Granted, Kotoyuki’s first sanyaku win comes against Ikioi, a man he’s beaten 9 times in 11 bouts, but still. A solid win is a solid win. At no point was he in danger, he was aggressive and went after the taller Ikioi. Both men are now 1-3 and really need to pick up 2 more wins this week if they hope to have a kachi-koshi. The surprising thing to me is that half of their bouts were back in 2010-2012 in Juryo. Kotoyuki briefly made it into makuuchi before getting injured and dropping back to Juryo. It seems to have delayed his career a bit but he’s now clearly on the up-swing. It will take a lot to stay at this level, though. Ikioi’s yo-yo pattern is not one he’s want to emulate.

Kaisei also got his first sanyaku victory over a weakened Terunofuji. I don’t know why Isegahama heya isn’t sitting him. Let him heal.

The big upset of the day was Takarafuji’s brilliant henka against Kotoshogiku. Like Kaisei from the other day, Takarafuji got into a four-point stance early as the Geek settled into a crouch. I always get knee pain watching Kotoshogiku. It just looks like it hurts to bring his girth down for a tachiai. On the initial charge, rather than go after the ozeki, Uncle Taka jumped right, shoving Kotoshogiku, who tumbled and rolled off the dohyo. The leader board stays packed with Hakuho, Kakuryu, Kisenosato, and Goeido all remaining unbeaten.