What went wrong for Takakeisho at the 2023 Kyushu basho?
What went wrong for Takakeisho at the 2023 Kyushu basho?
Let's figure it out.
Before the Kyushu basho got underway I asked you all which rikishi you’d like to receive the first ever ‘Sumo Stomp! Spotlight’. The winner of that poll would be someone I watched extra closely during the tournament and would analyze in a dedicated article after the fact (this one!).
Takakeisho won that poll. And you can see why. He was heading into the tournament on the heels of his second Emperor’s Cup victory of the year. His championship clinching bout at the autumn tournament may have been controversial, but I still think he looked fantastic throughout that event.
It was believed that a win in Kyushu could give ‘The Angry Hamster’ a strong case for promotion to yokozuna. But that didn’t happen, did it…
At times, in Kyushu, Takakeisho looked dominant, but at other times he looked rather ordinary. That combination conspired for a mediocre record and little chance we see Takakeisho ascend to yokozuna status any time soon (or maybe ever).
So what went wrong? Why wasn’t a seemingly healthy Takakeisho able to follow up his electric showing at the aki basho?
Let’s try and figure it out.
We’re going to go day by day here and pay close attention to the technique and strategy that featured in each bout. Hopefully we’ll be able to identify a pattern and come to a conclusion on why Keisho looks so average at times this tournament.
Day 1
We don’t need to look too deeply to figure out how Takakeisho got off to a 1-0 start in Kyushu. Against Hokutofuji he got an early jump on his opponent, leaving the blocks before Hokutofuji could put both hands down. The gyoji didn’t have a problem with it, so it is what it is.
Despite hesitating for a split second, Takakeisho’s early start enabled him to hit Hokutofuji (who was especially vertical because he didn’t have time to lean into contact) square in the chest and drive him back to the straw.
Hokutofuji was able to power off his back foot (which was quite remarkable) and look for some open space. But Takakeisho kept hold of him and, despite almost crossing up his own feet, was able to lead Hokutofuji back to the boundary. Once he sorted his feet out he was able to get the last push he needed to secure the win.
Day 2
Takakeisho’s day two win over Shodai was superb. It followed the same routine as the win over Hokutofuji, except Shodai showed more resistance than Hokutofuji and forced the bout into a third phase.
In the first phase, Takakeisho again got a good start (not an early one, though) and was able to hit Shodai square in the chest. Shodai’s height made that easier for Takakeisho. The push forced Shodai back to the straw and, like Hokutofuji, he pushed off his back foot and looked for space; side-stepping to the left. when Hokutofuji tried this, Takakeisho was able to stick close to him and maintain forward momentum. Shodai was able to prevent this, though.
When he hopped to the side he also pushed back and was able to stop Takakeisho from stealing a march on him. After he backed up Takakeisho, Shodai advanced, squaring his feet and pushing up against Takakeisho’s thrusts. This nullified Takakeisho’s forward pressure.
Takakeisho sensed Shodai had the upper hand in a shoving match at this point, so he did something quite brilliant. He timed one of Shodai’s surges forwards and then feinted a push before hopping to the side. As soon as he landed, he swept his left foot back all the way to the straw. He did this to discover exactly where he was in the ring and how much real estate he had to work with for what he had planned next.
Watch his feet from that point on. He brought his right foot back in line with his left, so both heels were touching the straw. Then he side stepped to the right twice, with the second one including a 90 degree spin, landing perfectly in the extra space allowed by the toku-dawara.
The spin was a result of him changing his body shape to evade Shodai’s push and force his opponent to dive to the ground. He lead Shodai to this point of the ring to do this, knowing he would have that extra foot space on the landing.
The fight IQ, body/ring awareness and timing involved in this sequence was astonishing. Takakeisho gave Shodai his best shot off the tachiai but then recognized he couldn’t win a fire-fight and instead adjusted and lead his opponent into a trap.
Day 3
Takakeisho got to 3-0 with a quick and relatively simple win over Ura (someone he holds a 14-3 record over). Takakeisho went first, again, in the tachiai. But this time he used that advantage to get set and catch/halt Ura's opening drive. Then he blitzed him back and out. He kept his feet low to the ground and struck off center on Ura's chest, forcing Ura's body to twist and make him off balance. Ura tried to dance away along the boundary, but Takakeisho was too quick and denied him the space he needed to escape.
It's not quite a fist pump at the end there, but it did look like Takakeisho celebrated this victory a little. That kick at the end reminded me of the dreaded bat flip in baseball.
After this trio of wins Takakeisho was feeling confident. And why not? He'd beaten three good wrestlers and hadn't looked in danger of losing.
Day 4
I noted that Takakeisho came out for this bout with a slight smile on his face, which I took as a sign of confidence. In retrospect maybe it was over-confidence.
I think Takakeisho was expecting the same fight out of Meisei that he had got in the aki basho, one where they traded blows until he got to the boundary line and deftly side-stepped and swiped Meisei down.
Takakeisho tried that same finishing manoeuvre here, but far too early, perhaps believing he could swat down Meisei anywhere he pleased. He went for the side step on the second charge forwards from Meisei (excluding the tachiai).
Meisei was able to stay on his feet by sliding out a stabilizing leg and then turning his foot back towards the conflict. Meisei deserves immense credit for what happened next. He blocked Takakeisho’s next charge, utilizing his foot against the straw. He then waded forward to give himself some room before executing a beautiful evasive move.
Meisei sensed Takakeisho coming in and he didn’t step to the side, he leaped! Takakeisho lurched forward, but there was no body there to stop his momentum. He was forced to do a little hop to stabilize himself and Meisei then went in for the kill, getting close in the clinch and denying Takakeisho any space to prevent the yorikiri.
That was Meisei’s best win of the tournament (which ended with a terrible 4-11 mark).
All the good things we saw with Takakeisho’s ring awareness in the Shodai win are reversed here. If he knew where he was when he attempted that side-step, that’s a poor decision. If he didn’t, then it speaks to a lack of focus. Either way, that brings him down to earth and puts him at 3-1.
Day 5
On Day 5 Takakeisho met Takayasu. The former ozeki had struggled mightily with injuries this year, but he looked much better this tournament. In Kyushu he managed a 10-5 record which will most likely land him back in the san’yaku.
Coming off a loss, Takakeisho opted for a henka here to get his tournament back on track. I’m fine with the move personally, but I imagine many will sneer at this bout and consider it as un-ozeki-like behaviour. I believe rikishi need to be ready for everything, though, including an opponent who won’t plow head on into you in the opening clash.
Takayasu did well initially, to avoid being pushed all the way to the straw or completely taken down. Takakeisho then did a great job of rushing his opponent and being light on his feet to anticipate Takayasu’s next move. Takayasu moved to his left on this occasion and Takakeisho was able to respond with his right arm, blocking Takayasu from moving too far to the side. That arm prevented Takayasu from squirting away while Takakeisho executed the all out dive for the win.
I think Takakeisho got a little lucky here. The underhook on Takayasu is a good move and he did well to shift his direction when he saw Takayasu step left. But a more slippery opponent, like an Abi or Tobizaru, could have stayed in along the side as Takakeisho crashed down.
It’s not a high quality win, but it gets Takakeisho to 4-1.
Day 6
Tobizaru has historically given Takakeisho more problems than most. Including this match, Takakeisho has a 5-6 record versus the Flying Monkey and he had lost the previous five bouts they’d shared.
Tobizaru’s ability to create space and escape tight corners is a nightmare for Takakeisho, whose best work happens when he can get hands on his opponent and drive through them.
Tobizaru started this bout with a henka, but Takakeisho recognized it quickly and was able to pull a lot of momentum out of his tachiai. After Tobizaru bounced back and started his herky-jerky offence, where he feints all kinds of attacks to draw his opponent into a mistake, Takakeisho was incredibly patient. He let Tobizaru have that space initially and used a wide variety of striking techniques to prevent Tobizaru from pushing him back or touching his belt.
He used some heavy slaps to the face to break up Tobi’s concentration, and light swipes on his hands to nullify potential grabs. When Tobizaru tried to thrust, Takakeisho pushed his hands up, redirecting the force upwards so he wasn’t pushed back.
One of Takakeisho’s defensive thrusts pushed Tobizaru a step back and that’s when Takakeisho took the initiative. He followed him back and searched for Tobizaru’s mawashi with his left hand, while swiping him with the right. I think this was to get Tobizaru to back off and step further back towards the boundary.
Tobizaru did step back, but Takakeisho then hit him with a hard slap across the face with his left hand. With Tobizaru’s head turned, Takakeisho put two hands on his chest and pushed him almost over the line. He then hit him with a lighter slap.
At this point Tobizaru has no idea where the next hand from Takakeisho is going to land. Takakeisho decided to follow the slap with another two handed push, which put Tobizaru right on the straw. Tobizaru, sick of getting hit in the face, turned his back to his opponent, inviting an easy okuridashi win for Takakeisho.
I really like this performance by Takakeisho. He was intelligent in blocking the henka attempt and then showed great defence and patience while he waited for an opportunity to impose his will on Tobizaru.
And when he got that chance, he didn’t miss. I think he channelled some of his past losses into the viciousness of those slaps and the hardest one seemed to take Tobizaru’s focus completely off the bout.
Day 7
This is where the basho went off the rails for Takakeisho.
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