Never seen a match before, gimme your best recommendation please.
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Hakuho vs Tochinoshin where Tochi wins?
Oh wow great question. As a relative newcomer I only have a couple links at hand, so I’m gonna say:
- Aonishiki vs Shodai, May 16, 2025 - shows the importance of balance and angle of attack (plus is pretty dramatic)
Never seen a match before
Hey, welcome! We’re a little over halfway through the bimonthly tournament. Here are a couple ways to follow it:
- NHK’s coverage online. These have English commentary and intro videos, but they’re delayed a day or so.
- DonDon’s “top 10” summaries. These are nice because they have after-fight reviews in English
The most impressive thing you’ll see in a general sense is a move called utchari, where a wrestler lifts the opponent and pivots to throw behind and to the side.
https://youtu.be/24XMymzhI6Y?t=223You also can’t go wrong watching some of the matches that led to the rise of Hakuho (starting mid 2000s), the guy with the most tournament wins (by a mile-- 45 compared to the #2 guy with only 32. Keep in mind there are only 6 tournaments a year). This shows some of his matches with Asashoryu, a beast of a wrestler in his own right who was forced to retire after a night out drinking where he assaulted someone and broke his nose in a fight.
https://youtu.be/TChxal5jfyU?t=33You might also be interested in seeing some of Mainoumi (90s era), who won matches with so many different techniques that he got the nickname “department store of techniques”. He decided to go into sumo in honor of a friend who died before he could achieve that dream. Mainoumi was too short to make the (at the time) height requirement, so he managed to convince a doctor to inject a couple cm of silicone into his scalp to just barely pass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKWTIgWDJqgIt’s also fun watching his matches with Konishiki, one of the biggest wrestlers ever at 287 kg (633 lb). Mainoumi was only 98 kg, which ranks among the lightest wrestlers. Nowadays you don’t get many of the extreme heavyweights, and the most successful guys tend to be between about 150 and 200 kg.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKxyETFgwmQThe most impressive thing you’ll see
There were a couple Fisherman’s Throws (Amiuchi) this tourney, too. e.g. Nishikigi vs Fujiseiun on May 14th. (bonus: it’s followed by a great Aonishiki vs Meisei bout on that link!)
