Re: Haru Basho Senshuraku (day 15)

[Yugo Yodogawa <yyy@soda.berkeley.edu>]

>>            3-way playoff
>>Akebono                            Takanonami
>>Akebono                            Takatoriki
>
> This misses the first bout of the 3-way playoff, which was
> Takanonami  winning against         Takatoriki
>
> I didn't see the matches, could only listen to them on Shortwave.
> But the way Akebono won his last four matches (official ones on
> day 14 and 15 and the two playoff matches) seemed to show
> to me that he was really a class higher than the three Taka...
> Those in my oppinion only got as close as a playoff because
> they didn't have to fight each other, but then had no real chance
> in the final decision. Akebono's matches were many times commented
> as "yokozuna-sumo". Also in the victory interview, he said that
> he had to show his responsibility as yokozuna.

IMO, Takatoriki really didn't belong there at the end.  I think he lucked out
in getting into the tomoe-sen; if you look at his schedule during the basho,
it was MUCH easier than any of the schedules of the san-yaku.  I think one of
the reasons for this was because there were so many front-runners up until the
end that they didn't have time to accomodate any Takatoriki vs. san-yaku bouts,
as it seems almost obligatory that the san-yaku fight against each other at
least once.  

Is this situation similar to that of the 1991 Nagoya basho, when maegashira 13
Kotofuji took the yusho?  I was in Japan visiting relatives at the time, and I
remember this being the first time I had ever seen a sumo match.  Needless to
say, I don't remember any details of the basho since I didn't know one fat guy
from the next at the time <G>.  Anyone care to fill in the details on that 
basho?

-yugo