In Juryo, two wrestlers are undefeated after 6 days. One is not a surprise: former Sekiwake and next Ozeki candidate J10w Wakatakakage, who is looking to follow his Makushita yusho in January with a Juryo one this time on his way back up to the top division after the ACL tear he suffered a year ago (he probably needs to reach 13 wins to have a real shot at immediate Makuuchi promotion). The other is muscular prospect J8e Asakoryu (who debuted at Sd100TD as Ishizaki 3 years ago and has had a steady if not meteoric rise). Trailing them is J10e Shiden (5-1) and 6 rikishi with 4 wins, among them leading promotion contenders J1e Tokihayate and J2w Mitoryu. Checking in on a few other notable names, J1w Takarafuji is 3-3, J5w Shirokuma is 4-2, J11w Aoiyama has slumped to 2-4 after looking good in his first two bouts, and J13w Hakuoho is 3-3 and not looking like his former powerhouse self.

In Makushita, we are down to 15 wrestlers with 3-0 records who will battle it out in what is effectively a March Madness-style single elimination tournament. These include prospects Ms3w Kayo, Ms8w Kiriyuko, Ms10e Wakaikari, and Ms13w Kazekeno, any one of whom can ensure a Juryo debut by winning out, but only Kayo has a shot at promotion without going 7-0. The big bout tomorrow is Kayo vs. Kiriyuko, to be followed by Wakaikari vs. Kazekeno on Day 8. I’ll take a look at the rest of the undefeated bracket once the next round of fights whittles it down to eight.

In the Ms1-Ms5 promotion zone, in addition to the aforementioned Kayo, we have Ms1e Chiyomaru and Ms2w Onokatsu at 2-1, and they meet tomorrow, with the winner likely one win away from Juryo. The others with more wins than losses are Ms4w Tsukahara and Ms5w Nabatame; they also fight tomorrow, but need to pile up more wins by virtue of their lower ranks. Ms1w Tenshoho (1-2) can put himself in decent position by beating Ms4e Kitadaichi; otherwise, his promotion chances will be hanging by a thread. Everyone else has an outside shot at best.