2026 Hatsu Basho: Day 10 results and analysis

Recapping all the top division action from Grand Sumo's 2026 January Tournament (spoilers).

We are at the double digit point of the basho and the first few kachi-koshi and make-koshi are trickling through. We’re somewhat late in the game, but it’s still hard to pick a winner here. We’ve still got a crowded pack of challengers, though that got a little thinned out last night.

Scroll down to see what happened, check out some videos and read my analysis.

Today’s bonus gif is Takanosho, getting squeaky clean.

I wonder if any thought goes into picking a towel colour…

SPOILERS BELOW

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Results

• Tobizaru (3-7) def. Ryuden (4-6) by yorikiri*

• Tomokaze (4-6) def. Mitakeumi (4-6) by hatakikomi (slap down) after mono-ii (judges’ review) upholds gyoji (referee) decision

• Midorifuji (5-5) def. Hatsuyama (1-9) by kimedashi (arm barring force out)*

• Abi (8-2) def. Oshoumi (7-3) by tsukiotoshi (thrust down)*

• Chiyoshoma (4-6) def. Asahakuryu (5-5) by okuridashi (rear push down)

• Asakoryu (5-5) def. Nishikifuji (6-4) by oshidashi (frontal push out)*

• Asanoyama (7-3) def. Kinbozan (3-7) by yorikiri

• Oshoma (6-4) def. Kotoshoho (6-4) by hatakikomi

• Shishi (8-2) def. Fujinokawa (7-3) by oshitaoshi (frontal push down)*

• Hiradoumi (7-3) def. Tokihayate (5-5) by yorikiri

• Onokatsu (4-6) def. Roga (3-7) by yorikiri

• Tamawashi (4-6) def. Shodai (4-6) by oshidashi

• Gonoyama (4-6) def. Churanoumi (6-4) by oshidashi

• Daieisho (4-6) def. Ura (1-9) by hatakikomi after mono-ii upholds gyoji decision

• Wakatakakage (5-5) def. Hakunofuji (5-5) by yorikiri

• Wakamotoharu (4-6) def. Ichiyamamoto (1-9) by oshidashi

• Takayasu (7-3) def. Yoshinofuji (5-5) by tsukidashi (frontal thrust out)*

• Kotozakura (7-3) def. Kirishima (8-2) by yorikiri*

• Aonishiki (8-2) def. Takanosho (1-9) by oshidashi*

• Hoshoryu (7-3) def. Oho (4-6) by uwatedashinage (pulling over arm throw)*

• Atamifuji (8-2) def. Onosato (6-4) by oshidashi after torinaoshi (rematch)*

*Must see bouts!

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Leaderboard

• O1w Aonishiki, S1e Kirishima, M4w Atamifuji, M12w Abi, M14w Shishi: 8-2

• Y1e Hoshoryu, O1e Kotozakura, S1w Takayasu, M6e Hiradoumi, M7w Fujinokawa, M16e Asanoyama, M16w Oshoumi: 7-3

Analysis

Both yokozuna made the walk to the ring last night. Hoshoryu limped away with the win and Onosato left with a loss, after having to fight twice.

Onosato is now 6-4 after losing to Atamifuji in another bout where he seemed incapable of delivering anything close to his best. Take nothing away from Atamifuji, though, He’s a hard assignment for even a fully healthy Onosato and last night he came at the yokozuna with lots of spirit and aggression.

Atamifuji has looked amazing this tournament and was a nightmare match-up for the banged up yokozuna. This bout would require a torinaoshi to figure out. In their first clash Onosato collected Atamifuji at the tachiai and tried to carefully usher him out. Atamifuji was too strong, though. He circled back to the center of the ring and had Onosato on one foot near the boundary. Onosato dug deep after that and was able to reclaim the momentum. He drove Atamifuji back, but while he did that Atamifuji shaped for a throw. That’s not something Atamifuji does often. In this instance it resulted in both men thudding into the ground at pretty much the same time.

The initial decision was called for Atamifuji and I’m too tired to discuss whether there were shennagins afoot to give Onosato another crack at it.

In the second bout Onosato again tried to initiate a slow and careful yotsu-zumo (belt grappling) battle. Atamifuji stayed busy with his arms, though, and wouldn’t let Onosato get snug. He broke away as Onosato surged forwards and went for a slap down (another move that is out of character for Atamifuji). He missed it, but did enough to force Onosato into a weak position. Atamifuji then played battering ram and, despite missing most of Onosato’s body, was able to get him out just before he slammed into the dirt.

Now at 6-4, Onosato is essentially out of the running for a yusho this month. Surely that should now enable him to pull out from the competition and spare that shoulder any more damage.

The win has Atamifuji sharing the lead with an 8-2 record. If he can keep his nerves in check he might be able to stick around in this lead for some time.

Hoshoryu’s bout with Oho was less dramatic than Onosato’s evening. He was able to get a solid inside grip on Oho off the tachiai and force the pusher/thruster into an uncomfortable grappling bout. Hoshoryu felt that Oho was strong enough to not get forced back or thrown, so he decided to extricate himself from the clinch and let all of Oho’s pressing power send him to the clay.

Hoshoryu winced after this bout. I think that’s a clear sign that his knee is causing him more trouble now than it did at the start of this tournament. He’s still got a shot at the yusho, though, so we might see him fight until the wheels fall off this month.

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Kirishima was prevented from having a sole lead of the tournament last night after a highly technical bout with Kotozakura. I loved this match. It was a fantastic example of two yotsu-zumo masters trying to figure each other out on the fly.

Kirishima drew first blood, if you will, by getting his left arm to the inside position. Kirishima brought his left in very tight to ensure he got his favourite grip and thus deny Kotozakura his favourite grip (the right arm inside position). Kirishima was able able to get a mae-mitsu (front of belt grip) with his left, which is also his prefered modus operandi.

Kotozakura was able to pull Kirishima’s hand away from the front of his belt, though, while attacking with his left inside arm. The left inside position is not Kotozakura’s favourite position, but he’s still great at it. He got onto Kirishima’s belt there and then wrenched up Kirishima’s left arm to give him the advantage (one hand on the belt beats no hand on the belt).

This situation led to a brief stalemate, as Kirishima tried to figure out his best way to get out of this comprimised position. As he stalled, Kotozakura decided to strike first. He released his belt grip and, I think, attempted a katasukashi (under shoulder swing down). Kirishima recognized what he was doing when he felt Kotozakura release pressure on his right side and shifted his feet slightly to make him too sturdy to get pulled down. Kotozakura saw this and quickly bailed on his katasukashi and took the opportunity to separate and go for a slap down, accompanied by a rear outside belt grip with his left hand.

Kirishima reacted very well to that, though. He circled away from Kotozakura’s reaching hand, putting his belt out of reach while also facing up to Kotozakura. Kirishima probably wanted to clinch again, hoping his cardio advantage would come out on top if they needed to grapple in close for another long period. Kotozakura wasn’t interested in a hug, though. He put his massive hand on Kirishima’s throat and started thrusting him back. Kirishima brushed off those hands and then tried to surge forwards with thrusts of his own.

Kotozakura reacted brilliantly to that, though. He went for another slap down, which halted Kirishima advance and allowed Kotozakura to gather him up and, this time, get his preferred right arm on the inside position. Kotozakura then slapped his left hand on the other side of the belt to give him a fully locked on migi-yotsu (right arm inside, left arm outside position). Kotozakura moved very quickly after getting that hold, probably because he felt his gas tank starting to drain. He went chest-to-chest and forced Kirishima out for the big win.

Kotozakura is now 7-3, one win off the leaders’ pace and looking like he could have a big say in where this yusho is going.

Aonishiki won last night to share the lead with Kirishima. Yet again, though, he won in a very competitive and bruising battle. Aonishiki has had to fight tooth and nail every single night in this basho and he’s still managed to win all but twice.

Takanosho, who has a paltry record this tournament, brought his A-game last night (the kind that used to surprise Terunofuji from time-to-time). He hammered Aonishiki with his nodowa (throat thrust) and almost suckered the ozeki into running past him and out of the ring. However, those long arms would be his undoing in the end. Aonishiki, a fantastic freestyle wrestler, was able to catch one of them an perform an arm drag to set up the oshidashi.

Aonishiki is showing incredible effort in this tournament. And he has to! So many of his opponents have seemed to really dig in against him. Despite all that, he’s getting closer and closer to a chance of getting a back-to-back yusho and a possible yokozuna promotion.

Abi moved to 8-2 after beating Oshoumi (who was trying to do the same thing). Abi’s tsuppari (rapid palm striking) looked on point, again, last night. He overwhelmed Oshoumi with offense and showed good defense to get off the straw and push his opponent down in a heap.

I can’t believe this, but Shishi is also in the lead. The other Ukrainian has looked ferocious at this start of the year. He’s reminding me of what we saw from Oho this time last year. Like Oho he seems to have transitioned from a slow and almost gentle pushing/thrusting style into someone who is now moving a lot quicker, with both his hands and his feet, and is trying to take peoples’ heads off with his thrusts.

This new violent style met a very willing dance partner last night, in the small but mighty Fujinokawa. These two scrapped it out with Shishi eventually firing Fujinokawa into the seats, hard.

Asanoyama is still lurking around. That’s despite looking like he might have re-injured his knee on the previous night. Against Kinbozan he was forced to reset twice due to the Kazakhs’ false starts. Each time Asanoyama grimaced as he had to stand up from his squat. Once the bout actually started, though, he was able to dominate the pusher/thruster with his yotsu-zumo.

Takayasu beat Yoshinofuji last night. Takayasu has found what works for him against Yoshinofuji and he’s not straying from it. He’s 3-0 against him now with carbon copy performances. Each time he’s elected to go with the E. Honda technique, something Yoshinofuji is yet to find an answer for.

Despite having only five days to go, this basho is still totally up for grabs. There is an amazing twelve wrestlers on 8-2 and 7-3 records. That includes big names like Hoshoryu and Aonishiki, but also some unexpected guys like Hiradoumi and Oshoumi (and of course Shishi!!!).

Tonight’s program will see this field start to cannibalize itself, with a lot of these contenders being paired off together.

Hoshoryu vs. Takayasu is the main event, if you will. Takayasu has a great 10-5 record against Hoshoryu. Their last bout was especially bad tempered, with Hoshoryu winning and then staring down Takayasu (who is Onosato’s dew sweeper).

Kirishima has Onosato. He’s 0-9 against him, but he might (and should) get a fusensho (default win) from him tonight.

Aonishiki will have Hakunofuji. He’s 4-0 against him. But Hakunofuji has really showed up in the big bouts this month.

Atamifuji and Fujinokawa will meet. Atamifuji won their only past meeting. Hiradoumi and Asanoyama and Shishi and Abi have been paired up, too.

I can’t wait for these.

Juryo jolt!

Sadanoumi now has sole position of the lead in juryo, with an 8-2 record, after he beat Hitoshi and Fujiseun lost to Nishinoryu.

Sadanoumi defended a deep throw from Hitoshi before regaining his balance and shoving out the one-time makuuchi wrestler.

Fujiseun had Nishinoryu on the ropes (or straw, rather). However, Nishonoryu was able to turn him at the last second to win with an uwatenage (over arm throw).

Takerufuji took a loss last night. He couldn’t move the massive Kagayaki off the tachiai and then took a massive slap to the face before getting dragged down. It’s looking near impossible for Takerufuji to get back to makuuchi for March now.

Kayo has really fallen off over the past few days. He’s lost three straight to put his record back at 6-4.

Makushita Minute!

Here’s our top five makushita bouts from last night (as in the last five they have before switching over to the juryo).

The first clip in this video is Shohoryu beating Daiyusho by oshidashi. Neither of them are candidates for promotion this month. Then we see Hanaoka go to 3-2 with a smart uwatenage on Toseiryu. Otsuji is then shown getting Gojinyu with a hikiotoshi (hand pull down). Otsuji is now 4-1 with an outside shot of getting promoted. Okaryu is then shown beating a very game Arashifuji to also go 4-1. He’s got a better shot of being promoted this month. And lastly we see a strapped up Kazuto thrust down Mienofuji to go 2-3.

The leaders in makushita, on 5-0 records, are Enho (!!!), Tochimaru, Fukai and Nobehara.

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