2026 Hatsu Basho: Day 4 results and analysis
Recapping all the top division action from Grand Sumo's 2025 January Tournament (spoilers).
Last night was incredible! We were treated to lots of great matches at the 2026 hatsu basho with a ton of drama in the big match-ups. We also saw some great finishers, including a sakatottari, an abisetaoshi and an utatehineri. Scroll down to see which wrestlers were responsible for those nifty moves.
Down there you’ll also find all the results from the top division, plenty of videos and my analysis. Enjoy!
Bonus gif today is the top man on the banzuke.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Oshoumi (3-1) def. Ryuden (1-3) by utchari (backwards pivot throw)*
Asakoryu (2-2) def. Hatsuyama (0-4) by oshidashi (frontal push out)
Asanoyama (3-1) def. Shishi (3-1) by sukuinage (beltless arm throw)
Mitakeumi (2-2) def. Asahakuryu (3-1) by yorikiri (frontal force out)
Midorifuji (3-1) def. Tobizaru (1-3) by sukuinage*
Abi (4-0) def. Tomokaze (1-3) by hatakikomi (slap down)*
Tokihayate (2-2) def. Chiyoshoma (2-2) by uwatedashinage (pulling over arm throw) after mono-ii (judges review) upholds gyoji (referee) decision*
Kotoshoho (2-2) def. Nishikifuji (2-2) by hatakikomi
Shodai (3-1) def. Gonoyama (1-3) by tsukiotoshi (thrust down)
Roga (2-2) def. Kinbozan (2-2) by tsukiotoshi
Oshoma (4-0) def. Hiradoumi (2-2) by oshidashi
Fujinokawa (3-1) def. Onokatsu (1-3) by yorikiri*
Tamawashi (2-2) def. Daieisho (1-3) by tsukiotoshi
Atamifuji (2-2) def. Churanoumi (2-2) by yorikiri*
Wakatakakage (3-1) def. Takanosho (0-4) by oshidashi*
Kirishima (4-0) def. Wakamotoharu (0-4) by yorikiri*
Takayasu (3-1) def. Hakunofuji (2-2) by sakatottari (arm bar throw counter)*
Ichiyamamoto (1-3) def. Kotozakura (3-1) by yorikiri*
Oho (1-3) def. Aonishiki (1-3) by abisetaoshi (backwards force down)*
Hoshoryu (3-1) def. Ura (0-4) by utatehineri (twisting over arm throw)*
Yoshinofuji (2-2) def. Onosato (3-1) by uwatenage (over arm throw)*
*Must see bouts!
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Leaderboard
Too early!
Analysis
Our top four are all tied up!
Onosato, Aonishiki and Kotozakura all lost last night, while Hoshoryu won. That means they are all now sitting on 3-1.
Onosato’s loss was especially thunderous. He went down to Yoshinofuji, who continues to show that he really turns up when he has a big name opponent. He took his second kinboshi off Onosato after using his powerful tachiai to get right into Onosato’s body before clasping his left hand on the outside of the belt. He used that position to turn and trigger a strong uwatenage that sent Onosato flailing in a way we’re not used to seeing. Yoshinofuji’s win reminds me of what Terunofuji did the first time he met Onosato. Terunofuji, now Isegahama, is Yoshinofuji’s stable master.
If Onosato’s shoulder is troubling him, getting dumped on his side like that isn’t going help. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sits out after that.
With this win Yoshinofuji has now done the double over the yokozuna in this tournament. He’s now 2-2, having lost to both ozeki in the first two days. However, getting wins over Onosato and Hoshoryu now gives him a great opportunity to get into a title run this month (so long as he doesn’t slip up against the lower ranked opponents he has coming his way).
Hoshoryu scored a quick win on Ura to rebound from his own loss to Yoshinofuji. This wasn’t a henka, though it was pretty close. Hoshoryu knew that Ura would dive in low. We all did. And he chose to reach over his back for the belt and then dump him over. It was simple, it was effective. It robbed us of a fun Ura bout, but the yokozuna needed this win to get his tournament back on track.
This bout also didn’t add any strain on Hoshoryu’s bandaged knee. I’m starting believe he could make it through the whole basho.
Aonishiki lost to Oho last night. Oho mostly replicated the success he had in his one previous win over the new ozeki. Just like back then, last night Oho seized on Aonishiki’s inside arm for a kotenage (armlock) attempt. Aonishiki resisted getting thrown, but couldn’t stop the bigger man dragging him around. Oho put Aonishiki on the straw and stayed square to him so he couldn’t be tossed off to one side. That resulted in both going down, with Aonishiki hitting first — rather painfully.
Aonishiki has had good results this week, having lost only this bout. However, all of his contests have been tough, bruising affairs. They are the kind of bouts that make me wonder whether we’ll see him run out of steam in the second week.
Kotozakura lost to Ichiyamamoto, in one of the upsets of the night. Kotozakura got the fight he wanted after Ichiyamamoto quickly decided to go for the belt. I think Kotozakura was too casual after that happened and was probably lacking a little respect for Ichiyamamoto’s improved yotsu-zumo game. He tried to turn Ichiyamamoto along the boundary, but Ichiyamamoto found enough strength to lever the big man out before he went down.
There were lots of other great bouts last night, including this one between Hakunofuji and Takayasu. Just like he did with Daieisho on the previous day, Takayasu was able to win by snatching up a loose arm and then trying to yank it out of its socket.
Kirishima is 4-0. And, out of fear of jinxing my fave, I will say no more about that.
Last night he won a long drawn out battle with Wakamotoharu. Kirishima showed off incredible defense in this bout, using his inside grip to swing Wakamotoharu off balance and using ottsuke (forearm blocking) to deny Wakamotoharu an inside position. Wakamotoharu eventually got inside with his left arm, but Kirishima canceled that out with a very strong outside grip, which he used to get the win.
Wakatakakage has shown signs of life over the last few days. He was very dogged in his pursuit of the hapless Takanosho. He’s now 3-1.
Our two other 4-0 wrestlers are Oshoma and Abi. Oshoma has looked more feisty than we’re used to seeing him. He pushed out Hiradoumi last night. Abi is wrecking shop in the lower ranks now his arms are feeling better. He face-planted Tomokaze for his fourth win.
Also last night, Oshoumi put down Ryuden with a brutal utchari giving me more reason for wanting to see the move banned.
Tonight’s big match-ups are Hoshoryu vs. Wakatakakage, Onosato vs. Takanosho, Kotozakura vs. Hakunofuji, Aonishiki vs. Daieisho and Kirishima vs, Oho.
Juryo jolt!
I lied. Here’s a quick juryo round-up.
Nishinoryu beat Meisei to hand the former sekiwake his first loss this month. These two took a while to get set, but when they did Nishinoryu was able to turn Meisei and hound him out with pushes.
Takerufuji thought he scored another blitzing victory last night, this time over Tochitaikai. However a mono-ii determined that his full out dive put him down before Tochitaikai’s heel went out of bounds. Takerufuji is now 2-2.
Sadanoumi is 4-0 after he swung Kagayaki around by the arm and tossed out the fellow vet. Fujiryoga looked the best we’ve seen him in this tournament, harrying and pushing out Kotoeiho to tie his record at 2-2.
Kazuma got his first juryo win, after he plowed through Tsurugisho and put him into the seats.
Makushita Minute!
Here’s the top five makushita bouts of the night. The first clip shows Kazuto pushing over Toseiryu. Next up Arashifuji blasts Miyanokaze off the ring and into poor Ryusho. Ryusho, who was runner-up to Kazuma in November, is then shown getting his first win of the tournament after landing a kotenage on Kurohimeyama. Next up Okaryu, a stable mate of Hoshoryu, crushes out Isegahama’s Mienofuji. Lastly we see a battle of the veterans with Shimazuumi forcing out the very similarly named Shimanoumi.
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