2025 Haru Basho: Day 13 results, replays and analysis
There are spoilers in this post.
Just two days left folks!
This weekend we will crown our latest top division champion. The race has been narrowing over the last few days with Onosato, Takayasu and Takerufuji emerging as our leaders. There are a couple of wrestlers who, heading into Day 13, could push themselves into title contention. Among those are the 40 year old Tamawashi and the 20 year old Aonishiki.
Today we had Takayasu vs. Wakamotoharu, Onosato vs. Oho and Takerufuji vs. Kotozakura. Those were all must-see TV.
This day gave us a number of other thrilling bouts, too, though. Kirishima vs. Ichiyamamoto, Tamawashi vs. Churanoumi and Midorifuji vs. Asakoryu were especially exciting.
Bonus gif today is Hoshoryu, who is on the outside looking in for this tournament.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Kotoshoho (7-6) def. Takarafuji (3-10) via oshidashi (frontal push out)
Tokihayate (9-4) def. Meisei (7-6) via uwatenage (over arm throw)*
Midorifuji (7-6) def. Asakoryu (6-7) via sukuinage (beltless arm throw)*
Shonannoumi (3-10) def. Shirkouma (5-8) via uwatedashinage (pulling over arm throw)
Mitakeumi (6-7) def. Nishikigi (2-11) via yorikiri (frontal force out)
Sadanoumi (7-6) def. Endo (7-6) via oshidashi
Hakuoho (7-6) def. Shishi (8-5) via yorikiri
Oshoma (7-6) def. Onokatsu (8-5) via tsukiotoshi (thrust down)
Ryuden (5-8) def. Atamifuji (6-7) via yorikiri
Churanoumi (9-5) def. Tamawashi (9-4) via oshidashi after mono-ii (judges review) reversed gyoji decision*
Tobizaru (6-7) def. Shodai (4-9) via oshidashi*
Hiradoumi (8-5) def. Chiyoshoma (5-8) via oshidashi*
Gonoyama (5-8) def. Kinbozan (5-8) via tsukiotoshi*
Takayasu (11-2) def. Wakamotoharu (7-6) via oshidashi*
Wakatakakage (8-5) def. Ura (5-8) via oshitaoshi (frontal push down)
Abi (6-7) def. Takanosho (3-8) via hatakikomi
Kirishima (6-7) def. Ichiyamamoto (6-7) via uwatenage*
Daieisho (9-4) def. Aonishiki (9-4) via hatakikomi*
Kotozakura (8-5) def. Takerufuji (9-4) via hatakikomi*
Oho (5-8) def. Onosato (10-3) via oshidashi*
*Must see bouts!
Leaderboard
M4e Takayasu: 11-2
O1e Onosato: 10-3
S1e Daieisho, M6w Takerufuji, M7w Tamawashi, M14w Churanoumi, M15e Aonishiki, M18e Tokihayate: 9-3
Analysis
Wow. Takayasu is bringing it on the dohyo this month. The veteran former ozeki has his first makuuchi yusho in his sights and he is not letting up one bit! On Day 12, Wakamotoharu drew the short straw and was steamrolled by sumo’s most hirsute gentleman.
See below how Takayasu invokes E. Honda to put away Wakamotoharu with a blistering tsuppari attack.
Obviously there is technique involved in this win. But I’m not going to break it down frame by frame. Where Takayasu puts his hands and how he sets his feet are important, sure, but it’s not outweighed by the sheer force of will and intensity that drove all that action. Sometimes in sumo a guy just wants it more. And that was Takayasu in this bout. In this win he looked focused, confident and brutal. The power and menace he put into his thrusts stunned Wakamotoharu and turned him into a punching bag by the end there.
We’ve known for years that Takayasu’s character and mental game were not a problem. It’s just his body that has given out a few times. It looks like he’s feeling great right now, though, and that his health is giving him freedom to really push for wins on the dohyo.
Takayasu’s win over Wakamotoharu got him to 11-2. Onosato could match that with a win over Oho. However, the ozeki couldn’t do that. He was upset by Oho (who has looked very poor this month) to give Takayasu a one win lead as we head down the stretch.
I saluted Onosato for committing to a hatakikomi game-plan against Takerufuji yesterday. I also explained how Onosato is very good when he lands his game-plan off the bat and can get flustered when he’s forced to improvise. This was one of those bouts where he had to improvise.
In this bout he attacked Oho off the tachiai with his hands low, hoping to secure a grip on his belt. That’s a good plan against Oho, who prefers to push/thrust.
Oho was able to prevent the belt grab, though, due to the strength of his thrusts.
Onosato tried to get his belt a second time…
But Oho again pushed him back…
After this Onosato tried to get an angle on Oho so he could grab the back of the belt…
However, he wasn’t able to time a defensive swipe well enough to force Oho to pivot. That meant he was the one having to do all the movement to try and get to the back of Oho. Since Oho had his feet nicely set and had his hands on Onosato’s body (and wasn’t being pushed off balance) it was easy for Oho to push Onosato backwards.
And Oho pushed him back far…
At this point Onosato set his mind on a hatakikomi. As we saw yesterday, Onosato’s not great at doing these in an emergency. In this bout he simply did not have the real estate needed to pull it off. Oho closed the distance and then hounded Onosato with thrusts pushing him out and easily avoiding the last ditch hatakikomi attempts.
This is a massive loss for Onosato and it puts Takayasu firmly in the driving seat for this basho. Since Takayasu has already faced, and beaten, Onosato in this tournament, Onosato needs other wrestlers to peg Takayasu back and give him a shot at a play-off for the cup.
Tomorrow Takayasu has Churanoumi. They’ve never faced each other before. Churanoumi has been a surprise this tournament, going 9-4 thus far (he went 4-11 in his past two tournaments).
If Takayasu wins, and Onosato loses, the cup is his.
Onosato has Daieisho tomorrow. He’s got a 5-1 record against the sekiwake. Though, Daieisho is having a good tournament (9-4) and has extra motivation. He needs double-digits to keep his ozeki hopes alive.
Well folks, who do we think is going to win this one?
Takerufuji was hoping to keep his outside shot at the title intact on Day 13. However, Kotozakura made sure Takerufuji wouldn’t get his hand on a cup this month.
Kotozakura did an incredible job of halting Takerufuji’s opening rush. He really dug in his heels and prevented Takerufuji from moving him backwards. That’s a great sign, given how much concern there’s been over that left knee of his. After holding Takerufuji up, Kotozakura went for the belt. He quickly sensed he couldn’t get and then transitioned to a slap down, perfectly timing Takerufuji’s forward pressure and delivering a precise slap to the back of his neck, while stepping one leg backwards, for the win. This is the kind of technique Onosato should be working towards. Kotozakura is excellent at switching techniques on the fly and performing them with a very high level of technique. His timing and technique allows him to perform moves like hatakikomi and katasukashi in a very small amount of space.
You wouldn’t know it to look at him after the bout, but this win secured Kotozakura’s kachi-koshi (winning record) meaning his ozeki rank is safe. I think this was also a bit of a revenge match for Kotozakura. In the last tournament Takerufuji slung him down and strutted past him (Takerufuji’s swagger must surely rub some of these guys the wrong way). Given that Kotozakura is the master of sumo stoicism, though, we have no idea (based on his demenaour) whether this win over Takerufuji was especially sweet.
Kotozakura fights Aonishiki tomorrow in a blissfully pressure-free bout for him. Aonishiki is also fighting without any pressure. His hopes of being a dark horse title contender were ended on Day 13 with a loss to Daieisho.
Daieisho was able to push Aonishiki back and time a good hatakikomi. It didn’t look like Daieisho broke much of a sweat in this bout, but I’m sure he’ll be seeing Aonishiki again in the future. The 20 year-old Ukrainian has definitely looked like makuuchi material in his debut top flight basho.
One of the best bouts of the day was Kirishima vs. Ichiyamamoto. Kirishima fought like hell to make sure he didn’t get a make-koshi (losing record) on this day. After missing with two slap downs, Kirishima smartly decided to slow things down. He clinched Ichiyamamoto, to take away Ichiyamamoto’s tsuppari. From there he muscled his way to the centre of the ring. Then his yotsu (belt grabbing) savvy took over, resulting in an uwatenage.
Gonoyama and Kinbozan had a fun brawl, too. Gonoyama was able to resist Kinbozan’s thrusts and then pull him down for the win. That gives Kinbozan, who was a runner-up in January, a make-koshi.
Like Kinbozan and Oho, Chiyoshoma has also had a hangover after an impressive January. He’s struggled to keep up in the joi (highest maegashira ranks). To compensate he’s fully committed to his total pest era. In the last two tournaments Chiyoshoma has cut an ornery figure on the dohyo. It was quite satisfying to see him pushed out after he landed a ringing slap on Hiradoumi’s cheek.
Also, we need to talk about Endo. This week he’s stumbled around looking punch drunk after his bouts and, at times, has been very slow to get to his feet. He’s taken a few big spills this tournament and has had to peel himself up from the front row on more than one occasion.
During these incidents he’s looked concussed. However, after today’s bout with Sadanoumi he looked to be limping on his right side. My hope is that Endo’s apparent wooziness is actually instability from a leg injury. I hope that’s the case, at least.
Lastly… this Osaka crowd are really getting sick of the henka. There were three of them today and each was met with some grumbling.
I wonder if we’ll get many tomorrow.
See you then!
Takayasu always wears a war face when fighting. In this bout, Wakamotoharu's expression was "I'm gonna lose this one."
Oho may not be winning but he does play master spoiler. He gifted Hoshoryu a yusho and promotion in January by beating Kinbozan, and now he likely gifts Takayasu his first yusho.