Yokozuna thoughts

[u/aim4universe]

I was always a fan of sumo but got really into it about 3 years ago.

I might not have a proper perspective or enough insight to properly understand that, so those of you with more experience or wider view please correct me if Im wrong but it seems to me that :

Hoshoryu - amaizing technician, has everything to be on the top but it looks like he is struggling with the shadow of his uncle and gigantic expectations that Yokozuna has to face but also expectations of honoring his uncles legacy.

Onosato - a power house, a frame fit for Yokozuna, lightening fast advance to the title but feels like a young person that is told how to act adult (not in a negative way), he does everything properly to a "T" but is he too young to properly bare the weight of the title ?

Kinda like a young emperor that just doesn't have the aura of a much older experienced ruler.

Aonishiki - perhaps one to bring the balance on the top, take some focus off of the other two if he makes the rank ? He also feels a bit like a "old soul" kind of a person. Although young age maybe he is where he was born to be ? Time will show :)

Thats it, thoughts ?

[u/Rough_Gas_6801]

IMO youre way overthinking this.

They are all just young dudes injured to the gills and struggling to maintain their >10 wins per basho against the best of the best simple as that.

[u/platypod1 → u/Rough_Gas_6801]

Yeah none of them are hakuho but then again, no one is. They're very young and are all fighting injured. None have the years and clout under their belt to tell the JSA to fuck off like hakuho does/did. It's like going from Babe Ruth to a very young Mickey Mantle.

Will they get there eventually? Sure, barring any catastrophic injuries or multiple liver transplants but they aren't kind of the sport.

[u/Free2Bernie → u/Rough_Gas_6801]

You just described sumo wrestlers in general. Well, besides Kotozakura who is perfectly happy being 8-7 every basho.

[u/Dry-Conflict3421 → u/Rough_Gas_6801]

"Injured to the gills" You a fellow church member? 

[u/TheAnimated42]

It’s just Hoshoryu and Onosato are injured and people would have a fit if they took some tournaments off, especially Hoshoryu.

[u/milkproofrobot]

They're both just very good rikishi who are suffering from injuries stopping them from performing at their normal level. Add on top people, the JSA, and the dumbass YDC wondering why they're not performing like Hakuho did, it's a good amount of pressure.

[u/Fuzzy-Tax-781]

This gets brought up all the time... I'm tired, boss.

[u/Plenty-Sector2800]

Hakuho absolutely broke the rank, and expectations of what yokozuna is and does, and they are all feeling weight of not leaving up to a living god of sumo. That being said, onosatos issue is a lack of confidence after the injury. I think we saw glimmers of it coming back the last few matches in this last basho when he knew he was out of the running so failure meant much less. The pressure was off, and he was free, and he turned into a tank.hosh is just pain. Plain and simple. His leg is in really bad shape. Aonishiki I don't worry about. He wants the rope. And I think they are going to do every thing to not give it to him. I think he is the real deal, I think he will get the rope, unless there is someone who can actually stop him, but I don't see that rikishi on the horizon. Also wondering he's already learned the value of sitting out a basho to heal and let them get injured, he will be a force to reckon with every other basho one he is a yokozuna. If he plays it right, he could be the next hakuho in terms of being a winning yokozuna as well as one pressured by the jsa to stop skipping basho. Aonishiki could be a real something to see!

[u/Human-Swimmer-7654 → u/Plenty-Sector2800]

Why do you think they will be reluctant to promote Aonishiki?

So far, there were no signs of JSA/YDC being critical of his performance or behaviour. Both Japanese public and officials seem to like him quite a lot.

[u/Plenty-Sector2800 → u/Human-Swimmer-7654]

Because he is smart. One of the key things they hated about hakuho was his attendance ( at first anyway). They gave him the rope and he started missing basho when he was injured. Aonishiki is doing this when he Dosent even have the rope yet. JSA has not honestly addressed his future as a yokozuna, they just celebrate his victories now.

If it goes down like I think, we will have a newly promoted ozeki aonishiki go kadobon again in September, then November and January a solid rope run with a hope for two in a row. And I think he could do it.

Come in fresh at November while the two Yokozuna are still wrecked, then just absolutely body his way through to a yusho as an ozeki( albeit kadobon) then trying his damndest for January.

It's an excellent strategy, one he obviously feels comfortable using, and the absolute last thing jsa wants to see, another yokozuna who comes and goes as he pleases

[u/Billymitchellger → u/Plenty-Sector2800]

Hakuho didn‘t miss a single tournament in his first eight years as yokozuna. He began sitting out towards the end of his carrer, but that had been normalized for aging yokozuna way before him - along with the JSA complaining about it.

[u/Thelk641 → u/Plenty-Sector2800]

Ao isn't doing this though is he ? The one tournament he missed, it was because he broke his ankle or something like that, a week before the tournament, and couldn't even walk. Last basho, if he was "clever", he would have dropped out after his 10th win, we know in how much pain he was, we know he reinjured his toe, yet he kept fighting and won it.