With Musashikuni Mamu withdrawing from the basho, it was up to Wakaichirō Ken to represent the entire North American continent. And he represented us very well! At the New Year, Wakaichirō had one goal: to get a kachi-koshi in the sandanme division. After fighting as hard as he could, Wakaichirō completed his goal with two basho to spare in the year. Great work!
I predicted that Wakaichirō would finish with a 4-3 record, and he did just that. It seems that I am much better at predicting Wakaichirō’s results than Musashikuni’s. Next basho, Wakaichirō will probably find himself around the sandanme 70 rank. This will be the highest rank that Wakaichirō has ever achieved, and he has a lot to be proud about. His hard work is certainly paying off.
During this basho, Wakaichirō did a fantastic job focusing on the basics and sticking to his style. Regarding the basics, Wakaichirō kept his opponents directly in front of himself, never moved backwards, and eliminated any unnecessary motions. Readers of NorthAmericanSumo.com know that Wakaichirō sometimes struggles with over-movements, and I was very happy to see that he did not have that issue during this basho. Regarding his style, Wakaichirō performed best when he stuck to his thrusting gameplan. He is getting better with it each basho, and I would love to see him climb higher with it.
Below is a table that summarizes Wakaichirō Ken’s Nagoya Basho 2019 performance, followed by gifs of his matches. If you would like to see anything else involving Wakaichirō’s performance in the Nagoya Basho 2019, please contact me at NorthAmericanSumo@Gmail.com.
|
Opponent |
Ranking |
Current Record |
Result |
Method |
|
85 West |
3-4 |
Win! |
Oshidashi |
|
|
84 West |
4-3 |
Loss |
Tsukiotoshi |
|
|
82 East |
3-4 |
Win! |
Oshidashi |
|
|
86 East |
3-4 |
Loss |
Kubinage |
|
|
90 East |
5-2 |
Loss |
Oshidashi |
|
|
82 West |
3-4 |
Win! |
Oshidashi |
|
|
80 West |
3-4 |
Win! |
Hatakikomi |
Wakaichirō Match 1 – Opponent: Kotootomo Shunpei
Record: 1-0
Wakaichirō Match 2 – Opponent: Kamitani Genki
Record: 1-1
Wakaichirō Match 3 – Opponent: Hamadayama Takashi
Record: 2-1
Wakaichirō Match 4 – Opponent: Narumi Satoshi
Record: 2-2
Wakaichirō Match 5 – Opponent: Azumasho Go
Record: 2-3
Wakaichirō Match 6 – Opponent: Kotokume Kiyoshi
Record: 3-3
Wakaichirō Match 7 – Opponent: Fujihisashi Toshiyuki
Record: 4-3
Such a great basho for such a great rikishi! Let’s hope that he can keep the momentum going, and perhaps he can get his second sandanme kachi-koshi of the year!
North American Sumo 
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