Sumo: 2022 January Basho Days 1 and 2

Day 1

The first basho of 2022 got underway in Tokyo, Japan yesterday with all eyes on the overwhelming favourite, Yokozuna Terunofuji. The last 5 January tournaments have seen first-time basho winners, but it’s hard to see anyone other than the big Mongolian taking his recent domination further. On Day 1, he would be up against Daieisho, who is the last man to defeat him back in September. After a tough battle, in which Terunofuji was up against the Dohyo rope, the Yokozuna came away with the victory after a slip from his battling opponent.

There were no real upsets on the first day of the basho, as most of the top-ranked rikishi came away with victories. Only Takanosho and Meisei lost, but that was against highly ranked Maegashira fighters, so not much of a surprise. The first day of the basho tends to see those fighters ranked next to each other facing off, and so there are a lot of 50/50 matchups.

Other winners on day 1 included Abi, who continues his fine form on return to the top division after coming so close to the fighting for the basho in November. Fan-favourites Hoshoryu and Tobizaru came away with good wins, including a superb Sotogake finish by Hoshoryu. There is a history of family relationships in Sumo, and now we have brothers in the top division again, as Wakamotoharu joined his brother Wakatakakage in Makuuchi. Mixed fortunes for the Waka brothers saw Wakamotoharu win his bout but Wakatakakage run in to the mountain Takakeisho who took the win.

From a European point of view, the two Euro fighters got off to a mixed start, as Bulgarian Aoiyama was defeated by Kotoeko and the Georgian former tournament winner Tochinoshin defeated Tsurugisho.

Find the full results of day 1 here.

Day 2

And so to day 2. I will run this day down as usual and at the end I will include the records of the contenders and favourites so far.

Yokozuna Terunofuji moved to 2-0 with a relatively straight-forward victory over the much smaller Wakatakakage, defeating him by Kotenage.

As for the Sanyaku (top-ranked) wrestlers, Ozeki Shodai also moved to 2-0 after defeating Ura, but his fellow Ozeki Takakeisho was defeated by Komosubi Meisei. Both Sekiwake, Takanosho and Mitakeumi, were victorious against Kiribayama and Ichinojo respectively, whilst the other Komosubi, Daieisho, moved to 0-2 after being defeated by Tamawashi.

The flag-bearer of Miyagino stable now that the GOAT Hakuho is gone, Ishiura, secured his first win with a very cool Shitatenage which was undoubtedly the best finish of day 2. In addition, there were wins for Tobizaru and Abi who also both move to 2-0.

Ura seems to be paying the price for quick top division success, facing a different calibre of fighter from the very start after moving up the rankings. He was defeated by Shodai and is now 0-2 after day 2. He took a very hard fall from the Dohyo and walked from the arena injured. Hopefully he will recover in time for Day 3.

The European fighters swapped their success from Day 1 as Aoiyama won via hatakikomi against Tsurugisho, but Tochinoshin was defeated by Ichiyamamoto, both Europeans are at 1-1 after day 2.

Full results from Day 2 can be found here, and video highlights can be found here.

Enho watch

Super popular Rikishi Enho has been languishing in the second division for a year or so now, but it hasn’t reduced his popularity. I have introduced an Enho watch to this article so those interested in one of the smallest but most skilled Rikishi can follow his progress. So far he is 1-1 in the January tournament having lost on day 1 but come back with victory on day 2. See his bouts below.

Table so far

Selected fighters only, rank and record in brackets

Terunofuji (Y, 2-0)

Shodai (O, 2-0)

Mitakeumi (S, 2-0)

Abi (M6, 2-0)

Takakeisho (O, 1-1)

Takanosho (S, 1-1)

Meisei (K, 1-1)

Hoshoryu (M6, 1-1)

Tochinoshin (M15, 1-1)

Aoiyama (M16, 1-1)

Daieisho (K, 0-2)

Ura (M2, 0-2)

Keep it with VMTV for all the latest results and news from the January Sumo tournament!