2025 Nagoya Basho: Day 5 results and analysis
There be spoilers.
Day 5 at the Nagoya basho is now in the books. And things are starting to open up folks. Day 4 saw both yokozuna stumble and now, after Day 5, we have a pretty interesting pack of leaders. There’s still a lot of time for someone to go on a run, but there’s quite a few folks at 5-0 and 4-1 who are surprises. Maybe we’ll get our first maegashira winner since Takerufuji last March?
The best matches on this day include Ura vs. Takanosho, Fujinokawa vs. Midorifuji, Kirishima vs. Aonishiki and Ichiyamamoto vs. Roga.
Scroll down to see who won and who are in that interesting pack of frontrunners. I’ve also got lots of bout videos and my analysis on what went down.
Bonus gif to day is the Golden Mountain, looking tough.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Shishi (3-2) def. Hidenoumi (0-5) by fusen (default)
Mitakeumi (5-0) def. Kotoshoho (3-2) by oshidashi (frontal push out)*
Kotoeiho (3-2) def. Shodai (3-2) by yorikiri (frontal force out)
Churanoumi (3-2) def. Kayo (0-5) by yorikiri
Kusano (4-1) def. Asakoryu (2-3) by yorikiri*
Fujinokawa def. Midorifuji (2-3) vy tsuirdashi (frontal lift out)*
Tokihayate (2-3) def. Chiyoshoma (0-5) by uwatedashinage (pulling over arm throw)
Ura (4-1) def. Takanosho (2-3) by hatakikomi (slap down)*
Ichiyamamoto (5-0) def. Roga (2-3) by yorikiri*
Atamifuji (3-2) def. Sadanoumi (1-4) by yorikiri
Hiradoumi (2-3) def. Tobizaru (2-3) by yorikiri
Takerufuji (3-2) def. Tamawashi (4-1) by oshidashi
Gonoyama (4-1) def. Hakuoho (2-3) by oshidashi*
Meisei (2-3) def. Kinbozan (1-4) bysotogake (outside leg trip)*
Oshoma (1-4) def. Wakamotoharu (1-4) by hatakikomi
Takayasu (4-1) def. Wakatakakage (2-3) by oshitoashi (frontal push down)*
Aonishiki (4-1) def. Kirishima (4-1) by uchimuso (inner thigh proppring twist down)*
Onosato (4-1) def. Abi (3-2) by oshidashi*
Oho (2-3) def. Hoshoryu (1-4) by fusen
*Must see bouts!
Leaderboard
M8w Ichiyamamoto, M16w Mitakeumi: 5-0
Y1w Onosato, S1w Kirishima, K1w Takayasu, M1w Aonishiki, M4w Tamawashi, M6w Gonoyama, M9e Ura, M14e Kusano: 4-1
Analysis
Hoshoryu is out!
The 74th yokozuna has pulled out of the Nagoya tournament citing a toe injury. This injury had been talked about before the tournament. However, with yokozuna you always have to take their injury news with a grain of salt. Anyways, why he pulled out isn’t really important.
What is important is that his leaving, and Onosato’s loss on Day 4, means this tournament is more open than certainly I was expecting.
Onosato moved to 4-1 on Day 5, after avoiding the human banana peel that is Abi. Abi landed a nice nodowa (throat thrust) off the tachiai and then went for the hikiotoshi (hand pull down). However, Onosato quickly closed the gap between them, denying Abi the space he needed to finish that move. Onosato was then in close range and able to push Abi out with a nodowa of his own.
Onosato is still the favourite to win this tournament. But there’s a big field of 5-0 and 4-1 wrestlers. So the pressure is on him to not slip up for the rest of the tournament, otherwise we might get a yusho winner not named Onosato or Hoshoryu for the first time this year.
Kirishima and Aonishiki are both on 4-1, after Aonishiki prevented Kirishima from going 5-0. Kirishima tested Aonishiki early in this bout, landing very hard tsuparri (palm strikes) to his face. Aonishiki withstood that pressure and worked his way into an inside position with his left arm. From there Aonishiki landed his uchimuso, which has become one of the trademarks of his young, and very impressive, career.
The best wrestlers will start avoiding this move in the future, though. Kirishima gave Aonishiki the uchimuso in this bout by switching stances and presenting his knee for Aonishiki to slap.
In this position (below) Aonishiki cannot tap the inside of Kirishima’s right knee with his free right hand.
It was only when Kirishima stepped that right foot forwards (below) that the uchimuso became possible.
From there Aonishiki chopped Kirishima’s knee while wrenching down for the win.
In future bouts we should see Aonishiki’s opponents recognize where his free hand is and make sure they are keeping their leg out of range of it.
Right now, though, Aonishiki’s surprise arsenal is giving him a real shot of making a yusho run this tournament. His athleticism and creativity makes me believe that, even if the division learns to avoid the uchimuso, he’ll think of something else to terrorize them with.
Wakatakakage dropped another bout on Day 5, allowing Takayasu to move up to 4-1. Takayasu used a lot of great defense to keep Wakatakakage on the outside and off his belt before sweeping him aside and pushing him out.
Buying merch is another way you can support what I do at Sumo Stomp! To celebrate the Nagoya tournament, and the promotion of Onosato, my partner (ex-Bloody Elbow colleague Anton Tabuena) and I have made a special Onosato ‘flames’ shirt. This organic cotton t-shirt includes the words “Onosato” and “Yokozuna 75”.
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Our two surprise leaders of the basho are Mitakeumi and Ichiyamamoto. Mitakeumi, who has just returned from a one basho stint in juryo, moved to 5-0 after a very spirited display opposite Kotoshoho. The former ozeki is moving and working harder than we’ve seen in quite some time.
Ichiyamamoto used yotsu-zumo (belt grabbing sumo) to defeat Roga to go 5-0. That’s a surprising outcome, given that Ichiyamamoto is an oshi-zumo (pushing/thrusting) guy and that the bout played out in migi-yotsu (right arm inside, left arm outside), which is Roga’s preferred grip. Ichiyamamoto did a good job on circling away from Roga’s outside arm in this bout, to avoid Roga’s very good pulling over arm throw. In this marathon match Ichiyamamoto won the race for a second wind and was then able to score a rare yorikiri win for him.
Tamawashi is another surprise leader. He’s at 4-1 after taking a loss in a thrusting battle with Takerufuji.
Gonoyama is 4-1, too. He’s looked very good this month. On Day 5 he bowled Hakuoho off the dohyo, picking up a split by hitting over the salt basket.
Kusano is also 4-1, though that’s not a surprise. The rookie is too good for the basement of maegashira. He outmuscled a very game Asakoryu on Day 5.
Ura, who has struggled this year, is also 4-1. He beat Takanosho last night. Takanosho tried clawing at Ura’s face, before Pink Magic slipped and dipped and slapped him off the ring. Ura looked like he was trying to hide a smile after this one.
Kotozakura is 3-2, but he put in a very good performance on Day 5. He showed Onokatsu there are levels to this yotsu game.
Kotozakura denied Onokatsu his favoured left arm inside position off the tachiai, by pinning his own right arm to his side.
Kotozakura then took an inside right arm position.
This forced Onokatsu (who is very dependent on the left arm inside position) to panic and go for a makki-kae (switch from outside to inside position) with his left arm. This is the move Kotozakura used brilliantly to beat Wakamotoharu (another left arm inside player) yesterday.
After Onokatsu tried to squeeze his left arm inside, Kotozakura crunched it to prevent Onokatsu’s hand getting to his belt. He also stepped off to his side to give him a great angle to compliment his strong outside grip (an outside grip he was able to seamlessly transition to thanks to Onokatsu’s botched makki-kae).
Kotozakura used this to rotate Onokatsu into position for him to slap the hidari-yotsu (left arm inside, right arm outside grip) on him.
From here Kotozakura powered Onokatsu out, using Onokatsu’s favourite grip. If you’re reading David, I think you’re boy is getting back to his best.
Fujinokawa, who is being overshadowed by Kusano’s promotion, got a fun win on Day 5. He lifted out poor Midorifuji, showing there is no honour among little guys in sumo.
Tomorrow’s top bout is Onosato vs. Onokatsu. This is a first time meeting between the pair.
We’ve also got Kotozakura vs. Abi, Kinbozan vs. Kirishima and Aonishiki vs. Takayasu (another first time meeting).
Aonishiki vs. Takayasu will be interesting. Both have very heavy hands and excellent defense. Can’t wait for that one!
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Great stuff all day. Takayasu (who is like the uncrowned Yokozuna, in ability if not consistency) vs. Aonishiki has loads of promise. Gonoyama, one of the best “basic sumo” guys out there, really has Hakuoho’s number.
Is Midorifuji vs Fukinokawa the lowest total weight in a sumo match? Each guy is under 120kg, i.e. they could make MMA heavyweight limit.