Why I'm beginning to love Sumo (The Sumo Thread)

[gilgamesh]

So I noticed I had a Japanese channel on my DirecTV a few months back, and they had a Sumo Tournament going on. I figured what the hell I've never really watched Sumo I'll give it a look. Well I was instantly drawn to it, and enjoyed watching it, and now I'm watching the September Tournament (Basho they call it), smoking a joint, having my coffee, and it dawned on me why I love watching this so much.

After years of following Combat Sports. You see a bit of fuckery here and there all the time. Corrupt judges that reward the wrong winner, Shady referees who make questionable calls or favor certain fighters, Promoters who take years and years to put the biggest fights that every follower of the sport wants to see together, or sometimes not at all.

There's none of that in Sumo. Every Sumo Wrestler (Rikishi) faces each other over the course of a 15 Day Tournament every few months. Because of the nature of the sport there is no possibility of Corruption. You win or lose on your own merits. The referee simply gets out of the way, and calls the winner which 95% of the time is obvious at first glance.

So in that way it's pure like no other Sport really. It's honorable.

[kewlmodee]

It's pretty awesome. PEDs aren't really a problem, there are NO weight classes, and there's a tournament every other month. Plus even though he's at the end of his career, we get to watch Hakuho, who is probably the GOAT.

My favorite is a guy named Ura who had to drop out of salaried ranks because of a knee injuries. In the past tournament he went 6 - 1 ( the lower divisions only do 7 day tournaments ) and will now once again be gettin paid in Juryo ( the division below the top division ). He's a smaller dude, but does crazy cool moves to win.

[the13r]

Love it too. Thanks to a few here who posted about the yt feed showing it

[Pangloss]

There was actually a huge scandal in sumo with match fixing. Think it was about 10 years ago. Presumably has gotten better since then.

[kewlmodee]

There was actually a huge scandal in sumo with match fixing. Think it was about 10 years ago. Presumably has gotten better since then.

Yeah, the top two divisions wrestlers get paid. In exchange for money, some guys in the second division took dives vs wrestlers that were at risk of dropping down to the unpaid third division. There's also been an issue with hazing and violence outside of competition and training. Two of the last 5 Yokozuna (the highest rank) have had to retire due to violence outside of the ring.

[gilgamesh]

So the November Basho is well underway.

The littlest man in the Top division Enho got his first win of the Tournament yesterday.

Lots of the top guys ranked Yokozuna and Ozeki are having to sit this one out due to injury so that's a bummer, but it's a competitive tournament so far with several guys still in the running for a chance to win The Emperor's Cup.

I think either Takakeisho or Terunofuji are gonna take this one. Terunofuji won the July Tournament, and is doing exceptional in this one so far as well.

[kewlmodee]

So the November Basho is well underway.

The littlest man in the Top division Enho got his first win of the Tournament yesterday.

Lots of the top guys ranked Yokozuna and Ozeki are having to sit this one out due to injury so that's a bummer, but it's a competitive tournament so far with several guys still in the running for a chance to win The Emperor's Cup.

I think either Takakeisho or Terunofuji are gonna take this one. Terunofuji won the July Tournament, and is doing exceptional in this one so far as well.

I think Takakeisho will still pull it out. I'm happy that Ura has a winning record in the second division. Hopefully he can stay healthy and make it back to the top division.

[kewlmodee]

Ura has some crazy moves!

[Primetyme199]

Ura with the college folk/freestyle moves

[Primetyme199]

Go Enho, he’s like a quarter of the size of them. Picked up his second win today.

[gilgamesh]

Go Enho, he’s like a quarter of the size of them. Picked up his second win today.

Yeah I always root for Enho to do well. He's had a shitty November Tournament. More so than the last few. He'll probably get demoted out of the Top division if it keeps up like this.

I'm hoping he wasn't injured in his most recent match. He took a nasty spill out of the ring on that last one.

[Primetyme199]

I saw that. I was expecting him to get squished like a grape with his insides coming out with that guy falling on top of him.

I don't get the full tournament but I found a channel on my cable (Comcast) that does a highlight show every day from the tournament. It actually shows every match right after each other so there's no delay with the editing. I love it.

[Danielk015]

I gotta check this out more! I can see how Sumo's will take dives as it is mano o mano in there, but seems like as straight forward a competition as one will get.

[gilgamesh]

I saw that. I was expecting him to get squished like a grape with his insides coming out with that guy falling on top of him.

I don't get the full tournament but I found a channel on my cable (Comcast) that does a highlight show every day from the tournament. It actually shows every match right after each other so there's no delay with the editing. I love it.

The highlights is all you need really. When it's Live it's a lot of Salt throwing, posturing, and ceremonial shit before the actual match.

The matches themselves tend to be over in seconds.

[gilgamesh]

I gotta check this out more! I can see how Sumo's will take dives as it is mano o mano in there, but seems like as straight forward a competition as one will get.

The way I look at it the sport is uncorrupt. Even if an individual takes a dive, that's HIS decision to dishonor himself. They can always say no when somebody is trying to talk them into this kinda thing I would think.

[Primetyme199]

I saw that. I was expecting him to get squished like a grape with his insides coming out with that guy falling on top of him.

I don't get the full tournament but I found a channel on my cable (Comcast) that does a highlight show every day from the tournament. It actually shows every match right after each other so there's no delay with the editing. I love it.

The highlights is all you need really. When it's Live it's a lot of Salt throwing, posturing, and ceremonial shit before the actual match.

The matches themselves tend to be over in seconds.

I like it better this way, so I don’t have to sit through all you’re talking about.

[gilgamesh]

I think either Takakeisho or Terunofuji are gonna take this one. Terunofuji won the July Tournament, and is doing exceptional in this one so far as well.

Had a good eye for this one. Not only did Takakeisho ultimately take the Tournament, but it came down to a Playoff battle between him and Terunofuji. Terunofuji beat him in the 15th match to even their records for the Tournament at 13-2, and in the extra playoff match Takakeisho was able to pull it off, and take the Emperor's Cup.

Looking forward to the next Tournament. Good stuff.

[Primetyme199]

I think either Takakeisho or Terunofuji are gonna take this one. Terunofuji won the July Tournament, and is doing exceptional in this one so far as well.

Had a good eye for this one. Not only did Takakeisho ultimately take the Tournament, but it came down to a Playoff battle between him and Terunofuji. Terunofuji beat him in the 15th match to even their records for the Tournament at 13-2, and in the extra playoff match Takakeisho was able to pull it off, and take the Emperor's Cup.

Looking forward to the next Tournament. Good stuff.

When Takakeisho started the playoff match you could tell he was messing around at all. He took it right to him.

I was glad to see Enho pick up his 3rd win.

[gilgamesh]

I think either Takakeisho or Terunofuji are gonna take this one. Terunofuji won the July Tournament, and is doing exceptional in this one so far as well.

Had a good eye for this one. Not only did Takakeisho ultimately take the Tournament, but it came down to a Playoff battle between him and Terunofuji. Terunofuji beat him in the 15th match to even their records for the Tournament at 13-2, and in the extra playoff match Takakeisho was able to pull it off, and take the Emperor's Cup.

Looking forward to the next Tournament. Good stuff.

When Takakeisho started the playoff match you could tell he was messing around at all. He took it right to him.

I was glad to see Enho pick up his 3rd win.

I hope Enho stays in the Top Division come January, but at a certain point they'll have no choice, but to demote him back down. This is the 3rd Tournament in a row I've seen where he had a losing record, and this time he lost far more than he won.

[Primetyme199]

He didn’t have a good year:

January 8-7
March 6-9
July 5-10
September 6-9
November 3-12

[gilgamesh]

And we're back!!!

I do believe the January Basho begins tonight in the Wee hours of the Morning.

[Primetyme199]

My DVR is set to record the highlight shows

[Tocsin]

A bunch of competitors out with COVID, including 3 or 4 entire stables. Both yokozuna out as well too, so this will be an unusual tournament with a much lower number of competitors than usual.

[gilgamesh]

Goddamn how long are the Yokozuna gonna be out? These guys haven't been in the last several Tournaments.

[Primetyme199]

Just turned it on to watch, wow 16 wrestlers out for this tourney.