2025 Haru Basho: Day 6 results, replays and analysis
Spoilers below.
We are about a week into our 2025 haru basho and a few wrestlers have put down a solid opening six days. Some of those feel like guys we’re going to be talking about next week. A couple are surprises, though.
Hoshoryu was attempting to rebound from that shock loss to Chiyoshoma on this day. He was matched with the always tricky Tobizaru.
We also had Kotozakura vs. Takanosho, Onosato vs. Chiyoshoma, Kirishima vs. Abi and Daieisho vs. Takayasu.
Day 6 also gave us our first makuuchi meeting of Aonishiki and Shishi. The Ukrainians met in juryo at the last tournament, with Shishi taking the win.
Scroll down to see all the top divison results, plenty of videos and my analysis on what went down.
Bonus gif is Kotozakura looking quite serene.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Mitakeumi (4-2) def. Asakoryu (3-3) via yorikiri (frontal force out)
Roga (5-1) def. Kotoshoho (3-3) via tsukiotoshi (thrust down)
Tokihayate (4-2) def. Sadanoumi (2-4) via shitatedashinage (pulling underarm throw)*
Shirokuma (2-4) def. Ryuden (3-3) via uwatenage (over arm throw)*
Aonishiki (3-3) def. Shishi (4-2) oshitaoshi (frontal push down)*
Churanoumi (5-1) def. Takarafuji (2-4) via makiotoshi (twist down)*
Onokatsu (5-1) def. Shonannoumi (1-5) via yorikiri
Meisei (4-2) def. Hakuoho (4-2) via tsukiotoshi
Midorifuji (3-3) def. Endo (4-2) via okuridashi (rear push out)
Oshoma (2-4) def. Nishikigi (0-6) via yorikiri
Tamawashi (4-2) def. Hiradoumi (2-4) via oshitaoshi*
Shodai (3-3) def. Ura (3-3) via hatakikomi (slap down)
Kinbozan (3-3) def. Atamifuji (3-3) via yorikiri
Takerufuji (4-2) def. Ichiyamamoto (3-3) via oshidashi (frontal push out)
Wakamotoharu (4-2) def. Gonoyama (1-5) via tsukiotoshi
Abi (4-2) def. Kirishima (3-3) via okuridashi*
Takayasu (5-1) def. Daieisho (3-3) via tsukidashi (frontal thrust out)*
Wakatakakage (2-4) def. Oho (2-4) via yorikiri
Onosato (5-1) def. Takanosho (2-4) via oshidashi
Kotozakura (3-3) def. Chiyoshoma (3-3) via oshidashi
Hoshoryu (4-2) def. Tobizaru (1-5) via yorikiri*
*Must see bouts!
Leaderboard
O1e Onosato, M4e Takayasu, M12w Onokatsu, M14w Churanoumi: 5-1
Y1e Hoshoryu, K1w Abi, M1w Wakamotoharu, M6w Takerufuji, seven others: 4-2
Analysis
Hoshoryu rebounded from his loss to Chiyoshoma yesterday. Today’s victim was Tobizaru, who—historically—has been a tough out for our new yokozuna. In this bout Hoshoryu seemed very focused on getting a double grip of Tobizaru’s mawashi. That’s likely because he’s fallen in love with the tsuridashi (frontal lift out) in recent tournaments.
He was able to get the grip for that move on Tobizaru, which is smart since it limits what Tobizaru can do from range and takes away his wrist fighting. Hoshoryu went for the lift out, but wasn’t able to get Tobizaru fully elevated. It was enough to put Tobizaru off balance and allow for the force out, though.
Hoshoryu has scored some clutch wins recently with his tsuridashi attempts. However, if he makes this a point of emphasis, I worry for his shoulders and lower back. We’ve already seen him limit his throws, I think because of potential damage to his knees. Given that he’s not the biggest rikishi, I’d like to see him use alternative yotsu moves for this area of his game. Kakuryu’s mae-mitsu (front belt grip) would be a good option for him.
Onosato is starting to look like the front runner in this tournament. He had a tough match-up with Takanosho today and was able to withstand his nodowa (throat thrust) and the npush Takanosho off onto the side, making it very easy to push him out. Outside of his loss to Wakamotoharu, Onosato has dominated his opponents thus far.
One of the most exciting matches this day was Daieisho vs. Takayasu. They threw down in a slap fest. Takayasu got the win after landing a very heavy palm strike on the cheek of Daieisho. I think that stunned the sekiwake. While he was seeing stars, Takayasu was then able to push him out. That moved Takayasu to 4-1, giving him a share of the lead with Onosato. It dropped Daieisho to 3-3, he can’t afford to lose many more if he wants to keep his ozeki run going.
Kotozakura got to 3-3 after beating Chiyoshoma. Kotozakura showed a lot of strength, and grit, to not be effected by Chiyoshoma’s opening slap and push. Kotozakura looked like his old self in absorbing that assault and then securing an underhook, which he used to force Chiyoshoma out. Right now, it looks like Kotozakura might have enough in the tank to get his kachi-koshi and save his rank.
We had an all Ukrainian match-up on Day 6 with Aonishiki meeting Shishi in the makuuchi for the first time in their careers. And they delivered a very fun bout. This was a classic pusher/thruster vs. grappler bout and it was the smaller grappler (Aonishiki) who was able to impose his game on the match. After weathering some thrusts from Shishi, Aonishiki was able to lock on a strong migi-yotsu (right arm inside, left arm outside) grip, with two hands on the mawashi. That grip allowed him to ragdoll Shishi, knocking him off balance with an uwatenage attempt and then finishing the job with a hard push off the corner of the ring.
The pick of Day 7’s matches are Hoshoryu vs. Takanosho, Onosato vs. Chiyoshoma and Tobizaru vs. Kotozakura (got I hope Tobi doesn’t kick him in the knee).
Takayasu’s leader status will be tested by Wakatakakage. Onokatsu, who is also 5-1, will take on Hakuoho.
Fun stuff!
Hope Hoshoryu can read this!!!