Well, all of the buildup in Jonokuchi over the past 10 days culminated with a rather perfunctory oshidashi win and yusho for Nakashima over the blocking-sled, Nishikimaru. It’s the first great leap forward as he attempts to climb back to Makushita. Congratulations!

In Juryo, Ryuden had been penciled in as a repeat champion, certain to defeat zambara-wearing Nishikawa. Leonid has been keeping us posted on the yusho and promotion situation there as things heated up.

If Ryuden had been a 90% favorite in each bout in Juryo, it’s still a significant challenge to put together a string of 7 consecutive wins. He had succeeded in Kyushu. Here in Tokyo he certainly defeated his biggest threats earlier in this tournament by defeating the up-and-coming Atamifuji as well as former top division wrestlers like Tomokaze and Akiseyama.

Despite his experience as a top-division competitor, after the matta I have to wonder if nerves got the better of him today. He very nearly lost flat out at the tachiai. You can hear the gasps of the crowd as Nishikawa’s first pull down attempt nearly succeeded. He briefly recovered but didn’t have much of a counter-attack going. Nishikawa took his chances and the second pull down attempt was successful.

Down in Jonidan, Asahanshin defeated Kawamura for the yusho. You may remember Kawamura had been in our Jonokuchi coverage in November but had the bad luck of facing both Chiyoshishi and Raiho, losing to both, and squeaking by with a 4-3 record. It was a very close call for Asahanshin but he successfully pushed Kawamura out from behind for the okuritaoshi win. Both are likely on track for sandanme. Speaking of Sandanme, Asahanshin’s Takasago stablemate, Osanai, will face Mukainakano in a playoff on senshuraku.

First up, I bring you a great little bout between Urutora and Nishikio. Despite the obvious size disadvantage, Urutora picked up an impressive shitatenage win. We also have a great treat from quite the drama in the yusho race!

Because of an odd number of undefeated wrestlers in Makushita and the need to balance the bouts with undefeated wrestlers from lower divisions, the higher-ranked Nakashima visited Jonidan, leaving Aoifuji paired off against one-loss Tanimoto. Aoifuji tried the pull-down at the tachiai, and it nearly worked but Tanimoto recovered. Tanimoto then countered with superior footwork and powerful thrusting, wining by oshidashi. This left Nakashima with a chance to take the lead on his own, or a chance for a cluster of 5-1 wrestlers going into the final match day.

Kitanomine returned in March of last year from an extended (2+ year) kyujo. He had been steadily rising in Sandanme before his injury and even made it back to the division late last year but was kyujo again in Fukuoka. So both he and Nakashima are experienced and have the skills for higher rankings. This bout had me on the edge of my seat, Kitanomine had the early advantage and very nearly shoved Nakashima out but Nakashima fought back. His win means that on Friday (Day 13) he will have a chance to lock up the yusho!

The Jonokuchi division has rapidly filtered down to two men, Aoifuji, a new recruit from Isegahama-beya and Nakashima Kaede. No relation to Nakashima Mika. I think. (Wouldn’t it be wild if he’s like her brother? Her commercials have been playing nonstop during the Abema coverage.)

First up in our coverage today is the bout between Aoifuji and Nishikimaru. Aoifuji sticks to his winning slapdown strategy. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Oshi-style sumo doesn’t have to be strictly about shoving your opponent out. Many wrestlers, like Makuuchi’s Bulgarian Boogeyman, Aoiyama, make a career out of the slap-down, or the pull-down kicker.

These wrestlers use oshi-zumo to get the opponent off balance and then finish with hatakikomi or hikiotoshi. It sometimes leads to a curious type of wrestler: one who loses more often to oshidashi, than they actually win. Aoiyama has won 128 bouts with oshidashi, but he’s lost 135. That kind of success rate doesn’t lead to a meaningful career. However, 121 hatakikomi wins to 34 losses is apparently a proven method to compete with the sport’s elite.

I doubt Aoifuji’s shikona is a nod to Aoiyama, but during this tournament at least, it is creating an interesting comparison.

Next, we’ve got Nakashima. He’s proven he can compete comfortably in higher divisions so Jonokuchi has been a breeze. Today, that breeze blew Sawanofuji away swiftly. This sets up a potential show-down on Match Day 6 with Aoifuji but I think that the schedulers will instead opt for match-ups with one-loss rivals. If both lose in that scenario, there would be a four-man showdown for the yusho. If both win, however, it would all come down to them on the final day. If one loses, there would still be a potential for a playoff of senshuraku if the leader their last regulation bout.

I’ve included Tanimoto’s victory over Fukuminato at the end because with one loss, Tanimoto is still very much in this race. Wakayahara, Tochihayate, Chiyotaiko, Sonoshun, and today’s defeated Nishikimaru, still have hopes. Wakayahara, especially, seems like he could play spoiler.