No new reports from the infirmary. Both Yokozuna are intent on completing this tournament. Don’t think they’ll get a bunch of rest until March. On February 7th and 8th, the Japanese Sumo Association will hold two annual events at Kokugikan. The NHK Sumo Charity event and the Annual one-day tournament which used to be sponsored by FujiTV.
Wakanosho continues to lead the Juryo yusho race with his oshidashi victory over Kotoeiho. Fujiseiun beat Hitoshi to keep the heat on for senshuraku. And Leonid has our makushita coverage here and gives an update on the Juryo promotion picture.
Tokiwayama-oyakata retires and former Takakeisho will assume the mantle as stablemaster after this tournament.
Makuuchi Action
Kotoshoho (8-6) defeated Mitakeumi (6-8). Kotoshoho had Conservation Center duties today, cuddled the giant sloth and carried him over the tawara. Kotoshoho kachi-koshi, Mitakeumi make-koshi. Yorikiri.
Gonoyama (7-7) defeated Hatsuyama (2-12). Gonoyama overwhelmed Hatsuyama with tsuppari and drove him back over the edge. Oshidashi.
Asahakuryu (7-7) defeated Shodai (6-8). Asahakuryu drove Shodai back and over the tawara. Shodai’s loss makes him make-koshi for the tournament. Yorikiri.
Midorifuji (6-8) defeated Kinbozan (4-10). After an exchange of tsuppari, Midorifuji got a morozashi as he got both hands inside Kinbozan’s arms with his hands up behind Kinbozan’s shoulder. He then pulled Kinbozan down as he reversed along the tawara. Katasukashi.
Oshoma (7-7) defeated Ryuden (6-8). Oshoma held Ryuden at bay with a nodowa, then pivoted to his left and pulled Ryuden down to the clay. Hikiotoshi.
Fujinokawa (9-5) defeated Asakoryu (8-6). Fujinokawa engaged Asakoryu in a bit of a brawl but then moved inside to grab Asakoryu’s mawashi, ending Asakoryu’s slaps. With a solid migi-yotsu hold, Fujinokawa forced Asakoryu to the edge and then slammed him to the ground at the edge. Yoritaoshi.
Oshoumi (10-4) defeated Hiradoumi (9-5). Hiradoumi charged forward out of the gate, forcing Oshoumi to the edge. Oshoumi used the bales as a base to mount his counter attack. He hoisted Hiradoumi up, bulldozed through the dohyo and slammed Hiradoumi down to the ground at the edge. Abisetaoshi.
Tobizaru (6-8) defeated Onokatsu (7-7). Tobiaru kicked out at Onokatsu and then pulled. As he approached the tawara, though, Tobizaru slammed the gear into drive and advanced into Onokatsu. He grabbed Onokatsu’s mawashi deep at the back with his right hand and forced him back over the bales. Yorikiri.
Tamawashi (5-9) defeated Tomokaze (4-10). As both men traded tsuppari, Tamawashi pivoted as he backed to the edge. This forced Tomokaze’s back to the tawara. Tamawashi picked up the pace and power of his tsuppari to blast Tomokaze from the dohyo and into Kasugano-oyakata’s lap. Oshidashi.
Churanoumi (8-6) defeated Roga (6-8). Roga attempted a slapdown but Churanoumi drove through it and shoved Roga over the bales. Oshidashi.
Halftime
Chiyoshoma (6-8) defeated Takanosho (4-10). Takanosho tried to use a nodowa against Chiyoshoma but Chiyoshoma grabbed his arm and pulled him down. Tottari.
Wakatakakage (8-6) defeated Daieisho (6-8). Henka! Daieisho Superman-flopped his way to a make-koshi as Wakatakakage shifted left at the tachiai. Hikiotoshi.
Tokihayate (8-6) defeated Ichiyamamoto (3-11). Tokihayate grabbed Ichiyamamoto’s belt with his left hand, drove forward and shoved Ichiyamamoto over the edge. Oshidashi.
Yoshinofuji (7-7) defeated Shishi (9-5). Yoshinofuji used his right hand uwate to pull Shishi over the bales. Uwatenage.
Sanyaku
Ura (3-11) defeated Oho (4-10). Ura pivoted to his right and pulled. Oho tumbled to the ground, rolling forward with a bit of an Ura-esque flourish. If you’re going to fall out of sanyaku, fall with style. Hatakikomi.
Wakamotoharu (7-7) defeated Asanoyama (9-5). Wakamotoharu did not let Asanoyama get his right hand inside. Asanoyama tried again and again to slip that hand in there and that really put him at a disadvantage because he would rear back and Wakamotoharu would plow forward, advancing to the bales. Eventually, Wakamotoharu forced Asanoyama over the bales. Yorikiri.
Atamifuji (11-3) defeated Kirishima (10-4). Atamifuji got his left hand uwate hold on Kirishima’s belt. With his right-hand outside, he powered through Kirishima and crushed him over the edge. Ow. Kirishima struggled to get back up to the dohyo. That big ole bloody scrape on his left butt cheek hints at a new injury. Maybe lower back? Maybe hip? Maybe both? Yikes. Lastly, who kidnapped Atamifuji and replaced him with this kaiju? Abiseta-ouchi.
Abi (10-4) defeated Takayasu (8-6). Abi-zumo. Thrusts, slapdown attempts… Oh, no. Takayasu got turned around. That’s never good. Abi caught up and shoved him over the edge from behind. A dispirited Takayasu landed on Naruto-oyakata and took his time getting back up. The west side spectators are having a rough go of things today. Getting a lot of the “kinetic fansa.” Okuridashi.
Hoshoryu defeated Kotozakura. Gee–zuhs. Just when Kotozakura worked his right hand inside and got his morozashi, Hoshoryu yanked him hard with his right hand uwate and flipped the big bloke onto his back. In the movies, the camera would zoom in on the villain’s face, “That hurt.” In the Sumo Association, we just wait impatiently for him to walk back to his side and bow. While the gyoji scramble to figure out what the kimarite was, we move on to the much-anticipated musubi-no-ichiban. Uwatenage.
Onosato (10-4) defeated Aonishiki (11-3). Aonishiki’s borrowed shimekomi came enchanted with henka dust from its owner and previous bearer. He shifted left at the tachiai but Onosato adjusted really well. The Yokozuna pursued and shoved Anonishiki to the ground as the Ozeki stumbled in retreat. Well, it’s back to the drawing board, for sure, at Ajigawa. One Yokozuna solved. The other Yokozuna, decidedly unsolved. Oshitaoshi.
Wrap-up
Aonishiki’s loss opens things up quite a bit in the yusho race.
- 3-losses: Aonishiki, Atamifuji
- 4-losses: Onosato, Kirishima, Abi, Oshoumi.
Aonishiki and Atamifuji lead with Onosato, Kirishima, Abi and Oshoumi chasing and hoping for losses tomorrow. Aonishiki and Atamifuji fought on Day 12 with Aonishiki defeating the big man.
The senshuraku torikumi is not out yet but we can presume the musubi-no-ichiban will be the Yokozuna showdown and that will be preceded by the Ozeki showdown. If Atamifuji loses his bout, Aonishiki will fight with the yusho on the line. If Atamifuji wins his bout, Aonishiki will need to win to force a play-off.
The play-off possibilities get crazy if both Atamifuji and Aonishiki lose their bouts. Then Onosato will even be fighting for a spot in the playoff. I’ll post later when the pairings have been finalized.
One rule for comments today. I’m going to be strict. No mentioning Wakatakakage’s henka. It has nothing to do with the yusho. There’s no drama there, so no need for whining about it. It is what it is, let’s move on. Any mention and I’ll remove the comment and I might put the author into the penalty box. As a henka aficionato, I actually enjoy the firy henka debate — so long as the jabs don’t get personal. Going forward, I’m going to be strict about that from now on and start deleting comments that cross the line into personal barbs. But today, I’m going to be super-strict. No mentioning Wakatakakage’s henka. I said it twice, I mean it.
I’ll be back later today. If you need to go blow off steam about Wakatakakage’s henka, you have time to go take a walk around the neighborhood and clear your mind.
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Onosato (10-4) defeated Aonishiki (11-3) was not a big surprise though I hoped for different outcome and certainly for different flow. Kudos to Onosato for being ready to counter with right nodowa, something Aonishiki was not expected. Now I’m sure until Aonishiki develops a full force tachiai he could use vs Onosato and similar ones he will be in loosing position against them every time.
Don’t know if I got that right, of course, but my impression was, that Aonishiki outsmarted himself by trying to get to Onosato’s weak left side. Therefore somehow he wasn’t the real Aonishiki today and he deserved the loss (or shall I say the humiliation?).
Well, what I saw that Ao moved to his left (Onosato’s right) after the tachiai. So his initial plan IMO was to get the quick left-hand grip & keep moving (trying his tactics from last basho).
If your tactics fail and your opponent’s tactics succeed – then you lose, deserve it or not.
Will have to watch the slow motions in the highlights, but I fear that U are right and that my impression was totally wrong. But I still have the feeling that something wasn’t Aonishiki-like, even compared to his first two losses against Onosato where he was bulldozed away.
I got your point. Ao’s loss looked weird cause it was fast and he did not manage to put up a fight (unlike in his other loses this basho). He got caught and forced completely off-balance. Which against Aonishiki is almost impossible to do. BTW, this match looked similar to his second match with Ono on Aki 2025-09 · Day 1.
Just seen the Day 15 schedule and got upset. I was quite sure Atami would get Wakamotoharu who is 7-7 and a strong competitor to him. But they giv the co-leader M14 in Osoumi. Looks like a free win for Atamifiji, no?
100% this. I was pretty sure about Wakamotoharu too, who has san’yaku at stake and a 6-1 record against Atamifuji. I like Atamifuji but it feels a bit off that he could win his first yusho (if Aonishiki loses) with a victory against a Maegashira 16.
Atamifuji vs Wakamotoharu and Oshoumi vs Takayasu would have decently solved the problem. But Atamifuji vs Oshoumi it is. Hopefully we do not end up with Atamifuji winning Oshoumi and Aonishiki losing to Kotozakura.
He must fight Oshoumi because he is a title contender. Who should Oshoumi fight otherwise?
It reduces the chance of multiple playoffs. As it stands I think there could be four in a playoff, theoretically.
Not sure how matching Atamifuji with Oshoumi reduces the chance of multiple playoffs, really, unless it’s a foregone conclusion that Atamifuji will wipe the floor with Oshoumi. Should Oshoumi win, then both will have 11, and there’s a chance of a five-way playoff (if Aonishiki loses, keeping him at 11, one of Kirishima or Abi will be at 11, and should Onosato prevail over Hoshoryu, he’ll be at 11).
In sumo, I never put anyone’s chances at 0. What feels weird is putting Atamifuji’s probability of winning above 0.50. I’m not sure where this one will go but Atamifuji over Kirishima surprised me.
If there’s a playoff there will be AT LEAST four. Atamifuji will have lost to Oshoumi who currently has 10 wins, so those will both have 11. Aonishiki will have 11 should he lose, and the winner of the Kirishima-Abi match will have 11 wins as they’re both 10-4. The only wildcard will be if Onosato wins and makes it a 5-way playoff. Crazy playoff ahead if the two leaders lose!
What you say is what would make the most sense but they went with a 2 way scenario that fills both their criteria and the fans.
They give Atamifuji the biggest possible chance to get to 12 wins, which is important becuase they will always try to arange matches in a way that prioritizes the highest number of wins for a rikishi (a 11-4 basho sucks for everyone involved) so having Atamifuji at 12 wins at least makes it a decent record.
If he does lose, Oshoma goes to 11 wins and then we as fans, get the possibility of having a crazy ass deathmatch if somehow Aonishiki doesn’t get to 11 wins, Onosato does and with Abi vs Kirishima you also force someone else to 11 wins.
Still, what you say makes the most sense as far as the challenge this would pose but at the same time, he is fighting someone who has a chance at winning the tournament as well, which is important.
Were some good matches today. Watching from the box seats on the gyoji side Hoshoryu’s kimarite was obviously an uwatenage. Didn’t even think that the camera angle on TV would make it harder to see. I was mostly amazed that he did that while balancing only on the bad leg.
A bit, disappointed that Onosato decided today was the day to bring his first real Yokozuna level effort the entire tournament. Mainly because I wanted to see Aonishiki controlling his own destiny tomorrow.
I think the scheduling guys should have fed some of these lower rank guys up into the joijin meat grinder earlier in the week so we didn’t have so many M10-16 folks on the leaderboard going into the last few days. Might have gotten us a better test for Atamifuji tomorrow.
Though maybe the new kid on the block will pull out a win, this basho has been very wild already.
Unfortunately I will have to wait for the highlights since I am traveling during the live broadcast.
Atamifuji yusho, I didnt see it coming. But flying Kotozakura? Thant was pure art from Hoshoryu, amazing…
Agree with both your points.
Not expected Atamifuji to be in the race on final day.
The Hoshoryu throw was amazing.
Today it was like old Hoshoryu before injury, liked it.
One armed yokozuna Onosato and limping Hoshoryu showed two ozekies who the bosses are.
My favorite: “ Abiseta-ouchi”
Andy, you talked about how Kirishima is going to get hurt by his digging in and refusal to take the step back. And this is what happened today. Fighting spirit galore…but he’s gonna suffer a severe injury and have a shortened career.
Hoshoryu looked great today and Aonishiki…didn’t.
I wouldn’t have mentioned it, because as Andy said it had nothing to do with the yusho race, but as it’s a forbidden fruit now, I had to taste it, of course…
Alright. I have a legitimate reason to turn down an invite to watch MMA tonight. I mean besides not caring if I ever watch MMA again. I’ve got my fighting sport schedule full and all figured out.
KotoHachiNana, Aonishiki —- don’t let me down, son! I know you have a history with him, and we are in your corner. Do us proud!
Not being a great fan of censorship, I say farewell to the Andy reports now.
It was fun especially because of U all, my dear co-commenters. Thumbs up!
And of course thumbs up for Aonishiki. I hope very much that he‘ll become a dai yokozuna.
What a beautiful uwatenage by Hoshoryu! This win together with his match against Takayasyu are one of the best matches of this basho.
Can I ask why Wakatakakage’s move is absolutely comment banned (beyond the quite reasonable be nice to each other part)? I don’t always read the comments so I’m legit curious.
And to be clear I’m a big wakatakakage fan – our French bulldog is named after him (though we mostly call her Taki).
And obv it’s your house so feel free to delete this comment but please don’t put me in the penalty box! 😁😬
Let’s stay focused on what actually matters. The henka debate has been getting too heated and rather than going back down that path and trolling folks over a bout and a wrestler who has no role in the yusho race or any reasonable storyline, I want to nip it in the bud early. Asking the question about why I made the rule won’t deleted. That’s rather meta.
Gotcha.
Thanks for the reply Andy. Your site is the first place I go for sumo coverage. Appreciate you and the team immensely.
Aonishiki needs to take some tips from his buddies in Isegahama, they all put dirt on Onosato this time.
Who kidnapped Atamifuji? The answer is simple: Isegahama Haruo. Having Yoshinofuji push him as a stable mate and on the banzuke also helps.
Watching Hatsuyama this basho really is driving home how difficult it is to break into the top division right now. The bottom of the banzuke is littered with former San’yaku members including former Ozeki. I’m guessing there will be a larger, defined rotation of rikishi who yo-yo between Juryo and Makuuchi similarly to Ryuden and Kagayaki soon.
Well, we previously talked about Wakamotoharu and his dangerous strategies at the edge of the dohyo. I don’t blame Kirishima for “putting it all on the line”, but he definitely paid the price. I hope he’s dealing with something that heals well and quickly.
Well, my goodness. Here are all of us yapping how the Yokozuna should not be on the dohyo and a day like today happens. I do firmly believe that both of them are risking shorter careers and that has definitely been an issue over the past decade or so for Yokozuna.
“The west side spectators are having a rough go of things today.”
I thought the left side of the screen is the east side?
Yes. You’re right.