2025 Haru Basho: Day 3 results, replays and analysis
Spoilers, I got 'em.
Three days down and we’ve got a small group of undefeated wrestlers. It’s still way too early to predict who of them might be competing for a title when this tournament really gets going.
Some great matches on Day Three, though. I really enjoyed Shishi vs. Churanoumi. Shishi is slowly becoming must-see TV.
Other good bouts include Kirishima vs. Chiyoshoma, Takanosho vs. Ura and Hoshoryu vs. Wakamotoharu.
Check out the full top division results below and some videos of the most important bouts of the day. There’s also my analysis of what went down. I went quite granual with the Hoshoryu vs. Wakamotoharu bout. Enjoy!
Bonus gif today is this Oho fan.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Tokihayate (2-1) def. Tamashoho (2-1) via oshidashi (frontal push out)
Mitakeumi (2-1) def. Shirokuma (0-3) via uwatenage (over arm throw)
Asakoryu (3-0) def. Kotoshoho (2-1) via oshitaoshi (frontal push down)*
Aonishiki (1-2) def. Sadanoumi (0-3) via shitatenage (underarm throw)*
Shishi (2-1) def. Churanoumi (2-1) via oshitaoshi*
Takarafuji (2-1) def. Ryuden (2-1) via yorikiri (frontal force out)
Onokatsu (3-0) def. Meisei (1-2) via yorikiri
Midorifuji (2-1) def. Nishikigi (0-3) via yorikiri*
Endo (3-0) def. Shonannoumi (0-3) via hatakikomi (slapdown) after mono-ii (judges review)
Atamifuji (2-1) def. Oshoma (0-3) via yorikiri
Tamawashi (2-1) def. Hakuoho (2-1) via oshidashi
Hiradoumi (2-1) def. Takerufuji (2-1) via yorikiri*
Kinbozan (1-2) def. Shodai (1-2) via oshidashi
Takayasu (3-0) def. Ichiyamamoto (1-2) via hatakikomi
Ura (2-1) def. Takanosho (0-3) via tottari (arm bar throw)*
Kirishima (2-1) def. Chiyoshoma (1-2) via yorikiri*
Oho (1-2) def. Tobizaru (0-3) via oshidashi
Daieisho (2-1) def. Wakatakakage (0-3) via tsukitaoshi (frontal thrust down)*
Abi (3-0) def. Kotozakura (1-2) via oshidashi*
Onosato (3-0) def. Gonoyama (1-2) via oshidashi*
Hoshoryu (2-1) def. Wakamotoharu (2-1) via kubinage (head lock throw)*
*Must see bouts!
Leaderboard
Too early!
Analysis
Hoshoryu moved to 2-1 on Day Three after a win over Wakamotoharu. He was a little lucky to get the W here, though.
Hoshoryu led with the nodowa (throat thrust) and then quickly transitioned to the belt. He was able to get a sashite (under hook and belt grab) with his right arm. He then tried to grab the other side of Wakamotoharu’s belt. This was a very bold choice, given that Wakamotoharu’s forte is yotsu-zumo (belt grabbing sumo). This choice also gave Wakamotoharu his favoured grip, the hidari-yotsu (left arm inside, right arm outside). Wakamotoharu’s excellence with this position (which he can often over-rely on) was immediately evident.
See below how Wakamotoharu reached for Hoshoryu’s belt, but shaded his left hip to the outside to keep it out of Hoshoryu’s reach.
As soon as Wakamotoharu established his grip, he moved his left leg back to make it impossible for Hoshoryu to grab his belt (Hoshoryu has been enjoying getting a grip on both sides of the belt lately).
The screenshot above would not have been part of Hoshoryu’s game-plan. From this position, Wakamotoharu has the advantage.
Hoshoryu stepped forwards and tried to get his second grip, but Wakamotoharu rolled his hips and again denied it.
If you go to the 0:50 mark of the video you will see Hoshoryu gets his fingertips on the belt, but Wakamotoharu shake him off (watch at -1.5 speed to get a good look at it).
Hoshoryu gave up on that hold after that. He decided to lock Wakamotoharu’s left arm and step back, with his left foot, to trigger a throw.
Hoshoryu got inside knee position and then tried to wrench Hoshoryu over his thigh for the uwatenage.
Wakamotoharu used great defence to prevent this, though. He stepped his right leg forwards and untangled his knee from Hoshoryu’s, depriving the yokozuna of the fulcrum he needed to complete the throw.
Things got chaotic after this. After seeing Wakamotoharu block the throw, Hoshoryu continued rotating and attempted a second throw along the north side of the ring. Wakamotoharu blocked that, too, but Hoshoryu had picked up speed by then. Wakamotoharu tried to keep his balance, but Hoshoryu was forcing him into increasingly longer hops on one foot.
Wakamotoharu eventually lost control and got stuck with his feet, too close together.
From this position he couldn’t step out of range quick enough to prevent getting tossed over Hoshoryu’s thigh.
It’s a win for Hoshoryu, but I think he should have tried to blast Wakamotoharu away with thrusts instead of giving him a chance in the clinch.
Hoshoryu wasn’t the only high-level rikishi who was on his bike on Day Three.
Kotozakura was forced into a run-and-gun battle with Abi. Kotozakura looked surprisingly mobile in this bout and I thought he had Abi dead to rights at one point (on the south east corner of the ring). Abi was able to escape that, though, with some phenomenal straw surfing. That surprised Kotozakura and got Abi into a good position to thrust back and push Kotozakura out.
Abi is now 3-0. What do you think folks? Could Machine-Gun Arm be on pace for his second career yusho?
Joining Abi at 3-0 is Onosato, who is yet to break a sweat. On Day Three Gonoyama got a great jump on the tachiai and did his best to force Onosato over the line. After Onosato dug in, Gonoyama backed off, hoping to score a slap down. He couldn’t do that, though, because Onosato is able to cover ground so rapidly. As soon as Gonoyama’s feet touched down on his backwards jump he had a hand on his chest forcing back and eventually over the straw.
Wakatakakage is yet to notch a win this month. He went 0-3 thanks to a massive thrust from Daieisho. Daieisho dug his heels in and pounded Wakatakakage on the chest, enough to make the former sekiwake go down like he’d been shot. That moved Daieisho to 2-1. He needs at least 10 this month to give him a chance at an ozeki promotion after the next tournament.
Takerufuji was pegged back on Day Three. He lost to Hiradoumi. Takerufuji fights with a lot of swagger. Part of that comes through when he takes a long time to get set in his squat. He likes to make his opponent wait and then tap and blast, often to devastating effect. In this bout, though, Hiradoumi spent all that time sizing Takerufuji up and getting ready for a blistering attack of his own. Once he rocked Takerufuji back off the tachiai there was no coming back.
The slo-mo shows that Hiradoumi got an early start. See below that he had one hand raised and was moving forwards before Takerufuji touched either hand down.
Hiradoumi had almost become a torpedo by the time Takerufuji did touch down:
Of course, it would be nice if every tachiai had both buys moving off the block at the exact same time. That’s hard to manage with the human eye, though. I think Takerufuji sets himself up for this kind of thing, too. His approach to the tachiai is a very quick tap (and sometimes it doesn’t look like both hands touch down). It’s like what Takakeisho used to do. When a big part of your game is touching quickly and going at your opponent before they realize you’ve touched, I don’t think you can be that mad at them going a fraction early.
Aonishiki vs. Sadanoumi was a fun bout. Aonishiki started thrusting, but then grabbed the belt and pulled off a nice shitatenage for the win. That’s the fourth underarm throw of his career. He hasn’t gone to throws often in his short career (he has some wicked trips and sweeps, though). With his low center of gravity and upper body strength, shitatenage and uwatenage could be really potent weapons for him in the top division.
Asakoryu, aka Little Buff Boy, is 3-0 right now. He beat Aonishiki on Day Two. On Day Three he ran through Kotoshoho. He has the similarly sized Tokihayate tomorrow, so he might be able to keep this run going.
Tomorrow we have Hoshoryu vs. Gonoyama. Gonoyama is my pick to get a kinboshi in the CME Fantasy Sumo contest.
Day 4 also gives us Wakatakakage vs. Kotozakura, Onosato vs. Wakamotoharu and Daieisho vs. Kirishima. Fun stuff.
See ya tomorrow!
Great day of Sumo. Walking down a hallway and Terunofuji walked out of a backstage room right next to my wife and I. Total shock. Crowd was fantastic. There was a very vocal group of Wakatakakage fans that I’m pretty sure just wanted to chant his fun name. One older guy had a small whiteboard and would write his favorite for each match on it and hold it up like a sign. Then after the match he’d erase and then write the next one. What a fun atmosphere and audience.
Asakoryu, aka Little Buff Boy? Haha! Love the recap. A great basho so far!