As Andy alluded to, the Makushita race didn’t end today. Asahifuji knocked off Omori on day 11, leaving Akua as the only 6-0 wrestler in the third division. Akua had his chance to claim the yusho today against 5-1 Mudoho but lost, bringing all the 6-1 rikishi back into contention. So we’ll have a big 7-way playoff on senshuraku. The participants are below. I believe the format is that they draw lots to pair them up for round one, with one lucky rikishi getting a bye. That leaves four, and they fight it out in a standard elimination format, with two semifinals followed by a final. It’s an interesting mix of prospects and veterans, and should be a fun watch. It’s the first such playoff since Aki 2023.

As noted yesterday, this was the quarterfinal bracket:

Super-prospect Asahifuji had perhaps his toughest match yet against Fudoho, just prevailing at the edge by shitatenage to counter his oppenent’s uwatenage attempt. He will next face Omori “the handsome”, who nonchalantly swatted aside Tatsubayama after the latter engaged in a pre-bout stare-down worthy of Hoshoryu. Veteran Akua defeated Anhibiki and will next fight Tanji, who came out ahead in a spirited battle with Ikarigata. If Omori can stop Asahifuji, we’ll have a straightforward title decider on day 13 between him and the winner of Akua vs. Tanji. Otherwise, that winner will be matched with the best available 5-1 opponent, opening the door to a big playoff.

By remaining undefeated, Tanji also keeps alive his hopes of Juryo promotion should he finish 7-0 in the extended promotion zone. Here are how things stand in the regular promotion zone:

Takakento, Shimanoumi, and injured Wakanofuji are already out of the running, and no one else is exactly breaking down the door, though Arashifuji (formerly Matsui) is currently in pole position. We’ll have a better sense of the exchange picture after the next round of bouts.

It’s day 8, which means the first 4 rounds of lower-division bouts have been completed. Here’s the day 9 bracket for the quarterfinals:

We get our first look at super-prospect Asahifuji, who visits from Sandanme to fill out the bracket. He fights Fudoho rather than lowest-ranked Omori in order to break up the Tokitsukaze pair of Fudoho and Tatsubayama. Asahifuji is the Isegahama Mongolian who trained in the heya for several years before his debut while he waited for ex-Terunofuji to retire and open up the foreigner slot. He was very highly touted, and hasn’t disappointed to this point, taking the Jonokuchi and Jonidan yusho and running his career record to 18-0 (not counting two playoff wins). His opponent debuted at Ms60TD in March with a 4-3 record.

Tatsubayama is another Mongolian who debuted last July, took the Jonokuchi yusho, and has a 27-3 record (with two absences). He’ll fight newcomer Omori, aka “the hunk.” The third bout pairs Anhibiki, who also took the Jonokuchi in his first basho, in January 2024, but has slowed down since, with former maegashira, salt thrower, and bow twirler Akua, the only grizzled veteran to make the quarterfinals. Finally, we get Tanji, who started 4 years ago but is still only 19, against Ikarigata, Fujinokawa’s more highly touted brother. It promises to be a good day of action tomorrow!

I know this is late, but I wanted to post my official guess for the record before the banzuke is released tomorrow. Please see this post for some of the reasoning.