Leader (9-1): M8w Ichiyamamoto.

Chasers (8-2): S1w Kirishima, M1e Aonishiki, M4w Tamawashi, M14e Kusano, M15e Kotoshoho, M16w Mitakeumi.

In the hunt (7-3): Y1w Onosato, K1w Takayasu, M10e Atamifuji, M11e Takanosho.

Well, that was one hell of a day of sumo.

The sole leader, Ichiyamamoto defeated struggling M5w Meisei (3-7) for the first time in four tries. Thus far, Ichiyamamoto’s highest-ranked opponent was M5e Hiradoumi (5-5), who dealt him his only loss. As expected, the caliber of his opposition will now escalate significantly, starting tomorrow with Takayasu, who had to work hard to outlast Oho.

If I had to guess which one rikishi would drop out of yesterday’s seven-man chase pack, I would not have picked Onosato. The Yokozuna looked to have Tamawashi wrapped up for a yorikiri win, but the veteran drew on all of his experience and executed a well-timed thrust-down at the edge for his 8th career kinboshi and his first victory over Onosato in four tries. Tomorrow, Tamawashi will try to continue his challenge for a 3rd yusho against struggling Ozeki Kotozakura (5-5), who needs 3 more wins to avoid kadoban. Wakatakakage’s hard-fought yorikiri win over the Ozeki is certainly in the running for match of the basho! Onosato will try to stay in the race when he faces Kirishima, who has not defeated the Yokozuna in 6 tries.

In other yusho race bouts, Mitakeumi continued his dominance over Juryo visitor Shonannoumi, Kotoshoho outlasted Churanoumi in an entertaining bout, Ura threw the kitchen sink at Kusano, but the rookie survived, getting behind the former gymnast and winning by okuridashi that I thought should have been called a far rarer okurinage, Aonishiki finally figured out how to thwart Kinbozan’s two armed thrusts, first deflecting them and then grabbing one hand for a hikiotoshi pull-down, and Kirishima wrapped up and tossed down Hiradoumi.

The schedulers are finally getting serious about narrowing the field, so tomorrow we’ll be treated to a smorgasbord of high-stakes matchups. In addition to the aforementioned Ichiyamamoto vs. Takayasu, Tamawashi vs. Kotozakura, and Kirishima vs. Onosato bouts, Aonishiki will see if he can defuse Abi’s attack like he did Kinbozan’s (and he better be on the lookout for a henka), Kotoshoho will fight Takanosho, and Kusano has been paired with Mitakeumi. For completeness, the final member of the hunt group, Atamifuji, takes on Shodai (6-4). Come back tomorrow to see how everything turns out!

As a reminder, these were the Day 9 matchups:

Ikarigata tossed down his Sandanme opponent with a sukuinage. Yago defeated Hinataryu in a messy bout that ended with both rikishi landing in a heap after trying to throw each other, and required a mono-ii to confirm that Hinataryu landed first. Gyotoku is a beast; he pushed out Seihakuho to extend his career record to 11-1. Asahakuryu grabbed Kamito’s belt at the tachiai, and it was an easy yorikiri win from there.

The semifinal bouts will take place on Day 11, with the winners meeting on Day 13 for all the marbles. We have:

• Asahakuryu vs. Gyotoku
• Yago vs. Ikarigata

The first bout matches two strong prospects, one who is all but certain to make his sekitori debut in September and another who seems destined to follow suit soon. The second matches an 8-year veteran who debuted at Ms15TD and reached the top division before tumbling down the banzuke through a combination of underperformance and injury against a Sandanme tsukedashi rikishi fighting in only his fourth career basho, who also happens to be Fujinokawa’s brother.

In the promotion zone, both Ms1 wrestlers, prospect Kyokukaiyu and former Ozeki Asanoyama, won with ease today to go to 3-2, leaving each one win away from promotion. Ms2e Ishizaki (4-1) clinched an all-important kachi-koshi and should finally make his Juryo debut after 3 near misses. Ms3e Asahakuryu (5-0) is all but certain to go up, and former maegashira Ms3w Kitanowaka (4-1) is also in good shape for promotion. Ms2w Mudoho (2-3) must win out and hope for favorable results elsewhere, while everyone else is either mathematically or realistically out of the running. That’s five likely promotion cases; will there be room in Juryo for everyone? With six days to go, it’s too early to tell, though injury victim Nabatame will be going down for certain, Mitoryu looks sure to join him even if he is able to re-enter the basho, Otsuji must win out, Shimanoumi and Daiamami need more wins than losses the rest of the way, and several others still have work to do.

Oh, and in sad news, Enho did hurt himself in his loss to Narutaki and had to withdraw with what appears to be a knee injury. No word on its severity or prognosis, but he’ll drop down to the middle of the third division for September, delaying any possibility of a sekitori return.

There is no relevant action tomorrow, so the next update should be on Day 11.

Leader (8-1): M8w Ichiyamamoto.

Chasers (7-2): Y1w Onosato, S1w Kirishima, M1e Aonishiki, M4w Tamawashi, M14e Kusano, M15e Kotoshoho, M16w Mitakeumi.

There is also a five-man group of 6-3 rikishi, headed by K1w Takayasu. Given who the leader is, this quintet is certainly not out of the yusho race.

Raise your hand if you had Ichiyamamoto as the sole leader on Day 9, with the only kachi-koshi in the top division, as well as 3 rikishi ranked M14 or lower on the leaderboard. The leader pulled down Gonoyama and will face struggling M5w Meisei (3-6) tomorrow. Meisei does lead the head-to-head 3-0. I expect the caliber of Ichiyamamoto’s opposition to escalate substantially starting on Day 11.

Onosato got his favorite right-hand grip and bulldozed out Takayasu with only token resistance to stay one win off the lead. Kirishima fell victim to a second-straight upset by Hakuoho and dropped into the chase pack. Aonishiki surprised yet another opponent, Wakamotoharu, with a quick twist-down. It’s interesting that most of Aonishiki’s wins in the lower divisions came via straightforward oshidashi or yorikiri, but as the level and size of his opposition has increased, he’s been able to reach into a deep bag of tricks. Tamawashi allowed Onokatsu to get on the belt, which spelled trouble for the veteran. Kusano had no answer for Takanosho’s pushing attack. Kotoshoho extended his best start in years with a yorikiri win over Sadanoumi, and Mitakeumi rebounded from consecutive losses to power out Midorifuji.

The headline bout tomorrow pits Tamawashi against Onosato, who has not lost to the veteran in 3 tries. Tamawashi would love to add to his career total of 7 kinboshi. Kirishima fights Hiradoumi, Aonishiki will face his nemesis Kinbozan, Kusano will try to figure out Ura, Kotoshoho is matched with Churanoumi, and Mitakeumi takes on Juryo visitor Shonannoumi. It’ll be interesting to see what the schedulers cook up for the final stretch of the basho.

Welcome to nakabi, the middle Sunday of the tournament. As is customary, we have our first yusho arasoi (leaderboard).

Leaders (7-1): S1w Kirishima, M4w Tamawashi, M8w Ichiyamamoto, M14e Kusano.

Chasers (6-2): Y1w Onosato, K1w Takayasu, M1e Aonishiki, M9e Ura, M15e Kotoshoho, M16w Mitakeumi.

There is also a seven-man group of 5-3 rikishi, but only O1e Kotozakura seems worth mentioning, and he dropped out of the chase pack by allowing Oshoma to pick up only his second win of the tournament, and on the belt no less.

Today’s headline has to be Onosato picking up his second loss against M4e Hakuoho (4-4), who earned a huge stack of kensho envelopes to go along with his first career kinboshi. Hakuoho effectively stalemated the Yokozuna at the tachiai, which few manage to do. Onosato pulled, which was all the invitation Hakuoho needed to rush him out of the dohyo. This upset certainly opens up the yusho race.

In other key bouts, Kirishima outlasted Onokatsu and seemed to take umbrage at the amount of resistance his fellow Mongolian offered. Tamawashi easily disposed of Abi. Ichiyamamoto prevailed in a back-and-forth affair against Atamifuji, while Kusano had his hands full with Hidenoumi but ultimately got the better of a wrestler returning from injury after withdrawing on day 5.

Wakamotoharu had the advantage early in his bout against Takayasu but went for an ill-advised kotenage attempt, which allowed the former Ozeki to turn the tables and power the maegashira out. Aonishiki, who remarkably went 5-2 against the entire sanyaku in his first basho in the joi, never looked in trouble in his yorikiri win over Oho, and will face only lower-ranked opponents from here. No offense intended, but I am pretty much discounting the chances of the other 6-2 guys, especially after Ura’s last-second escape act against one-armed Takerufuji and Mitakeumi’s meek loss to Takanosho.

The big bout tomorrow pits Onosato against Takayasu! The former Ozeki won his first two meetings with the current Yokozuna but dropped the last two, including a memorable playoff loss in March. Kirishima will look to foil another upset bid by Hakuoho, Aonishiki will meet Wakamotoharu for the first time, Tamawashi will fight Onokatsu, whom he’s dominated so far, Ichiyamamoto has Gonoyama, and Kusano will try his luck against Takanosho.