Congrats to Dai-Yokozuna Terunofuji!
Congratulations to the 2024 July Grand Sumo Tournament winner!
And no, I will not entertain any arguments over what constitutes a Dai-(aka great)-Yokozuna.
Others can do that.
Now that the tournament is over, I can post again (this substack is active mainly between tournaments…too busy watching and re-watching the matches during the basho).
Pre-basho, I had this post on Terunofuji:
Let’s take a look at his performance in the Nagoya basho.
Terunofuji’s 2024 Nagoya Record
Let’s go to the official source, the JSA page for Terunofuji, for the July 2024 result:
Officially, it counts as a 12-3 win, though he did go into a playoff match against Takanosho on day 15.
First, because it’s a shorter list, let’s look at Terunofuji’s losses:
Day 11, lost to Onosato by tsukiotoshi
Day 14, lost to Takanosho by yorikiri
Day 15, lost to Kotozakura by uwatedashinage
Now, let’s look to his wins:
Day 1, won over Hiradoumi by yorikiri
Day 2, won over Meisei by yorikiri
Day 3, won over Wakamotoharu by yorikiri
Day 4, won over Mitakeumi by yorikiri
Day 5, won over Gonoyama by oshidashi
Day 6, won over Tobizaru by oshidashi
Day 7, won over Ura by yorikiri
Day 8, won over Shonannoumi by oshidashi
Day 9, won over Daieisho by uwatedashinage
Day 10, won over Kirishima by kotenage
Day 12, won over Abi by yorikiri
Day 13, won over Takakeisho by hatakikomi
Playoff, won over Takanosho by yorikiri
I like doing the lists this way, because you can see most of Teru’s wins are by hands-on yorikiri.
And when it’s something else… that’s something special you might want to look at.
But even when it’s yorikiri, such as with Ura, that was a very special match that I loved to watch.
Trying Everything… But Still Losing
Ura has a tough time — he has a lot of technique, but he is generally shorter and smaller than the other wrestlers. And when you’re up against Teruno-zilla, you’re going to have a tough time.
Terunofuji vs. Ura, July 2024
This is queued up to start at the Terunofuji v. Ura match:
I will be linking to Hiro Morita’s entire video in a bit, but this was truly the match that made the tournament for me.
I’m a huge Ura fan, and while Ura didn’t have much of a chance against Terunofuji, as with all his matches, it doesn’t matter what the odds are, he will keep trying until he loses. You can see that in this match, where he keeps trying different strategies until Terunofuji finally gets him out of the dohyo.
Entire Sumo Prime Time Video from beginning
This has all the Terunofuji matches from the tournament.
Updated Terunofuji Kimarite Graph
This is substantially the same as the pre-basho distribution, but this makes sense.
Terunofuji is a big guy in height and weight:
Terunofuji wins 2/3 of his matches, but when he does lose, it tends to be due to yorikiri.
To bring down a guy like him, you gotta get your hands on his belt/body.
Unless you’re Onosato, and you just step to the side. That was called thrust down, but he really did just get out of the way as Terunofuji just kept on going.
(Somebody else’s commentary in English)
Ole!
Onosato is a big guy himself. He’s the same height and a bit heavier than Terunofuji.
The cushions went flying, which made me smile so big. I had missed the flying cushions.