Hatsu 2025 Day Eight

The January sumo tournament keeps moving into its second week.

Public League Leaderboard

Scores from Fantasizr

Yusho Arasoi

8 Wins

36 Maegashira #14 West Kinbozan

7 Wins

18 Maegashira #5 West Chiyoshoma

30 Maegashira #11 West Takerufuji

6 Wins

03 Ozeki #1 West Hoshoryu

06 Sekiwake West Daieisho

14 Maegashira #3 West Oho

27 Maegashira #10 East Tamawashi

Notable Maneuvers

Uwatedashinage. Tokihayate won early in the Makuuchi card by throwing Kotoshoho around. But Kotozakura stood out for withstanding everything Oho could throw him, fighting back to the middle, and then when he found separation grabbing Oho’s mawashi for the pulling underarm throw.

Match of the Day

27 Maegashira #10 East Tamawashi versus 36 Maegashira #14 West Kinbozan

40-year-old Tamawashi looked up for this match with yusho race implications, and in his usual style went for the neck shove. Kinbozan took it, stopped his momentum, and then shoved back. Tamawashi knows how to counter a pushing attack, but he was forced to readjust. In that space, Kinbozan put his arms under for a strong grip. At that point, the Big Kazakh had the yorikiri and his eighth win.

Recap

Kinbozan leads the basho as the last undefeated rikishi on Day Eight. He is the Maegashira #14 West, and spent last tournament in Juryo. He did go 12-3 for a second division yusho, but before that had consecutive 4-11 records to lose his Maegashira status. He’s a 27 year old with a career-best Makuuchi record of 11-4 in his top division debut in March 2023. Yet here he is with the lead at the midpoint of the Hatsu basho.

There were early signs things were going to be weird on Day Eight. In the very first match, Juryo visitor Kayo was given the win by the gyoji in a match where he threw Nishikifuji. Then a torinaoshi was called because they basically fell over at the same time. Kayo won the rematch and a tone was set. Tokihayate threw around the bigger Kotoshoho. Kitanowaka fell awkwardly on his ankle after being shoved out by Takerufuji and couldn’t stand. Shonannoumi wandered all around the ring before finally putting away Meisei with a heavy kotenage.

The real chaos began with the leaders’ matches. Chiyoshoma seemed to have successfully bull-rushed Takarafuji until Takarafuji went matador and shoved Chiyoshoma in the side to give him his first loss. That put pressure on the 6-1 rikishi yet to compete. Oho gave it his all, but never found a way to actually beat the seemingly reenergized Kotozakura. Instead, he got thrown to the ground after pushing on Kotozakura all match.

Then there was Shodai upsetting Hoshoryu. The excellent-performing current Ozeki was an odd candidate for the up-and-down former Ozeki to display a vintage performance. Shodai had his defensive powers back, though, and he made Hoshoryu get high at the tachiai. After that, Shodai just needed to keep on keeping on, and this time he could do it to send Hoshoryu hard over the edge of the Dohyo. So now Oho and Hoshoryu are both two off the pace of Kinbozan, with Chiyoshoma and Takerufuji in their way.

Takerufuji may have the biggest opening from Day Eight’s results. He’ll get his chance at Kinbozan on Day Nine, and a win will create more matchups with rikishi in the yusho race. Takerufuji has done this before, winning his debut basho last March. He could navigate an assortment of high-performing and/or Sanyaku opponents for a yusho again. He just has to beat Kinbozan and Oho Daieisho and Hoshoryu, not to mention some 5-3 former yusho winners like Kirishima, Abi, and Onosato. Get ready for a wild second week, in other words.