Leaders:

Hakuho faced the man mountains of Aoiyama today. The Bulgarian blasted at Hakuho with an impressively fierce tachiai. However, Hakuho quickly recovered and secured a right-handed grip on Aoiyama’s mawashi. As soon as he was able to get that left hand grip, it was over. He began gingerly walking Aoiyama back toward the edge and threw him off the edge.

Kakuryu got into a brawling slap-fest with Myogiryu but prevailed with a hatakikomi slap down. Terunofuji rather casually tossed Tochiozan into the crowd to stay on pace. Well, it wasn’t quite that easy and Tochiozan remains in the hunt at 4-1. Kagamio also showed good strength in his yorikiri win over Hidenoumi to stay among the leaders. He faces the Juryo ranked Kagayaki tomorrow.

The Rest:

Kisenosato (4-1) stayed one loss back by dispatching the winless Ikioi. Ikioi always goes full-on and it’s great to watch and root for. However, Kisenosato was never in any real danger as he quickly locked Ikioi’s right arm and dragged him across the ring for a finishing throw. I like to see this version of Kaisei. He is also 4-1, quickly getting Okinoumi (3-2) going in the wrong direction. Oosunaarashi’s high-energy, aggressive brand of sumo is formidable and Tamawashi was not able to keep up. The Sand Storm stays one loss off pace at 4-1.

Goeido had nothing against Ichinojo. He seemed surprised that a strong tachiai didn’t move the 200 kg Mongolian. Instead, he just stood there, presumably thinking “what do I do now?”, but leaving himself vulnerable on the edge of the ring. Ichinojo just gave him a quick shove and off the dohyo he went. Both wrestlers stand at an unimpressive 2-3. Kotoshogiku (2-3) looked back to his old self as his jack-rabbit leg thrusts forced Tochinoshin to fall to 0-5. Sokokurai made a brief appearance back in Prime Time but a well executed nodowa gave Takanoiwa his first win of the tournament.

Kotoshogiku is in a bad way. At 1-3 after the first few days of the tournament, his confidence must be seriously shaken. Hatakikomi is just embarrassing and it seems to be increasingly frequent. His one win, against Ikioi, wasn’t exactly a dominant display, either. All the other ozeki and both yokozuna won.

Hakuho was quick and dominant, surprise, surprise. Kakuryu, on the other hand, withstood Tochinoshin like a yokozuna should. Tochinoshin gave him his best. Kakuryu wore him down, kept his opponent on the edge, and forced him out. Terunofuji owned the center of the ring today. He basically let Takayasu wear himself down and got the yorikiri. Takarafuji reminds me of my uncle, but more muscular. The muscles weren’t enough today, though. Kisenosato, with his girth, was able to force the yorikiri.

Ichinojo is a long way away from his dominant debut. Myogiryu’s impressive performances, including this oshidashi win should keep him in the sanyaku. Aoiyama and Kaisei looked dominant in their matches. Gagamaru picked up his first win against Aminishiki while Oosunaarashi picked up a great belt win versus Kitataiki.

I have to mention the great bout between Sadanofuji and Amuru. Very long, evenly matched, Sadanofuji’s size seemed to win the day here. He wore Amuru down and handed the Russian his first loss. Kyokutenho just hasn’t had it this tournament. He’s struggled during the first and final thirds of each tournament this year. Endo came back off his loss with an over-eager matta against Tokitenku. At the restart, he was still able to gain great, low position and force the Mongolian back, advancing to 3-1.

Kagamio solidly defeated Kotoyuki to stay undefeated. He joins Toyohibiki as the only maegashira at 4-0. Seiro got his first career win against Hidenoumi. Good timing for it, too. Both are 2-2 so far. Satoyama was thoroughly dominated by Daieisho, from Juryo. Unless he finds his groove soon, I expect they’ll be trading places on the banzuke come September.