Kinboshi Sumo

Hakuho has officially left the JSA after Chairman Hakkaku pushed him one step too far, attempting to make him serve his junior Terunofuji without a promise of getting his Miyagino Stable back. 

Now he's rallying his financial backers and other connections to create some sort of international sumo organization to contribute to the sport outside of the JSA. 

Sean and I discuss some case studies of "splits" happening in other sports leagues and discuss our ideas for best case scenarios and how this could help rather than hurt sumo.

Check the article below that we referenced in the show:

https://japantoday.com/category/features/kuchikomi/hakuho%27s-lofty-%27global-sumo%27-ambitions-bolstered-by-generous-backers-with-deep-pockets

We cover Onosato's victory, Hoshoryu's preformance stopping the zensho yusho, and re-visit our January "young guns to Ozeki" picks.

SPOILER WARNING: We kept our conversation to day 7 and earlier but if you haven't seen day 7 you may want to hold off on this one.

Other than that...

Onosato is doing just what we thought the would but Hakuoho, Wakatakakage, and our boy Aonishiki are hot on his heels. Who you got after 7 days?

Another Ozeki has a chance to make Yokozuna! Is this Onosato's time? Will Hoshoryu bounce back? Is Kotozakura even still in the building? Or will one of the Dark Horses upset them both?

Phil is back for us to break down some numbers to see if we can figure out what year any given rikishi should peak. After a March final of 35 year old Takayasu vs young up and comer Onosato, we wanted to see if we could figure out what the range of their "best years" is.

We break down the science behind spinal injuries in sumo and why there are less of them than we might expect. We deep dive into a study into how the mawashi protects rikishi and how sumo can learn from this fact to prevent future damage to rikishi.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10629334/

Takayasu is runner up once again but now we have Onosato's Yokozuna run to look forward to.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not seen the day 14 matches pause and come back.

Otherwise, full steam ahead!

Takayasu lost on day 14. Onosato won. Two 11 win rikishi. A chance for a day 15 playoff. Big Papa cuts the margins to the bone once again, and if he's going to exorcise these demons I wouldn't have it any other way. Let's go Big Papa!

We're down to 3 contenders and just a pair of outside chasers in Osaka after the first week. Who you got between Onosato and Takayasu? Can Takerufuji or Tamawashi make a run? Or will the wounded Yokozuna somehow come from behind to steal the Emperor's cup two basho in a row?

A quick chat with Sean on All Basho's Eve to see which of the Osaka boys we like to perform best this tournament.