RAVEN MACK is a mystic poet-philosopher-artist of the Greater Appalachian unorthodox tradition. He does have an amazing PATREON, but also *normal* ARTIST WEBSITE too.

Sunday, September 23

Aki Basho 2018 Honour Tanka Day Fourteen: TAKANOSHO (8-6)


[MOMENT OF SUCCESS] 

Takanosho got 
kachikoshi in his first 
top level basho 

this means more wins than losses, 
if you’re a sumo novice 

the opposite is 
makekoshi, and either 
means rankings movements 

up or down the overall 
rankings, released each basho 

there’s a banzuke 
scroll, where every rikishi 
is written in ink 

at the top, largest letters, 
are current yokozuna 

the names get smaller 
the further down banzuke 
scroll, to the bottom 

at the very bottom are 
those young men new to sumo 

thus, Takanosho, 
in first basho at sumo’s 
top level, did well 

promising young rikishi, 
increasing their scroll ink size 

personally, I 
find this so fascinating - 
worth displayed by size 

if there was an all-time scroll, 
Hakuho’s name’d be biggest 

day fourteen, he locked 
down another yusho win - 
his forty-first one 

no rikishi - or even 
yokozuna - matches that 

the young and the old, 
and how their trajectories 
intersect - sumo 

daily bouts for fifteen days, 
six bashos a year - sumo 

a sporting culture 
thick with ceremony, and 
corruption - sumo 

stories unfolding slowly 
like nature itself - sumo 

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