2025 Kyushu Basho: Day 14 results and analysis
Recapping all the top division action from Grand Sumo's 2025 Kyushu Basho (spoilers).
Our penultimate day of the 2025 Kyushu basho is in the books and the table is set for senshuraku (the final day). And I can’t wait.
This tournament has been a lot of fun as our yokozuna and Aonishiki (who might be a future yokozuna) have pulled away from the pack. Last night Hoshoryu and Aonishiki duked it out for the third time in their careers. Onosato met Kotozakura (who took home the yusho this time last year).
Scroll down to see what happened and where we stand heading into the final day.
Bonus gif is the man of a million nicknames. I think Pitbull is probably the best fit.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Fujinokawa (9-5) def. Asakoryu (7-7) by sukuinage (beltless arm throw)*
Tomokaze (6-8) def. Meisei (1-4-9) by hatakikomi (slap down)
Gonoyama (8-6) def. Shishi (5-9) by oshidashi (frontal push out)
Chiyoshoma (9-5) def. Roga (8-6) by uwatedashinage (pulling over arm throw)*
Daieisho (9-5) def. Nishikifuji (8-6) by tsukiotoshi (thrust down)
Mitakeumi (7-7) def. Kotoshoho (7-7) by hatakikomi
Kinbozan (6-8) def. Shonannoumi (3-11) by tsukidashi (frontal thrust out)
Ryuden (7-7) def. Abi (5-9) by oshidashi
Onokatsu (6-8) def. Sadanoumi (4-10) by yorikiri (frontal force out)
Ichiyamamoto (10-4) def. Yoshinofuji (9-5) by hatakikomi*
Oshoumi (6-8) def. Hiradoumi (4-10) by yoritaoshi (frontal crush out)*
Ura (8-6) def. Tobizaru (6-8) by oshidashi*
Kirishima (10-4) def. Tokihayate (9-5) by uwatenage (over arm throw)*
Wakamotoharu (8-6) def. Midorifuji (6-8) by yorikiri*
Hakuoho (5-9) def. Tamawashi (6-8) by yorikiri
Churanoumi (7-7) def. Wakatakakage (6-8) by oshidashi
Takanosho (5-9) def. Oshoma (3-11) by oshidashi
Takayasu (7-7) def. Atamifuji (7-7) by yorikiri
Oho (6-8) def. Shodai (4-10) by oshidashi
Kotozakura (8-6) def. Onosato (11-3) by yorikiri*
Aonishiki (11-3) def. Hoshoryu (11-3) by oshidashi*
*Must see bouts!
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Leaderboard
Y1e Onosato, Y1wYO Hoshoryu, S1e Aonishiki: 11-3
Analysis
We’re all tied up, folks.
Aonishiki stayed perfect against Hoshoryu last night, getting his third win in a row against the yokozuna.
I think Hoshoryu read my scouting report from yesterday, where I said a good move would be the moroto-tsuki (double hand thrust) to stand Aonishiki up and then a slap down as soon as Aonishiki frantically tries to duck down and get into his trademark bent over stance.
Hoshoryu went for the slap down early, but he wasn’t able to execute the moroto-tsuki to properly set it up. And that’s because maybe Aonishiki read the same report (I know these guys aren’t ready Sumo Stomp! but just let me pretend for a minute).
Look at how Aonishiki approached the tachiai here:
His number one goal in this moment was to hide his chest from Hoshoryu. He came in more slumped over than usual and his hands were out to push Hoshoryu’s thrust away from his chest. This prevented him getting rocked back on his heels, like he was against Onosato on the previous night.
This opening move got Aonishiki to this position:
This is where he wants to be in every single bout.
Hoshoryu tried to step back and slap him down, but Aonishiki is just too good at staying up in this position. I don’t think you’re going to slap him down unless you catch him while he’s coming down off of one of those big shoves.
Aonishiki blocked this slap down attempt by moving forwards into Hoshoryu’s body, taking up the dead space that Hoshoryu wanted to push him down into. Once that happened, Aonishiki had Hoshoryu on the ropes and leaning back with no way back into the fight.
Before Hoshoryu and Aonishiki went at it, they got to see Onosato take a big loss to Kotozakura.
One of the reasons I’ve been so sick about Kotozakura being injured all year is that he is such a tough opponent for both Onosato and Hoshoryu. If he’d been healthy this year we might have seen a very different list of yusho winners through the first five tournaments.
He’s hard for those guys to beat because he is such an immovable object. He’s probably the only man in the sport who can stand up to Onosato’s size and power off the tachiai. Kotozakura rose and met Onosato last night and this resulted in them both bouncing off each other. Kotozakura approached this tachiai with his hands up, knowing he needed that to brace against Onosato. Often he’ll go with his hands down and let his opponents hit him square in the chest (since he’s confident they won’t move him back).
After that Kotozakura circled to his left and put his left hand on the outside position. This gave Onosato his favoured right arm inside position. Kotozakura, the best yotsu guy in the sport right now, was confident that he could handle Onosato in spite of playing into his preferred position.
In the clinch Kotozakura showed how much better he is than Onosato in this kind of fight. He used his right hand to block Onosato’s attempt to grab the outside of his belt. When Onosato failed that he went for a makki-kae (switch from outside to inside). That’s a risky move because it means you have to release your hold on half of your opponent. No one should be trying that on someone as good as Kotozakura.
As soon as Onosato released the pressure on Kotozakura’s right side, Kotozakura sped up and forced Onosato into a wide backwards step that landed out of bounds.
Onosato, for all his excellence, is still quite raw when it comes to slower and longer yotsu battles. And I think that’s because he has so little experience with them. With his size and athleticism, he’s been sweeping opponents out in two seconds ever since he was in high school. He’s just not had the reps (in competition and practise) where someone has been able to hold him still for long enough to force him to think through what he’s doing and find ways to win.
With his win Kotozakura secured his kachi-koshi and short-term future as an ozeki.
They had nothing but pride to play for at this point, but Yoshinofuji and Ichiyamamoto had a good bout as they both tried to secure their tenth win. Ichiyamamoto was able to keep up with Yoshinofuji’s mobility and then lull him into a very nice slap down.
The only other guys who had ten wins in their sights last night were Kirishma and Tokihayate. Kirishima took the win, using his strength advantage to force Tokihayate back and his old judo training to float his leg over Tokihayate’s late throw attempt.
It took us a while to get there, but we finally got our All Chaos Match-up last night. Tobizaru vs. Ura is always must-see TV. And the Flying Monkey and Pink Magic delivered entertainment last night with a close and gritty battle. Ura was eventually able to close the distance on a tired Tobizaru and send him off to his second home (the seats).
In juryo Fujiryoga was pegged back in his attempt to win a debut juryo yusho. Asanoyama showed a lot of strength and technique in taking out the youngster with a yorikiri.
Fujiryoga now has to beat Hatsuyama to win the cup tonight. If he loses he’ll go into a play-off with Hatsuyama. Asanoyama will be in that play-off, too, if he beats Kitanowaka.
Tonight we have our yoko showdown. This will be only our third time seeing Onosato and Hoshoryu face-off as yokozuna. In September Hoshoryu won on the last day, thrusting Onosato out quickly. Then, in their play-off, Onosato got the win with the push out (in much the same way he beat Aonishiki on Day 13).
Before those two collide, we’ll have Aonishiki vs. Kotozakura. If Kotozakura wins, Aonishiki will be eliminated and Onosato vs. Hoshoryu will be for the cup. If Aonishiki wins, he’ll go into a play-off against the winner of Onosato vs. Hoshoryu.
Aonishiki has a 2-1 record against Kotozakura. He’s never fought a fully fit Kotozakura, though. And Kotozakura might be closer to that now than any time this year.
We have two Darwin matches tonight: Mitakeumi vs. Atamifuji and Churanoumi vs. Ryuden. Takayasu, Kotoshoho and Asakoryu all have 7-7 records, too. They face Yoshinofuji, Chiyoshoma and Kotoeiho respectively.
See ya tomorrow.
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