2025 Natsu Basho: Day 14 results and analysis
Spoilers. Inside. You've been warned.
Coming too you late this Saturday. This morning we took Sumo Stomp Jr. to a Fred Penner concert at Toronto’s Young People’s Theatre. I was lovely. And I have to write this somewhat quickly since Mrs. Sumo Stomp and I are heading out to watch Sinners later this afternoon. We’re such scaredy cats when it comes to horror, but it seems like a shame to let that stop us from seeing what is supposedly a great movie.
Enough of that, though… let’s get onto some sumo.
Our penultimate day of the summer tournament has come and gone. The championship was decided yesterday with Onosato going 13-0. Onosato is now hoping to secure his first ever zensho-yusho (undefeated championship). Last night Daieisho tried to stop him doing that.
On Day 14 a number of guys seemed to be just going through the motions. We see this a lot, especially when two wrestlers who have already secured winning or losing records. Despite the general malaise, some wrestlers still showed up and put in some good effort.
The aforementioned Onosato vs. Daieisho was a good bout, as was Kirishima vs. Hakuoho, Abi vs. Tobizaru, Tamawashi vs. Ura, Asakoryu vs. Atamifuji and Sadanoumi vs. Kotoshoho.
Scroll down to check out who won and lost on Day 14. You’ll also see some cool videos and my analysis.
Bonus gif today is Gonoyama attempting to wake himself up before a match.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Roga (8-6) def. Nishikigi (6-8) by yorikiri (frontal force out)
Sadanoumi (10-4) def. Kotoshoho (6-3-5) by uwatenage (over arm throw)*
Tokihayate (7-7) def. Endo (8-6) by yorikiri
Shishi (4-10) def. Tamashoho (4-10) by hatakikomi (slap down)
Meisei (9-5) def. Kayo (7-7) by uwatenage
Shodai (5-9) def. Tochitaikai (3-11) by tsukiotoshi (thrust down)
Aonishiki (10-4) def. Atamifuji (5-9) by yorikiri*
Midorifuji (5-9) def. Ryuden (5-9) by tsukiotoshi*
Asakoryu (10-4) def. Onokatsu (9-5) by shitatenage (under arm throw)*
Kinbozan (9-5) def. Takanosho (8-6) by oshidashi
Shonannoumi (5-9) def. Churanoumi (3-11) by hatakikomi
Ura (4-10) def. Tamawashi (5-9) by yorikiri*
Tobizaru (7-7) def. Abi (7-7) by oshidashi (frontal push out)*
Ichiyamamoto (5-9) def. Gonoyama (4-10) by hikiotoshi (hand pull down)*
Oshoma (9-5) def. Wakamotoharu (6-8) by oshidashi
Oho (6-8) def. Takerufuji (5-9) by sukuinage (beltless arm throw)*
Takayasu (5-9) def. Chiyoshoma (4-10) by fumidashi (rear step out)
Wakatakakage (11-3) def. Hiradoumi (6-8) by oshidashi
Kirishima (11-3) def. Hakuoho (8-6) by tsukiotoshi*
Onosato (14-0) def. Daieisho (9-5) by oshidashi*
Hoshoryu (11-3) def. Kotozakura (8-6) by yorikiri*
*Must see bouts!
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Leaderboard
O1e Onosato: 14-0 yusho
Y1e Hoshoryu, S1w Kirishima, K1w Wakatakakage: 11-3
Analysis
Onosato beat Daieisho last night to keep his dreams of a perfect 15-0 record alive. He didn’t look totally convincing in this win over the Battle Pug, though.
This reminded me of a letdown game, where your favourite teams blows someone out on the road and then comes home and can’t score to save their lives. I think Onosato took his foot off the gas for this bout, having secured the yusho and his yokozuna promotion 24 hours earlier (might have been a few sake bottles drunk at the Nishonoseki stable that night).
He still got the win, though, despite looking a little shaky.
In this bout Onosato flapped and missed at a pair of slap downs. This reminded me a lot of his earlier tournaments, where he would resort to this half-hearted slap down attempt whenever put on his heels. In this tournament his slap down had looked far better. He landed some big ones on Hakuoho and Takerufuji on route to his historic yusho this month. In those instances he triggered the move, and committed to it fully, early and was able to execute. In this bout, he was back to using it as an afterthought and not putting enough effort or power into it to succeed.
After missing on the second slap down, Onosato resorted to a last resort dive to get Daieisho over the line. Finishing outstretched on his tummy like that is a far cry from the finishes we’ve seen earlier in the tournament, where he got to stand and pose after effortlessly forcing someone out.
I know it’s strange to criticize Onosato for going 14-0, but after you show yourself to be the best around the standards by which you’re judged need to be raised.
Regardless, Onosato is still perfect and tomorrow he’ll get a chance to go 15-0. He’ll have to beat Hoshoryu to do that, though. That’s been the hardest thing for him to do since taking over sumo. He’s only beaten Hoshoryu once in six attempts.
Hoshoryu got to 11-3 on Day 14, securing the ‘yokozuna kachi-koshi’ (a winning record of 11-4). He beat Kotozakura. Just like in his bout with Onosato, I think Kotozakura was babying himself a little in this match.
He fought well against Hoshoryu and showed us some nice technical grappling inside the clinch. However, when Hoshoryu got him close enough to the edge, Kotozakura didn’t do much to prevent himself being forced over. Since he got his eighth win a few days ago I think his mind has been firmly on making sure his body is ready for July.
Kirishima isn’t slowing down. He got his eleventh win on Day 14 to give him a great shot at getting back to the ozeki ranks. This is Kirishima’s first tournament back at sekiwake. Right now he’s a third of the way to getting the 33 wins (across three basho) that he needs for the promotion.
Win number elevan came over Hakuoho.
Kirishima outworked Hakuoho on the mawashi in this bout, hampering Hakuoho’s attempts to get a comfortable hidari-yotsu (left arm inside, right arm outside grip) before locking up his own hidari-yotsu (with two hands on the belt). He then expertly swept Hakuoho aside when the youngster got a full head of steam on his force out attempt.
Tamawashi and Ura had one of the most fun bouts of the day. We had some nice momentum swings in this one and a moment where both men separated and stared each other down (just like what happened between Ura and Wakamotoharu last basho). Ura hit first, and hardest, after that to pick up just his fourth win of the tournament.
Day 15 is headlined by Onosato vs. Hoshoryu, with perfection on the line.
Daieisho will try and get his tenth win when he faces Kotozakura. Kirishima has Takayasu.
We don’t have any Darwin matches, despite having plenty of wrestlers being on 7-7 records. Those 7-7 guys are Tobizaru (who fights Wakatakakage), Abi (who faces Oshoma), Tokihayate (who takes on Hakuoho), Atamifuji (who meets Nishikigi) and Kayo (who has Kinbozan).
I think I speak for us all when I say WAR KAYO!
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Also, Ura’s head looked like a pez dispenser opening and closing!
Midorifuji with 5 straight to save face a bit!