Aki 2025 Day Three

One-fifth of the way in to the September tournament, and the yusho race is taking shape.

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Scores from Fantasizr

Notable Maneuvers

Uwatenage (and henka?). Hoshoryu won with the overarm-throw, but it was set up by him moving right against Hakuoho. The Yokozuna did hit Hakuoho with a left-handed blast before moving sideways. He also absolutely moved right to get a very deep mawashi grip to enable his throw.

Match of the Day

36 Maegashira #15 East Tobizaru versus 38 Maegashira #16 East Tomokaze

Tomokaze decided he wasn’t going to let Tobizaru inside and try something, so he kept the Flying Monkey at arm’s length. What that did was make the match even wilder. Tobizaru repeatedly attacked, backed off, and re-engaged. It was all Tomokaze could do just to keep Tobizaru in front of him while he moved around the whole dohyo. That approach also meant Tobizaru never really got an opening, so eventually Tomokaze could shove out a still-moving Tobizaru to end a fun one.

Recap

Onosato and Hoshoryu held serve on Day Three. Onosato pushed back on Abi’s tsuppari attack for an easy win. After that match, there’s now an open question about how casually someone can shove another man clear off the dohyo. Hoshoryu’s match was a little more complicated, since he went sideways rather than head on. He also beat Hakuoho decisively with an impressive throw.

Kotozakura did not remain undefeated after facing Aonishiki. Aonishiki almost signalled what he wanted to do, sticking his hands down early with his left hand a little ahead. This did not make Kotozakura attack a vulnerability, but instead stepped back to watch what Aonishiki was doing. All he got for that was the Ukrainian’s head in his chest and an inability to do much of anything before stepping out.

Joining Kotozakura in earning a first loss on Day Three were Wakamotoharu, Onokatsu, Shodai, Roga, and Tobizaru. That’s an early signal that staying undefeated is much easier said than done. Getting their first wins were Tamawashi, Oho, Kusano, Kinbozan, Mitakeumi, Asakoryu, and Shonannoumi. Rikishi are going to keep coming to the middle as the basho moves along, and always remember that is by design.

That makes Kirishima’s third win even more impressive, despite it being so early. He manhandled a very game and always large Atamifuji, looking like he could be in his Ozeki form. He will always be fighting before Hoshoryu and Onosato until he faces either one of them. Right now, he’s keeping up the chance those will be decisive. Apart from Onosato, Hoshoryu, and Kirishima, your undefeated rikishi are Ura and Ryuden. They are probably not likely to keep that up (see above for the meat-grinder nature of sumo), but for now they are in this race.

Of course, with 12 matches remaining, no one is really out of the race just yet. Even the five competing rikishi at 0-3 (Takayasu, Abi, Gonoyama, Fujinokawa, Nishikigi, and Hitoshi) still can make up ground in theory. Even Wakatakakage’s Ozeki run isn’t dead despite a 1-2 record, but he does need at least 10 wins in the next 12 days or better. That’s possible, but it’s much tougher when the Yokozuna are performing so well.