NorthAmericanSumo.com has a page dedicated to Wakaichirō Ken’s match history with video links. I think it is a good idea to periodically backup these videos in gif form, in case they are ever removed from YouTube. Creating these gifs and providing YouTube links (hopefully) draws traffic to the original video, too, which benefits those that tirelessly upload sumo for the whole world to see. In this post, I provide gifs of Wakaichirō’s matches in the Hatsu Basho 2017. This was Wakaichirō’s first matches after his mae-zumo bouts, and he was still very new to the sport. Quite exciting to see how far Wakaichirō has come since these jonokuchi matches!
If you would like to see anything else involving Wakaichirō, please contact me at NorthAmericanSumo@Gmail.com.
Wakaichirō Ken Match 1 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Tatsunofuji Masaru (22 East ; 2-5) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Jpg6zBebY
Wakaichirō Ken Match 2 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Karutaki Kazuki (17 East ; 6-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtaIH95hJkE
Wakaichirō Ken Match 3 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Noborifuji Daiki (23 East ; 2-5) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZkJKkwb3yY
Wakaichirō Ken Match 4 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Wakayama Satoshi (16 West ; 6-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He-_q3xfuFY
Wakaichirō Ken Match 5 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Ryuki Takamori (15 East ; 4-2-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwvzAGF1RF8
Wakaichirō Ken Match 6 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Kenshin Shohei (13 West ; 5-2) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPMhuAT0h4U
Wakaichirō Ken Match 7 Gif – Hatsu Basho 2017
Shimakaze Hisa (18 East ; 4-3) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkUBQyy7Yno
Wakaichirō just finished his second year competing in sumo. Although he has come quite a long way, he also showed a lot of talent in these early matches. He had a lot of power for the jonokuchi division. He easily pushed out his opponent in the first match above, and his fifth match against Ryuki is still one of my favorite Wakaichirō matches. It is interesting to see that Wakaichirō’s early strength was his power, as he seems today to be more focused on his footwork. I’m sure that he is trying to become a more well-rounded rikishi, which is the only way to make it to the top.
Wakaichirō went 3-4 in this basho, which then placed him near the top of the jonokuchi division. He then went 5-2, 4-3, 4-3, and 4-3 in his following four basho. This progression put him in the bottom of the sandanme division, where he typically finds himself today. It seems that Wakaichirō is using the bottom of sandanme as a testing/training ground to develop his skills, rather than trying to shoot up the rankings as soon as possible. I think we will see more leaps and bounds this year as Wakaichirō strives to reach his stable-mate, Musashikuni, in the makushita division.
North American Sumo 
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