Let’s ease into our third division coverage by looking at a handful of notable day 1 bouts. Round one will conclude tomorrow with matches among the half of the rikishi who were not in action today.

Ms54e Ikarigata defeated Ms54w Furuta. WakaikariFujinokawa’s much-touted 18-year-old younger brother prevailed by yorikiri after a prolonged, back-and-forth yotsu battle.

Ms40 Yago defeated Ms41w Asakoki. Shrek impersonator and former maegashira Yago didn’t exactly look convincing against a lower-division lifer, but started the fourth basho of his comeback with a yorikiri win.

Ms15w Fukuzaki defeated Ms16e Enho. Enho’s comeback is sputtering. He finished the May basho 3-4, his first make-koshi after a string of five 6-1 records, and this landed him just outside the extended promotion zone, so even a 7-0 record in all likelihood would not have been good enough to reach Juryo. He now needs to pile up wins to have a better shot at promotion in September or, more likely, in November. Enho tried to go for the leg of his opponent but came in way too low and was easily pulled down by Fukuzaki, who debuted at Ms60TD in March and is the first-ever high school wrestler to do so.

Ms14e Matsui defeated Ms13w Fujinoyama. Matsui is yet-another Ms60TD who debuted in March 2024 and has had only one losing basho, although his rise has been steady rather than meteoric.

Ms6e Inami defeated Ms5w Takakento. Inami, who’s never had a losing record but whose Makushita career so far consists of five straight 4-3 basho, looked solid in a yotsu win against a former sekitori.

Ms3e Asahakuryu defeated Ms4e Satorufuji. Asanoyama’s heya-mate, fighting at his highest career rank, defeated fellow prospect Satorufuji, replicating the result of the mae-zumo bout between the pair at Hatsu 2023.

Ms1w Asanoyama defeated Ms2w Mudoho. The big bout of the day. The former Ozeki looked nervous, and the bout was sloppy, but he prevailed by a beltless arm throw against Oho’s little bro. Three more wins would in all likelihood be enough for a sekitori return in September.

J14w Miyanokaze defeated Ms1e Kyokukaiyu. By all rights, Kyokukaiyu, who went 5-2 at Ms5e in May, should be in Juryo at the expense of his opponent, who went 6-9 at J13e, but the banzuke committee did not see it that way (one of many head-scratching decisions they made). And he was unable to get satisfaction on the dohyo, losing by shitatenage. Kyokukaiyu will need to win 4 of 6 the rest of the way to finally make a sekitori debut.