SPORTS JAPAN
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SPORTS JAPAN
Hosted by Ayako Kisa
SPORTS JAPAN
Sun. 14:10 - 14:40 (UTC) etc.
SPORTS JAPAN features Japanese attitudes to sport, such as pursuing mental and physical prowess, that are often overlapped by the world's view of Japan.
Topics of the week:
Apr. 7, Sun. 14:10 - 14:40 (UTC) etc.
The March Grand Sumo Tournament & the Initial Charge
[Focus]
1. The March Grand Sumo Tournament - Hakuho Wins with a Perfect Record
Two young wrestlers who promise to be major stars of the next generation were the center of attention during the first half of the tournament. One was 23-year-old Takayasu, a wrestler who always attacks without flinching, totally set on the win, whoever his opponent may be. Facing yokozuna Harumafuji on Day Three, he charged fiercely at the start to halt Harumafuji's initial attack and then earned his first yokozuna scalp by turning and thrusting his opponent down at the edge of the ring. The other was 24-year-old Chiyotairyu. He built up momentum with wins over ozeki wrestlers on consecutive days and then came up against Harumafuji on Day Four. They, too, clashed hard and Chiyotairyu then raised that early excitement to fever pitch by felling the yokozuna with a split-second tug down from the shoulders. While all this was going on, yokozuna Hakuho carried on with the same overwhelming strength to win the tournament. One striking feature of this tournament was just how many t imes Hakuho seized the front left of his opponent's belt. A hand hold there let him take up his favored throwing position. He reached Day Thirteen still unbeaten and only needing to win one more to seal the title. He duly defeated ozeki Kakuryu to claim his 24th championship and tie the fourth highest number of tournament victories in history, then on the final day carried on to overcome yokozuna Harumafuji and rewrite sumo history with an unprecedented ninth clean sweep.
2. The Special Techniques of the Initial Charge
The initial charge is so important in sumo that people say it determines 80% of the results. The wrestlers concentrate intensely on the charge and the spectators hearts, too, are in their mouths for the first moment of contact. How powerful is that impact? We attached an impact meter to 178kg ozeki Kotoshogiku to find out. The answer was 13G, an astonishing figure equivalent to a 2 ton weight. The key points of the initial charge are the lunge off the mark and angle of impact. The wrestlers leave their marks with the speed and power of a 100m runner, gripping the sand tightly with their toes to produce the explosive acceleration. As for the angle of impact, it's said that 45 degrees is ideal to apply the force. Yokozuna Harumafuji is the second lightest wrestler in the top division but has used these two aspects of the initial charge well to reduce his weight disadvantage and rise to the very top. The three main techniques of the first clash are the lunge, thwart and hold. Th e representative examples of each are the thrust to the throat, sharp two-handed shove to the chest and two-armed clasp around the opponent's torso. The initial charge is spectacular but also a distillation of many finely honed techniques.
[Science Lens]
Billiards - The Impact Magic
The aim of billiards is to knock the balls into the pockets by means of the queue. The super-camera picks out the various transformations as a top professional displays those magical skills and impacts.
[Guest]
Stable Master Musashigawa
The 67th Yokozuna Musashimaru. Hailing from Hawaii, he made his sumo debut in September, 1989 at the age of 18 and won 12 grand sumo tournaments before retiring in 2003. He opened his own stable in March this year where he is now coaching young wrestlers.
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This video has no dropped frames so has been marked as CFR by removing the timecodes. It will play on the PS3.
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part 1 of 1: http://go4up.com/dl/18WKDrCs71MI
Thank you for the video. There is a slight problem. The audio is not synched with the video.
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