Hatsu 2025 Day Four
What to watch on the fourth day of sumo action for the January basho.
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Notable Maneuvers
Tsutaezori. That would be an “Under-arm forward body drop” that Ura beat Takayasu with. In simple terms, he got his head under Takayasu’s chest, grabbed the left arm, went under that arm, and then launched a back body drop that sent Takayasu down. Maybe not so simple.
Match of the Day
09 Maegashira #1 East Takanosho versus 03 Ozeki #1 West Hoshoryu
Takanosho had a pretty good game plan against Hoshoryu by going defensive. Hoshoryu had the jump at the tachiai, but Takanosho aimed to blow up any kind of a grip. He did that and Hoshoryu was upright. He launched a nodowa attack that Takanosho could easily block with his thrusting. That thrusting began pushing Hoshoryu back to the bales, for what seemed to be a big upset win. Instead, Hoshoryu kept his feet wide, wrenched Takanosho’s right arm, and sent the Maegashira flying off the dohyo.
Recap
Day Four was a weird day of sumo, full of slips and falls that contributed to upsets galore. Early on, Hakuoho fell from the ranks of the undefeated by never finding his footing against Shonannoumi. Takerufuji never really engaged well with Tamawashi’s nodowa. Then the heavy hitters came. Onosato got too far forward, and Abi read it for the pull down win. Kotozakura got bad leverage from the start, and Kirishima easily showed him out. Finally, Tobizaru kept his arms and feet moving to make Terunofuji uncomfortable enough to be able to push him out.
That last one is by far the most significant loss of the day. A basic premise of being a strong Yokozuna is to seriously limit the number of kinboshi. Now Terunofuji has given up his first of the basho, and he really can’t give up more. He also looks like he may give up more. His knees clearly hurt when he’s on the dohyo, and his lower body isn’t obeying what he wants. If Terunofuji drops out, which is his right as a Yokozuna, it will affect the very shape of the basho.
Losses by Ozeki to Maegashira aren’t exactly encouraged, either, and the defeats by Kotozakura and Onosato on Day Four were important. Kotozakura was out-techniqued by Kirishima, who has not been fighting well recently. Onosato seems to have an issue with Abi forcing him to go too far forward. That doesn’t mean they can’t recover over the rest of the basho. (Kotozakura’s Yokozuna chances for March may be officially dead, though.) They both just need to be in their best form, which they certainly have not been so far.
Hoshoryu has been in his best form, and he is close to being able to go off to the races. Hoshoryu is at 4-0, and is the only Sanyaku man with a perfect record. Joining him in the ranks of the unvanquished are Oho, Chiyoshoma, Tamawashi, and Kinbozan. These rikishi were not exactly popular pre-basho yusho picks. All have had up-and-down recent form, but all four also are looking good. In particular, Oho seems more decisive than usual, which arguably has been his biggest flaw.
Oho gets the toughest part of his basho out of the way early, too. So far he has faced both Komusubi and Sekiwake. Next he gets the Ozeki, starting with Kotozakura on Day Five. He’ll see Hoshoryu before long, and he could have collected a large number of wins through week one with an easier strength of schedule in week two. That’s the opportunity Yokozuna and Ozeki losing (not to mention lower-Maegashira favorites like Hakuoho and Takerufuji) provides.