Aki 2025: Day One

Andy Aki 2025, Aki Basho, ,

Welcome back, everyone. I am eager to get this basho going. Stuff has been rather busy and it’s nice to wake up at 3am every morning to catch a little sumo action to start the day.

There are several storylines heading into the tournament, but we will start with who is not here. Takerufuji is absent due to bicep surgery. We will not see him in action this tournament. Endo, down in Juryo, is also kyujo with those knee surgeries. Wakatakakage has a chance here in Tokyo for Ozeki promotion. He needs 11-wins to hit that infamous 33-win benchmark.

Nagoya champion, Kotoshoho has leapt up the banzuke to Maegashira 5 and will fight Wakamotoharu here on Day One. The odds are stacked against a repeat with this tougher competition. His yusho portrait was unveiled alongside Onosato’s in Kokugikan. Thank you to OneLoveLulit who was in attendance on Shonichi for the videos.

Down in Makushita, Enho is back in action and got things started with a win! It was a bit shaky there but a win is a win. At Makushita 31, he will be hoping for a kachi-koshi to move up the banzuke into the promotion zone.

NHK videos are here: The NHK video site is being redesigned. All of the top division bouts from Day One are on that page. The site has needed a “refresh” for a while as the list of videos has gotten rather long. But the bad news is that Juryo videos for Aki appear to be blocked from viewing outside Japan, as is the highlight video at the top of the Makuuchi page. This is not good. But it gets worse! According to this announcement, they will also take down the videos of prior tournaments on September 24. Watch them while you can.

For today’s Juryo action, here’s a video of Asanoyama’s return. The former Ozeki is on the left in the video above. He claimed a sukuinage win over Kyokukaiyu, a rookie sekitori from Kyokutenho’s Oshima-beya. And Asasuiryu outlasted the creaking Takarabune (below). Let me know if you all are able to watch the videos. But, let’s get to the top division action.

Makuuchi Action

Daiseizan defeated Shishi. Daiseizan visited from Juryo and secured a right-hand inside grip. Shishi’s left hand over arm grip couldn’t get enough leverage to topple Daiseizan so he released to change his grip inside, which was a mistake. Daiseizan pulled and dragged Shishi down to the ground. Uwatenage.

Ryuden defeated Hitoshi. It was Hitoshi’s debut bout in the top division but Ryuden dominated, driving Hitoshi back and over the edge with powerful shoves. Oshidashi.

Tomokaze defeated Nishikigi. Tomokaze pressed forward and ushered Nishikigi over the edge quickly. Oshidashi.

Tobizaru defeated Shonannoumi. Shonannoumi tried to get a deep overarm grab of Tobizaru’s belt. But each time Shonannoumi grabbed hold, Tobizaru spun away. As the bout went on, Shonannoumi tired and Tobizaru was able to square up and drive Shonannoumi over the edge. Despite the win, we saw Tobizaru’s taped right knee did not appear to be able to take the full weight of both men. Oshidashi.

Sadanoumi defeated Asakoryu. Sadanoumi drove forward and got his right hand inside, forcing Asakoryu out. Yorikiri.

Meisei defeated Tokihayate. Meisei pressed forward with powerful thrusts and charged ahead quickly when Tokihayate attempted to pull. Meisei kept Tokihayate centered and shoved him over the bales. Oshidashi.

Roga defeated Mitakeumi. Mitakeumi had a solid right hand inside grip but couldn’t make much headway. He pressed Roga toward the edge but Roga countered well. Mitakeumi pulled and Roga chased him out the other side of the dohyo. Yorikiri.

Shodai defeated Churanoumi. Churanoumi got a left-hand over arm grip and pressed Shodai to the edge. Churanoumi had tons of space to pivot and pull but Shodai used the maneuver to cut off the dohyo and attack. He forced Churanoumi to the edge and finished him off with a shove. Yorikiri.

Daieisho defeated Fujinokawa. Daieisho blasted Fujinokawa with his powerful thrusting attack. Fujinokawa pivoted right with his right hand inside Daieisho’s shoulder but Daieisho followed well and shoved Fuijinokawa out. Oshidashi.

Midorifuji defeated Kinbozan. Kinbozan pulled Midorifuji over to the edge with a powerful lefthand outside. But Midorifuji’s position and leverage were superior as both men tipped toward the edge, Midorifuji used that leverage to pull Kinbozan off-balance and Kinbozan had to catch himself with his hand. Shitatenage.

Ura defeated Oshoma. Oshoma was leery of Ura and stayed back with rather passive, reactive sumo. Ura lunged forward and grabbed Oshoma’s forward right leg and drove forward. Oshoma reared up and tried to get his leg back but Ura shoved him out. Oshidashi.

Halftime

Takanosho defeated Kusano. Takanosho drove Kusano to the edge quickly. Kusano resisted and brought action back to the center. Kusano pulled with his left hand overarm hold but Takanosho adjusted and shoved Kusano out. Yorikiri.

Onokatsu defeated Ichiyamamoto. Onokatsu weathered Ichiyamamoto’s tsuppari attack and waited for Ichi to tire. Onokatsu got both hands inside and immediately charged forward and forced Ichiyamamoto over the edge. Yorikiri.

Wakamotoharu defeated Kotoshoho. Kotoshoho pivoted and tried to drag Wakamotoharu forward to the bales but Kotoshoho’s right foot stepped over the tawara. Yorikiri.

Hiradoumi defeated Gonoyama. Gonoyama charged forward. Hiradoumi pivoted and slapped Gonoayama down to the ground. Hatakikomi.

Sanyaku

Atamifuji defeated Takayasu. Atamifuji worked his right hand inside and got a left-hand over arm grip, forcing Takayasu to the edge. Takayasu resisted but Atamifuji reinforced his attack with some gaburi hip-thrusting to force Takayasu over the edge. Yorikiri.

Kirishima defeated Oho. Kirishima used his left hand to reach around Oho’s arm and latch on to his belt. While Oho was still trying to figure out what to do, Kirishim  Yorikiri.

Hakuoho defeated Wakatakakage. Hakuoho, in full Juggernaut mode, plowed forward and shoved Wakatakakage off the dohyo. Wakatakakage rotated to his right but Hakuoho kept pace and shoved WTK in the face. Oshidashi.

Kotozakura defeated Abi. Kotozakura obliterated Abi, forced him to the edge and shoved him over. Oshidashi.

Hoshoryu defeated Tamawashi. Hoshoryu drove forward and grabbed Tamawashi’s right thigh, pulling his leg up and pushing him backward. Both men went down simultaneously. No mono-ii. Tamawashi was clearly dead but that was really close. Hoshoryu glanced uncomfortably toward the shimpan, praying no one’s hands went up. Watashikomi.

Onosato defeated Aonishiki. Onosato hit Aonishiki well at the tachiai and pressed forward. Aonishiki tried to escape to the right but Onosato stuck with him and pinned him to the ground. Yoritaoshi.

Wrap-up

Great, powerful start from Onosato, a bit of a shaky first bout from Hoshoryu and a promising win from Kotozakura. Hakuoho splashed cold water on Wakatakakage’s Ozeki run, here on Day One.

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19 thoughts on “Aki 2025: Day One”

  1. Seeing shenanigans from both Ura and Tobizaru on Day 1 made me smile. Happy to see Atamifuji finish well against Takayasu, but sad for Aonishiki that his preparation for Onosato came undone.

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  2. Watching NHK’s preview, funny that all the yusho contenders that experts mentioned (exept yokozunas) lost today. Aonishiki, Wakadaka, Kusano, Takayasu, Kotoshoho, …

    Looks like Wakadaka’s Ozeki run flew away in a hurry, like kyoji’s shoe.

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    • Daieisho, with him being out of place far down the banzuke to his skill level, has to be in the yusho conversation until he shows he’s still hurt or he gets dragged up to face higher rankers when he racks a lot of early wins. I’ll give Aonishiki a pass for today; he might never have been hit that hard at the tachiai ever before.

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        • Hakuoho was ready. He looks back in that form from his rookie makanuchi tourney, except doing it against sanyaku. “Full juggernaut mode” indeed. WTK will rebound, i have no doubt.

          Hoshoryu was a little out over his feet, but so much more aggressive and explosive than last basho, I like what I saw a lot.

          Kirishima looked very strong against Oho, I wonder if his head is on straight finally. Only time will tell.

          I love me some Takayasu, but the inability to do much live training pre tourney to keep him healthy really shows up. I’m afraid he’s gonna be an every other basho guy. Hoping I’m wrong but the youngster smoked him today. Maybe just ring rust. One can hope.

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          • Oops, i always have problems with this interface on my phone, replying random places. Not in response to you Andy, but just a general comment about today.

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  4. Able to watch the videos here, Takarafuji’s playing the blocking sled makes me wonder if this is his last hurrah. He doesn’t seem to have any fighting spirit left in his sumo.
    Replay of Hoshoryu-Tamawashi was pretty conclusive that the IronMan was down first, but just by a nanosecond.

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    • Agree on both. Takarafuji seemed to try pretty hard to grapple for his preferred grip but when he couldn’t get what he was looking for, blocking sled, as you said.

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  5. Enjoyed the videos attached to the reviews. Let’s 🙏 Kotozakura can keep this style of sumo going.

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  6. Hitoshi is probably already punching his ticket on the Juryo barge with that bad knee. I hope I’m wrong, but with how he was wincing after his match it’s not good.
    Tobizaru has enough tape to keep the industry in a profit. Good grief. He’s definitely not at 100% so I hope he doesn’t injure himself more than he already is by participating.
    I really hope Ura didn’t severely injure his knee today. He definitely tweaked it at a minimum.
    Kudos to Takanosho for keeping his head on straight and defeating Kusano.
    WTK needs to understand that he has a target on his chest and people will be gunning for him every day this tournament. He absolutely wasn’t ready for today’s match.

    There were a lot of curt nods towards opponents today, but Mitakeumi couldn’t even manage that to respect Roga. I’m surprised that he didn’t get a talking to regarding this behavior from the previous basho and today’s response from him was even worse.

    Seems like there’s a bunch of ring rust for some rikishi based on today’s results. I’m hoping everyone has themselves ready to compete properly for tomorrow’s bouts.

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    • I heard that Mitakeumi’s mother died a couple of days ago, so I think we could cut him some slack.

      I remember that she was a big supporter of his.

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  9. So without the videos on the NHK Website, is there another way to watch Juryo bouts outside of streaming services?

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    • Not that I am aware of. Also, JME (the service that replaced TV Japan) doesn’t have Juryo bouts as a part of its streaming service. It only shows Makuuchi live.

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  10. The Grand Sumo app shows replays from the final 5 Makushita bouts and up. You can watch Makuuchi replays all the way back to 2010, and Juryo to at least 2017.

    Reply

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