing some nerves with 2 false starts against Asanoyama, then comes out a bit slow off the lines. They both fight for belts and Shishi finds an outside left then an inside right he uses to muscle Asa to the ground. 10 wins as the Ukranian puts up his best top division record ever.
Tobizaru doesn't move forward at all off the lines but Onokatsu doesn't collide with much impact. The Monkey slaps him down pretty quickly.
Takayasu and Takerufuji meet at 9-2 with a fight to stay relevant to the yusho. Takerufuji's henka sends Papa jogging by and rolling off the ring.
Kinbozan with a big throat thrust drive against Shodai who steps out and trips over the salt basket.
Roga finds a belt drive against Ura who shows off some flexy back skills on the bales but he's forced to dance along the edge until he sets himself up for a throw that comes a bit too late to beat Roga's positioning.
Chiyoshoma manages to work deep double inside belt grips against Oshoma with his hands all the way at the back of the mawashi. Lets go of the right and uses his leg to assist with a big underarm throw that sends Osho rolling like a log.
Ichiyamamoto stands Wakamotoharu up with some nodowa throat action but WMH recovers and chases Ichi around and off the dohyo for oshidashi.
Fujinokawa comes blazing off the line and smashes into Gonoyama who absorbs the impact, but Fuji grabs double unders and wrests Gono off his feet with a sharp pivot and hip toss.
Takanosho shoves Hakunofuji back and follows up with a mighty right hand on the throat he keeps the pressure on until Haku bends back more and more and is forced to step out. Not everyone can have Ura gumby powers.
Yoshinofuji and Hiradoumi throw tsuppari at each other before looking for belts which neither can find but Hira leaps forward while Yoshi has a right underhook. They switch back to a shoving match and Hira shucks a face tsuppari, getting behind Yoshi and getting the rear force out to put up his 2nd win of the basho.
Atamifuji wins the first drive against Kotoeiho but as Koto circles he finds a left inside belt. As Atami pummels his hand back inside Koto seizes the opportunity to go for his own drive but Atami's mass will not be put over the edge and he gets a solid outside left belt and then finds a deep inside right. Koto's belt is loose enough today that Atami can't quite find the leverage he needs as they both look for throws and eventually Atami releases his grip and manages a slap down just as he steps out. Fan goes to Koto but monoii is called, and Koto's stablemate Kotozakura reties his belt for him while they wait. Looks like a frame perfect finish between Koto's shoulder and Atami's foot hitting the dirt, so a redo is called. The 2nd match starts much the same way but this time Atami's initial drive succeeds.
Kotoshoho comes out shoving against Aonishiki and quickly changes up to a slap down, and Aoni goes stumbling by. He recovers enough to spin and face Koto but he's on the ropes and out of position, making Koto's finishing shove out easy.
Time for the ozekis to line up against the yokozunas today.
Kotozakura meets Hoshoryu's drive and then as he's taken back he steps out of the way at the edge and puts a hand on the back of the mawashi to send Hoshoryu's hands down outside the straw.
Kirishima has a false start against Onosato, then on take two gets a two on one on the champ's left arm he pivots and uses to drag the big man to the clay and tumbling off the ring for a tottari arm bar throw.
Kirishima, Aonishiki, Takerufuji, and Shishi at 10 wins with just 3 days left. Three wrestlers have 9 and another three have 8. The yokozuna have already lost with Onosato at 6 and Hoshoryu at 7.
Kirishima meets Aonishiki tomorrow, and Shishi has been bumped up to take on Kotozakura, while Takerufuji has Onosato to contend with.
They both fight for belts and Shishi finds an outside left then an inside right he uses to muscle Asa to the ground.
Another good fight by Shishi. Even when he wins he never makes it look as easy as the top guys. He's going up against Kotozakura tonight, so we'll see how good he's really gotten.
Takerufuji’s henka sends Papa jogging by and rolling off the ring.
Big Poppa looked MAD. I bet Takerufuji's getting a lot of tsuppari next time they meet, lel. This is another match I couldn't decide who to cheer for. But I kinda wish Takerufuji hadn't henka'd, it woulda been a good bout.
Fujinokawa comes blazing off the line and smashes into Gonoyama
Good show by the dragonslayer. I hope his body doesn't take too much damage from slinging those bigger guys around.
Kotoshoho comes out shoving against Aonishiki and quickly changes up
Really excellent job by Kotoshoho of controlling Aonishiki's left, and then using that leftward-grab to put Aonishiki off balance and out of the ring.
Kotozakura meets Hoshoryu’s drive
Kotozakura gets on these losing streaks and I'm like: how is he even an ozeki? Then he does something like this and I'm like: oh yeah, he's capable of some really great sumo.
Kirishima meets Aonishiki tomorrow
Aonishiki beat Kirishima 3 times last year, and once more last March. Kirishima beat Aonishiki once in January. So looks good for Aonishiki, except for his injury - that's a real wild-card. Kirishima has a chance.
Shishi has been bumped up to take on Kotozakura
I'd love to see Shishi beat Kotozakura, but honestly? We'll see...
Takerufuji has Onosato to contend with.
Now that he's gotten that henka out of his system, let's see what Takerufuji comes up with!
He's doing OK in Juryo, tho... currently at 6-6. IMHO there's no shame in being in Juryo at age 41. Much better than going 5-10, 5-10, 2-13 in Makuuchi: https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=5944
I also notice Ura is missing but I think he did start the tournament.
Shishi showing some nerves with 2 false starts against Asanoyama, then comes out a bit slow off the lines.
I was wondering what was up with that tachi-ai, but 2 false starts would explain it. From reading write ups here, a lot of those are cut from the streams Ive been watching, so since I'm slightly behind, I come read the summaries from you and Sergio to pick up on the thing I missed that were either cut or I didn't pick up on. Very helpful!
Takerufuji's henka sends Papa jogging by and rolling off the ring.
This is the first time I understood people getting mad at a henka! Wife and I have been enjoying our big fuzzy rikishi, and that felt very uncool! 😤. She yelled at the TV when it happened, which is somewhat out of character, so that made me laugh.
Tomorrow we'll see Takerufuji on fire vs Onosato at reduced strength. Take has won this match up once once before. This could decide the yusho.
As could Kirishima vs Aonishiki. I love/hate it when my favourites fight and one of them has to lose.
I'll be surprised if Kotozakura doesn't pick up his kachikoshi and put Shishi out of the yusho race.
Hoshoryu vs Atamifuji has some meh energy. I guess Atami could get started on an Ozeki run. Not sure if he's ready. Hoshi-chan will of course enjoy preventing that.
I was happy to hear the announcer say this was his best run ever in the division. I had been liking him in an ironic way before this basho, but I'm a solid fan now.
It's so frustrating being slightly behind. I've been nervous about accidentally getting spoilers. Since the wife has taken actual interest, we've been watching the NHK stream so she can follow along better. I had missed the English commentary originally, but now I miss the fancy graphics and slow mo replays from Sumo Highlights. We watched the weekend days on Sunday Morning Sumo, but those are like 8 hours (we just skipped to the top division, but still ~2 hours instead of 25 minutes) and there more silly chatter is kinda fun, but also sometimes mildly distracting. I enjoyed all the stats and trivia NHK gave like it was so and so's birthday, their 100th match, 100th win, etc. It's interesting to see how much the experience changes between sources.
That's one of the interesting things about sumo... I'm in Eastern Time, so Makuuchi runs around 4:30am... I've watched it live a couple times via twitch and it's loads of fun but no way can I do that more than once in a rare while.
So basically ya pick what works for ya! Recently I've been watching DonDon's top 10 and then filling in with the NHK Japanese uploads if there's another match I really wanna see. But all the options have advantages and disadvantages.
I'm glad we could introduce you and your wife to the glory of sumo, just as you have introduced so many of us to the glory of owls!
I had intended to stay up to date so I could keep up with you guys, but since she hadn't left the room when I was watching old matches and had asked a few questions, I thought I'd watch this tournament with my wife until she got bored. She slowly started building interest as she picked up who a few guys where and started to follow the ways to win and different styles. She slowly started building interest as she picked up who a few guys were and started to follow the ways to win and different styles of fighting. She works in a hospital (for humans 😉) and works many nights and weekends, so that got us behind.
She asked during our sumo double feature tonight how exactly I got started watching this. I said I remembered you being excited in c/fedigrow how you had a solid handful of people following and participating here, so I was like, let's check this out... I like lots of Japanese things, maybe it might be interesting.
I honestly expected it to be dull and slow, and I always heard the rikishi actually had tons of muscles but I'm a big and robust guy, so I didn't appreciate the extent of their strength. You guys told me to just give the NHK highlights a watch and see if I would like it, so I did.
I enjoy when I go see live sporting events every now and then, but otherwise I'm not a sports guy and rarely watch any sports at home. I expect to watch a video and be like, this is fine, and forget it. But the sounds of the solid tachi-ai, seeing those leg muscles as they shove, the slamming headbutts, lightning fast slaps and reversals, the guys flying off the dohyo, and they still all seemed very calm, dignified, and really good sports. There was so much I instantly loved.
She's gone through a similar process. She remarked tonight she can't believe how ripped some of these guys really are, and doing x-ray, she knows how hard these guys are hitting each other and falling out the ring and appreciating how fast, or in the case of Ura, how flexible they can be.
She hasn't appreciated the more odd stuff yet like the children's matches against the rikishi or the silly mock match or anything, but she's been asking lots of questions that I can usually answer.
I'm near Philadelphia, so also Eastern time, so now that I have a lot of sumo on my YouTube algorithm, I'm worried about getting those spoilers first thing when I wake up!
I'm really happy you got me to give it a shot. I'm having a lot of fun with it.
I’m not a sports guy and rarely watch any sports at home
I grew up playing sports all the time but I never really watched any until I was an adult. I played football and soccer but find those really dull to watch. My main sport was wrestling but that's hardly ever on TV, so I'll watch that if they have it (and for some reason I like racket sports like squash and tennis even though I barely played those). Sumo is close enough to wrestling that I got into it pretty quick after moving to Japan. They're both highly technical sports consisting of techniques coupled with countermoves but there's always that extra bit where you can pull something off that wasn't "supposed" to work if you're strong or fast enough.
She remarked tonight she can’t believe how ripped some of these guys really are
You wanna talk ripped look no further than yokozuna Chiyonofuji, who was champ from '81-'91. He was "only" 5'10" 280 lb (179 cm 125 kg) but cut af in terms of rikishi, and seeing him makes you realize that almost all the wrestlers have basically his same musculature under the layer of fat they put on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyonofuji_Mitsugu
I'm glad you and your wife are enjoying it. I think most people don't recognize it for the amazing spectacle it can be.
Baseball was the only thing I ever played in a formal league, but I'd play a bit of most anything with friends. I would have rather been playing than watching, and I wasn't into rivalries of following any team in particular, so watching it on TV just never served to appeal to me.
I like the rikishi seem to usually get along. I like Ura and Hakunofuji because they just look so happy to be there. The short bio I watched of Shishi really got me to like him also. Then last night I was watching a Fujiryoga match and was saying he always looks so angry in his photo they use for the matches and in the ring. They coincidentally interviewed him after the match and asked him why he always looks so angry! 😄
His answer really won me over, at least how I translated the translation... I took it as it's just him getting in the zone for the match and to show his opponent that he's going to give it all he's got. That got me to thinking that's a polite way to say "I don't want him to think he got his ass kicked by a wimp!" and that made me chuckle to myself.
I just like how calm and polite they come across and how they show good sportsmanship in the ring and interviews. I gather that's still just public image, and there is plenty going on behind the scenes, as I read about Hakunofuji's recent things with his stable leader, but it feels they at least try and make sure the actual events are as professional as possible.
Different anime/manga and games like the Yakuza series have many times sent me into learning the issues that can come from living in strict hierarchy, so I try to make sure I don't look at things as being too rosey. I also was listening to some video that was explaining how the sumo rankings work and that helped me understand why these guys push themselves so hard even when they are injured, which makes me worry for the guys.
Wow, Chiyonofuni is jacked! It's like getting x-ray vision of a rikishi.
Sumo has always felt to me like the opposite of what a stereotypical American sports fan would like. Maybe that is why I actually ended up liking it when I gave it a shot!
Wow, Chiyonofuni is jacked! It’s like getting x-ray vision of a rikishi.
You and @tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip might be interested in this video where they put a couple rikishi into an MRI and look at how much additional muscle they have compared to non-rikishi:
but otherwise I’m not a sports guy and rarely watch any sports at home.
Same, I don't watch sports but I admire judo. However judo is kinda boring to watch bc a lot of times it gets really passive, where people are just defending, so in judo tourneys they have to penalize people if they don't attack enough. Sumo is like no-gi judo with the addition of an easy attack: charge forward like a lineman in American football!
21 Comments
not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 37d
The heck is up with Yoshinofuji? He beats the higher level guys and loses to the lower. Did he only study tape on the higher guys? And the lower guys did their homework against him? He has Kotoeiho tomorrow, who's having a blinder of a tournament. I have no idea what will happen but I'm looking forward to it.
Sergio@piefed.social · 4 pts · 37d
No frickin clue. Only guess I have is kinda what you're saying: lack of preparation, maybe? Overconfidence / lack of maturity?
not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 37d
Fujinomotherfuckingkawa that throw of cannonball Gonoyama was a thing of beauty!
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 37d
Asakoryu comes out with a fake stiff arm only to immediately dodge left to put Abi down with a henka.
Mitakeumi fails his henka and his first drive as well against Daiseizan, and after a stalemate Daisei walks him out.
Shishi showing some nerves with 2 false starts against Asanoyama, then comes out a bit slow off the lines. They both fight for belts and Shishi finds an outside left then an inside right he uses to muscle Asa to the ground. 10 wins as the Ukranian puts up his best top division record ever.
Tobizaru doesn't move forward at all off the lines but Onokatsu doesn't collide with much impact. The Monkey slaps him down pretty quickly.
Takayasu and Takerufuji meet at 9-2 with a fight to stay relevant to the yusho. Takerufuji's henka sends Papa jogging by and rolling off the ring.
Kinbozan with a big throat thrust drive against Shodai who steps out and trips over the salt basket.
Roga finds a belt drive against Ura who shows off some flexy back skills on the bales but he's forced to dance along the edge until he sets himself up for a throw that comes a bit too late to beat Roga's positioning.
Chiyoshoma manages to work deep double inside belt grips against Oshoma with his hands all the way at the back of the mawashi. Lets go of the right and uses his leg to assist with a big underarm throw that sends Osho rolling like a log.
Ichiyamamoto stands Wakamotoharu up with some nodowa throat action but WMH recovers and chases Ichi around and off the dohyo for oshidashi.
Fujinokawa comes blazing off the line and smashes into Gonoyama who absorbs the impact, but Fuji grabs double unders and wrests Gono off his feet with a sharp pivot and hip toss.
Takanosho shoves Hakunofuji back and follows up with a mighty right hand on the throat he keeps the pressure on until Haku bends back more and more and is forced to step out. Not everyone can have Ura gumby powers.
Yoshinofuji and Hiradoumi throw tsuppari at each other before looking for belts which neither can find but Hira leaps forward while Yoshi has a right underhook. They switch back to a shoving match and Hira shucks a face tsuppari, getting behind Yoshi and getting the rear force out to put up his 2nd win of the basho.
Atamifuji wins the first drive against Kotoeiho but as Koto circles he finds a left inside belt. As Atami pummels his hand back inside Koto seizes the opportunity to go for his own drive but Atami's mass will not be put over the edge and he gets a solid outside left belt and then finds a deep inside right. Koto's belt is loose enough today that Atami can't quite find the leverage he needs as they both look for throws and eventually Atami releases his grip and manages a slap down just as he steps out. Fan goes to Koto but monoii is called, and Koto's stablemate Kotozakura reties his belt for him while they wait. Looks like a frame perfect finish between Koto's shoulder and Atami's foot hitting the dirt, so a redo is called. The 2nd match starts much the same way but this time Atami's initial drive succeeds.
Kotoshoho comes out shoving against Aonishiki and quickly changes up to a slap down, and Aoni goes stumbling by. He recovers enough to spin and face Koto but he's on the ropes and out of position, making Koto's finishing shove out easy.
Time for the ozekis to line up against the yokozunas today.
Kotozakura meets Hoshoryu's drive and then as he's taken back he steps out of the way at the edge and puts a hand on the back of the mawashi to send Hoshoryu's hands down outside the straw.
Kirishima has a false start against Onosato, then on take two gets a two on one on the champ's left arm he pivots and uses to drag the big man to the clay and tumbling off the ring for a tottari arm bar throw.
Kirishima, Aonishiki, Takerufuji, and Shishi at 10 wins with just 3 days left. Three wrestlers have 9 and another three have 8. The yokozuna have already lost with Onosato at 6 and Hoshoryu at 7.
Kirishima meets Aonishiki tomorrow, and Shishi has been bumped up to take on Kotozakura, while Takerufuji has Onosato to contend with.
Sergio@piefed.social · 4 pts · 37d
that sounds easily memeable
Another good fight by Shishi. Even when he wins he never makes it look as easy as the top guys. He's going up against Kotozakura tonight, so we'll see how good he's really gotten.
Big Poppa looked MAD. I bet Takerufuji's getting a lot of tsuppari next time they meet, lel. This is another match I couldn't decide who to cheer for. But I kinda wish Takerufuji hadn't henka'd, it woulda been a good bout.
Good show by the dragonslayer. I hope his body doesn't take too much damage from slinging those bigger guys around.
Really excellent job by Kotoshoho of controlling Aonishiki's left, and then using that leftward-grab to put Aonishiki off balance and out of the ring.
Kotozakura gets on these losing streaks and I'm like: how is he even an ozeki? Then he does something like this and I'm like: oh yeah, he's capable of some really great sumo.
Aonishiki beat Kirishima 3 times last year, and once more last March. Kirishima beat Aonishiki once in January. So looks good for Aonishiki, except for his injury - that's a real wild-card. Kirishima has a chance.
I'd love to see Shishi beat Kotozakura, but honestly? We'll see...
Now that he's gotten that henka out of his system, let's see what Takerufuji comes up with!
not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 37d
You know I'm stealing that frame-grab of Funinokawa and Gonoyama!
Sergio@piefed.social · 2 pts · 37d
go for it!
jerkface@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 37d
I don't follow closely anymore. I noticed that Tamawashi was not mentioned in your report, and found out that he has been demoted. Alas!
I also notice Ura is missing but I think he did start the tournament. Has he been hurt? That boy's on borrowed time.
Sergio@piefed.social · 3 pts · 37d
He's doing OK in Juryo, tho... currently at 6-6. IMHO there's no shame in being in Juryo at age 41. Much better than going 5-10, 5-10, 2-13 in Makuuchi: https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=5944
Ura's 4-8: https://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi_basho.aspx?r=12226&b=202607
Not sure if it's injury, or he's getting old, or just having some bad luck.
anon6789@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 36d
I was wondering what was up with that tachi-ai, but 2 false starts would explain it. From reading write ups here, a lot of those are cut from the streams Ive been watching, so since I'm slightly behind, I come read the summaries from you and Sergio to pick up on the thing I missed that were either cut or I didn't pick up on. Very helpful!
This is the first time I understood people getting mad at a henka! Wife and I have been enjoying our big fuzzy rikishi, and that felt very uncool! 😤. She yelled at the TV when it happened, which is somewhat out of character, so that made me laugh.
not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 37d
Tomorrow we'll see Takerufuji on fire vs Onosato at reduced strength. Take has won this match up once once before. This could decide the yusho.
As could Kirishima vs Aonishiki. I love/hate it when my favourites fight and one of them has to lose.
I'll be surprised if Kotozakura doesn't pick up his kachikoshi and put Shishi out of the yusho race.
Hoshoryu vs Atamifuji has some meh energy. I guess Atami could get started on an Ozeki run. Not sure if he's ready. Hoshi-chan will of course enjoy preventing that.
Sergio@piefed.social · 4 pts · 37d
I don't know enough about Hoshoryu to predict, but he could potentially still make 10-5, and I can imagine him wanting to reach that.
Sure, I wouldn't be surprised if Kotozakura wins. But all I gotta say is: COME ON SHISHI YOU CAN DO IT!!!
anon6789@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 36d
Shishi! Shishi! Shishi! 🥳
I was happy to hear the announcer say this was his best run ever in the division. I had been liking him in an ironic way before this basho, but I'm a solid fan now.
It's so frustrating being slightly behind. I've been nervous about accidentally getting spoilers. Since the wife has taken actual interest, we've been watching the NHK stream so she can follow along better. I had missed the English commentary originally, but now I miss the fancy graphics and slow mo replays from Sumo Highlights. We watched the weekend days on Sunday Morning Sumo, but those are like 8 hours (we just skipped to the top division, but still ~2 hours instead of 25 minutes) and there more silly chatter is kinda fun, but also sometimes mildly distracting. I enjoyed all the stats and trivia NHK gave like it was so and so's birthday, their 100th match, 100th win, etc. It's interesting to see how much the experience changes between sources.
Sergio@piefed.social · 3 pts · 36d
That's one of the interesting things about sumo... I'm in Eastern Time, so Makuuchi runs around 4:30am... I've watched it live a couple times via twitch and it's loads of fun but no way can I do that more than once in a rare while.
So basically ya pick what works for ya! Recently I've been watching DonDon's top 10 and then filling in with the NHK Japanese uploads if there's another match I really wanna see. But all the options have advantages and disadvantages.
I'm glad we could introduce you and your wife to the glory of sumo, just as you have introduced so many of us to the glory of owls!
anon6789@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 36d
I had intended to stay up to date so I could keep up with you guys, but since she hadn't left the room when I was watching old matches and had asked a few questions, I thought I'd watch this tournament with my wife until she got bored. She slowly started building interest as she picked up who a few guys where and started to follow the ways to win and different styles. She slowly started building interest as she picked up who a few guys were and started to follow the ways to win and different styles of fighting. She works in a hospital (for humans 😉) and works many nights and weekends, so that got us behind.
She asked during our sumo double feature tonight how exactly I got started watching this. I said I remembered you being excited in c/fedigrow how you had a solid handful of people following and participating here, so I was like, let's check this out... I like lots of Japanese things, maybe it might be interesting.
I honestly expected it to be dull and slow, and I always heard the rikishi actually had tons of muscles but I'm a big and robust guy, so I didn't appreciate the extent of their strength. You guys told me to just give the NHK highlights a watch and see if I would like it, so I did.
I enjoy when I go see live sporting events every now and then, but otherwise I'm not a sports guy and rarely watch any sports at home. I expect to watch a video and be like, this is fine, and forget it. But the sounds of the solid tachi-ai, seeing those leg muscles as they shove, the slamming headbutts, lightning fast slaps and reversals, the guys flying off the dohyo, and they still all seemed very calm, dignified, and really good sports. There was so much I instantly loved.
She's gone through a similar process. She remarked tonight she can't believe how ripped some of these guys really are, and doing x-ray, she knows how hard these guys are hitting each other and falling out the ring and appreciating how fast, or in the case of Ura, how flexible they can be.
She hasn't appreciated the more odd stuff yet like the children's matches against the rikishi or the silly mock match or anything, but she's been asking lots of questions that I can usually answer.
I'm near Philadelphia, so also Eastern time, so now that I have a lot of sumo on my YouTube algorithm, I'm worried about getting those spoilers first thing when I wake up!
I'm really happy you got me to give it a shot. I'm having a lot of fun with it.
tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 35d
I grew up playing sports all the time but I never really watched any until I was an adult. I played football and soccer but find those really dull to watch. My main sport was wrestling but that's hardly ever on TV, so I'll watch that if they have it (and for some reason I like racket sports like squash and tennis even though I barely played those). Sumo is close enough to wrestling that I got into it pretty quick after moving to Japan. They're both highly technical sports consisting of techniques coupled with countermoves but there's always that extra bit where you can pull something off that wasn't "supposed" to work if you're strong or fast enough.
You wanna talk ripped look no further than yokozuna Chiyonofuji, who was champ from '81-'91. He was "only" 5'10" 280 lb (179 cm 125 kg) but cut af in terms of rikishi, and seeing him makes you realize that almost all the wrestlers have basically his same musculature under the layer of fat they put on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyonofuji_Mitsugu
I'm glad you and your wife are enjoying it. I think most people don't recognize it for the amazing spectacle it can be.
anon6789@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 35d
Baseball was the only thing I ever played in a formal league, but I'd play a bit of most anything with friends. I would have rather been playing than watching, and I wasn't into rivalries of following any team in particular, so watching it on TV just never served to appeal to me.
I like the rikishi seem to usually get along. I like Ura and Hakunofuji because they just look so happy to be there. The short bio I watched of Shishi really got me to like him also. Then last night I was watching a Fujiryoga match and was saying he always looks so angry in his photo they use for the matches and in the ring. They coincidentally interviewed him after the match and asked him why he always looks so angry! 😄
His answer really won me over, at least how I translated the translation... I took it as it's just him getting in the zone for the match and to show his opponent that he's going to give it all he's got. That got me to thinking that's a polite way to say "I don't want him to think he got his ass kicked by a wimp!" and that made me chuckle to myself.
I just like how calm and polite they come across and how they show good sportsmanship in the ring and interviews. I gather that's still just public image, and there is plenty going on behind the scenes, as I read about Hakunofuji's recent things with his stable leader, but it feels they at least try and make sure the actual events are as professional as possible.
Different anime/manga and games like the Yakuza series have many times sent me into learning the issues that can come from living in strict hierarchy, so I try to make sure I don't look at things as being too rosey. I also was listening to some video that was explaining how the sumo rankings work and that helped me understand why these guys push themselves so hard even when they are injured, which makes me worry for the guys.
Wow, Chiyonofuni is jacked! It's like getting x-ray vision of a rikishi.
Sumo has always felt to me like the opposite of what a stereotypical American sports fan would like. Maybe that is why I actually ended up liking it when I gave it a shot!
Sergio@piefed.social · 3 pts · 35d
You and @tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip might be interested in this video where they put a couple rikishi into an MRI and look at how much additional muscle they have compared to non-rikishi:
https://youtu.be/jcppRWz3_as?t=271
Sergio@piefed.social · 3 pts · 35d
Same, I don't watch sports but I admire judo. However judo is kinda boring to watch bc a lot of times it gets really passive, where people are just defending, so in judo tourneys they have to penalize people if they don't attack enough. Sumo is like no-gi judo with the addition of an easy attack: charge forward like a lineman in American football!