January Hatsu Basho - SUMO

January Hatsu Basho - SUMO

Day 1

How to watch:
Araibira's channel(Has all matches, no commentary) - http://www.youtube.com/user/araibira/videos?view=0
JasonsinJapan's channel(Top 6 matches plus commentary) - http://www.youtube.com/user/JasonsinJapan/videos
Japan Sumo Associations live stream(On very early in USA night until early USA mornings)(Use Windows Media Player) -
http://mfile.akamai.com/125134/live/reflector:52441.asx?prop=a

For more on each wrestler, their stats, tournaments and schedules check out:
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Banzuke.aspx

LEGEND:
Y = Yokozuna - 1st rank
O = Ozeki - 2nd rank
S = Sekiwake - 3rd rank
K = Komusubi - 4th rank
M and a number = Maegashira - 5th rank
J = Juryo = 6th rank and the top of the second division of sumo

Welcome everyone to my coverage of the January 2012 Sumo Basho. This is my first full live tournament as it may be for alot of you. I'll do my best and hope I can entertain you. I'm fully expecting Hakuho to win but I'm pulling for Takanoyama(who has no shot) and Aoiyama(maybe has a shot).

Tochinowaka(M15) vs Takarafuji(M14)

Quick and straightforward match here with Tochinowaka taking down the higher ranked Takarafuji without a fight. Tochinowaka is going to be one of the guys I watch this tournament, so I'll keep you updated.

Jokoryu(J1) vs Tamaasuka(M16)

Jokoryu tried to toss Tamasuka out but in the meantime got tossed himself! Jokoryu made it to the top division the fastest of anyone ever, so I thought I'd check him out. Not a bad loss as Tamaasuka is ahead of him, but I was expecting a win.

Takanoyama(J5) vs Kimurayama(J4)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw-LPkq-Z6w

Takanoyama wins to go to 1-0!

Orora vs Shibahara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wyJItiEZFU
I believe Orora is currently the fattest sumo wrestler as he's 601lbs. He's 4 divisions down at Sandanme, but I believe the current fattest sumo deserves some coverage.

Orora lost here as he got pushed out. The only thing Orora can do is push out. Seriously. He's pretty untalented but interesting nonetheless.

Aoiyama(M6) vs Takayasu(M7)

They had to have a discussion over who won. It looked like Aoiyama took it to me as you can see Takayasu was way down and therefore was more likely to touch first. They agreed and Aoiyama goes to 1-0.

Tochinoshin(M6) vs Ikioi(M5)

Ikioi quickly got pushed out here. I love his name. It's pronounced icky-oy.

Takekaze(M9) vs Masunoyama(M7)
Masunoyama won quickly due to his sheer size at 376lbs.

Gagamaru(M4) vs Aran(M4) - Not a great looking match here. It was slow and not interesting at all. Aran pretty much gave up near the end of it thinking he was out.

Baruto(S) vs Toyohibiki(M3) - The announcers talked about how bad Baruto's knee is. It's been a problem since September and it got him bumped down to Sekiwake. He needs 10 wins to go back to Ozeki and he got 1 of them today, but it seems like a tall order. They said if anyone takes him to the side, Baruto will be in trouble.

Goeido(S) vs Kaisei(M3) - Goeido had 11 wins last time, and is going to need 11 for the next two to get up to Ozeki. He got one today though Kaisei put up a good fight.

Kotoshogiku(O) vs Kyokutenho(M2) - This is Kyokutenho's 100th tournament in the top 2 divisions.  Kotoshogiku got a quick win here off a great start with a push out. It was over from the first tachi-ai(starting move). Although Kotoshogiku is unlikely to win, he would have the advtange of not having to fight the other Ozeki, Kotooshu because they are from the same stable. I think there is also a Maegashira who is from his stable as well.

Kotooshu(O) vs Toyonoshima(M2)

This was a really close one that didn't appear to be so close from far away. Kotooshu fell first but in the process of putting Kotooshu down, Toyonoshima stepped out. Totally sucks to be hime because a win over an Ozeki would have been choice for him. Kotooshu moves to 1-0.

Kakuryu(O) vs Myogiryu(M1)
Kakuryu barely escaped to go to 1-0 here in a quick and intense match.

Kisenosato(O) vs Aminishiki(M1)

Kisenosato got the win in one of those "blink and you'll miss it" deals. He took some rough slaps en route to winning.

Harumafuji(Y) vs Tochiozan(K)

Harumafuji needs to get 10 wins here even though he's a Yokozuna. He had a torn calf muscle last tournament which made him go 9-6, but they are really pressuring him to do better this time around with atleast 10 wins.

Fun match with Harumafuji pushing him out to go 1-0.

Hakuho(Y) vs Shohozan(K)
Hakuho is the defending champion as he won the last tournament. He went 14-1 and should have gone 15-0. Shohozan looked great last tournament and is going to be making an attack on a Sekiwake promotion.

Hakuho is 2-0 against Shohozan.

Easy win for Hakuho today. He got a good tachi-ai and Shohozan crumbled.

There you have it guys. We will have to do this day by day to see how much I can cover. Busier days are going to mean less matches and pictures unfortunately.

Rankings:
1-0
Hakuho, Harumafuji, Kisenosato, Kakuryu, Kotoshogiku, Kotooshu, Goeido, Baruto, Gagamaru, Aoiyama, Sadanofuji, Shotenro, Tamaasuka, Tochinowaka and TAKANOYAMA plus others.

As we get more into this I can do more groupings.