Last year, on Day 6, Takayasu stunned Hakuho with a hatakikomi victory. This year, though, Toyonoshima was easy prey for the returning yokozuna. Harumafuji survived against Yoshikaze to stay one loss off pace. The peloton grows to include Kotoshogiku, Ikioi, and Chiyootori, all three losing fairly handily today. Ikioi put up the most resistance but basically all three had nothing in the tank today.
Kakuryu scraped by with a win against Okinoumi to stay two back.
In the biggest upset of the day, a hungry, resurgent Myogiryu blasted Kakuryu. Terunofuji was the only ozeki to lose, Tochinoshin’s size was too much for his knee. Yoshikaze recovered from Hakuho’s henka, beating Tochiozan. Tochiozan, in the meantime is basically out of the ozeki running and needs to work hard to preserve his sekiwake status. He will face Kisenosato in the morning and still has all of the yokozuna to face.
Of our leaders, Ikioi and Chiyootori face the highest probability of losing. Ikioi will have his hands full with Kaisei and Chiyootori will need to demonstrate his best agility to take out Gagamaru. On the other hand, Kotoshogiku will face a dispassionate Ichinojo and Hakuho will face Toyonoshima, whom he hasn’t lost to since 2012.
This will be a quick update because I need to run. I hope to update later tonight with more analysis. Kaisei dropped off the lead pack but Ikioi and Chiyootori are hanging with Hakuho and Kotoshogiku…for now.
Kotoshogiku will have his hands full with Toyonoshima tomorrow. The maegashira 3 has beaten both Sekiwake and Endo and he’s beaten Giku the last four times they’ve fought. Hakuho will likely have no problem dispatching Aoiyama as Tochinoshin and Osunaarashi are bigger challenges, I think, especially the way the man mountain just sat down against Ternoufuji today. It seemed when he tried to brace with his left knee, it gave and he collapsed. As for Hakuho, I think everyone was surprised at his henka win over Yoshikaze.
Ikioi will face Endo who’s not been doing well this tournament and Chiyootori is still battling chumps at the bottom of the banzuke. Chiyootori will likely carry on undefeated for the first week, at least.
Hakuho and Kotoshogiku lead the sanyaku after day three, joined by rank-and-filers Ikioi, Kaisei, and Chiyootori as the lone undefeated wrestlers in makuuchi. Ikioi, Kaisei, and Chiyootori are not really surprises, having early success at their low ranks. Ikioi and Chiyootori have been in sanyaku and Kaisei is a solid mid-range maegashira, having won 2 special prizes and even a Jun-Yusho when ranked lower on the banzuke. Chiyootori’s apparent return to form is encouraging as he’s coming off injury.
Ikioi’s position at maegashira 4 is right at the cusp of his range. At maegashira 3, a wrestler has a very difficult first week, fighting sanyaku wrestlers. He has had 5 previous tournaments at M4-M5, with a 45-30 record during those tournaments. Excluding the only makekoshi 7-8 and the 8-7 finish, he’s 30-15 in the remaining 3 tournaments. In short, if he’s ranked too high, he gets blown up by sanyaku wrestlers in the first week and can’t recover during the next week.