Basically, this boils down to two men now. Yokozuna Kakuryu is now in the lead with two losses while the injured Terunofuji has three losses. Terunofuji would need to beat Kakuryu twice tomorrow to pick up the yusho. Unfortunately, that seems increasingly remote after the way his knee was unable to stave off Goeido. Further, Kakuryu attempted two henka against Kisenosato, demonstrating exactly how desperate he is to get his second yusho. Kisenosato recovered well from the likely utter shock that a yokozuna would do something that shameless. He was able to recover, barely, at the edge and drive Kakuryu to the other side of the dohyo. The joke-ozuna was able to plant, pivot, and let the ozeki’s own momentum carry him off the dohyo.

Ikioi was also eliminated from contention today at the hands of Kotoshogiku. He clearly had a strategy that could have worked, letting Kotoshogiku belly flop on the edge, but he ran out of real estate before Giku flopped.

Okinoumi fell to his eighth loss so Yoshikaze’s blazing success has likely given him a komusubi slot for November. Welcome to the sanyaku. Tochiozan and Myogiryu have gotten kachi-koshi winning records and could even get ninth wins tomorrow. Tochiozan will face Kotoshogiku and Myogiryu will face Dr. Henka, Aminishiki. Tochinoshin has nine wins already and may pick up a tenth against Toyonoshima.

All of this sanyaku success means there will not be open slots beyond Yoshikaze, unless they expand the sekiwake rank. Tochinoshin has been excellent against maegashira but needs to be able to get more sanyaku wins. He has beaten Harumafuji, Goeido twice and Kisenosato twice but that’s spaced out over the course of the last five tournaments. Osunaarashi will likely be paired with Ichinojo at Maegashira 1 in November.