2026 Hatsu Basho: Day 6 results and analysis
Recapping all the top division action from Grand Sumo's 2025 January Tournament (spoilers).
We are now six days deep into the 2026 hatsu basho and many compelling storylines are playing out before us. This first week has had a lot of drama and things are sizing up nicely for the second week, where we could have half a dozenyusho threats collide to determine who is ultimately worthy of the first silverware of the year.
Scroll on down to see who won and lost last night and read my takeaways about how it all happened.
Also, thanks for all the comments so far. I love hearing from you, chatting it up and answering any questions. Don’t be shy!
Bonus gif today is Mr. Muscle and an admirer.
SPOILERS BELOW
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Results
Shishi (5-1) def. Hatsuyama (0-6) by oshidashi (frontal push out)*
Oshoumi (5-1) def. Mitakeumi (3-3) by yorikiri (frontal force out)
Asahakuryu (4-2) def. Tobizaru (1-5) by yorikiri
Tomokaze (3-3) def. Asanoyama (4-2) by tsukiotoshi (thrust down)
Abi (6-0) def. Asakoryu (2-4) by tsukidashi (frontal thrust out)*
Ryuden (2-4) def. Nishikifuji (3-3) by yorikiri
Kotoshoho (4-2) def. Midorifuji (2-4) by yoritaoshi (frontal crush out) after mono-ii (judges’ review) overturns gyoji (referee) decision
Roga (3-3) def. Chiyoshoma (2-4) by yorikiri
Kinbozan (2-4) def.Tokihayate (3-3) by tsuridashi (frontal lift out)
Fujinokawa (5-1) def. Gonoyama (1-5) by oshitaoshi (frontal push down)*
Onokatsu (3-3) def. Shodai (3-3) by oshidashi
Churanoumi (3-3) def. Oshoma (5-1) by oshidashi after mono-ii upholds gyoji decision*
Atamifuji (4-2) def. Hiradoumi (3-3) by yorikiri
Hakunofuji (4-2) def. Tamawashi (2-4) by yorikiri
Yoshinofuji (4-2) def. Ura (0-6) by oshitaoshi*
Wakamotoharu (1-5) def. Oho (2-4) by utchari (backwards pivot throw)*
Kirishima (5-1) def. Ichiyamamoto (1-5) by oshidashi after mono-ii overturns gyoji decision
Kotozakura (4-2) def. Daieisho (1-5) by tsukidashi
Aonishiki (5-1) def. Takayasu (4-2) by yorikiri*
Hoshoryu (5-1) def. Takanosho (0-6) by hatakikomi (slap down)*
Onosato (5-1) def. Wakatakakage by hatakikomi*
*Must see bouts!
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Leaderboard
M12w Abi: 6-0
Y1e Hoshoryu, Y1w Onosato, O1w Aonishiki, S1e Kirishima, M7e Oshoma, M7w Fujinokawa, M16w Oshoumi: 5-1
Analysis
Onosato got another win last night. But, to me, he’s still not looking quite right. Last night he went into Wakatakakage slow and soft, which has been a feature of his tachiai this month. His sometimes slow reaction time off the mark is one of very few negatives about Onosato’s awesome game. But this month he’s looked especially hesitant there, probably because he’s trying to protect that shoulder.
In this bout, his slow start saw Wakatakakage manage to hit him in the chest. However, Onosato may have been gentle during this start, but he was also smart. He leaned back to brace for Wakatakakage’s charge and swam his right arm under into the inside position, which is his favourite position. Wakatakakage responded really well, though. He used ottsuke (forearm blocking) to push Onosato’s hand out from that position. Onosato responded exceedingly well to that, though. He didn’t waste time fighting to get the right arm back inside. Instead he drew it back and put it on Wakatakakage’s shoulder to trigger the slap down for the win.
A win like this shouldn’t put too much strain on Onosato’s body. The fact he went for this hatakikomi at the right time and fully committed to it is a good sign for him. In his very few bad tournaments, Onosato has seen his chance of taking a yusho dwindle after faffing around with his hatakikomi; going for it too late or not putting enough power into it.
Bouts like this make me think that Onosato is not lacking for focus or effort in this basho (like in those very few poor past showings). He might even be more locked in, mentally, than usual, since he needs to be careful due to his nagging injury. It will be interesting to see if that mental sharpness is able to balance out the physical disadvantage he seems to be operating under.
Hoshoryu scored a decisive win last night to match Onosato with a 5-1 record. He too won with a slap down. Hoshoryu was likely surprised to see Takanosho not lead with the nodowa (throat thrust) in this bout. I certainly was. I would expect Takanosho, who is 0-6 after this, to use his best move as much as he can to try and get that first win. Not having Hoshoryu at arm’s length meant that Takanosho was forced to fight at close quarters, which is something that will always favour the 74th yokozuna.
This is another bout that Hoshoryu made look easy. It’s feels to me that he could cruise through the rest of his maegashira match-ups over the coming days.
Aonishiki won again last night. And, again, he had to do it the hard way. Takayasu has looked ferocious this month. He started things off with a solid elbow right into Aonishiki’s left ear. I would be surprised if the Ukrainian wasn’t seeing some stars after that. Despite getting clocked, Aonishiki was able to fight through Takayasu’s heavy hands and get to his belt. Takayasu desperately tried to hoist his arms upwards to work some kind of throw, but you could see on his face just how hard it was to break out of Aonishiki’s vice grip. Aonishiki was also able to cement his head to Takayasu’s chest, making it impossible for the veteran to move off to the side or lean forwards to prevent getting forced out.
That’s another great technical win for Danny Sumo.
If he wins this tournament it’s very likely he’ll be promoted to yokozuna. He doesn’t seem to be showing any nerves about that whatsoever, though. And that’s despite it being pretty clear that everyone in the division is starting to bring their A-game whenever they see the 21 year-old.
Kirishima is lurking around the top of the leader board. His used great defense to bat at Ichiyamamoto’s elbows, which in turn took a lot of accuracy and venom out of Ichiyamamoto’s pushes and thrusts. Eventually he was able to catch one of Ichiyamamoto’s arms and trap it with an over arm lock. That allowed him to bull rush forwards and take his opponent out. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but it worked.
Abi’s looking very pretty this month. His thrusts seemed laser-guided in his bout with Asakoryu. He only needed three thrusts to get the smaller man over the line. He now leads the entire tournament with a 6-0 record. That’s because he’s under ranked this month, thanks to his arms not being one hundred percent in the last tournament. He looks pretty healthy now, though, and able to show he’s a cut above the bottom half of the maegashira ranks.
With how tricky he can be with the top guys, a healthy Abi, with some momentum, might be more than a one week wonder this month.
Fujinokawa is not here to play games. He’s here to fight. And last night he showed us why he’s the current captain of my All Violence Team. Gonoyama, a long time AVT member, cracked the Lil’ Pitbull off the tachiai and landed some massive slaps on him. But Fujinokawa would not be deterred. He ate all that offense and kept coming forwards. Once he had Gonoyama on the straw he lowered his head and dumped him to the concrete.
Fujinokawa is now 5-1. There’s a long way for him to go, but can you imagine seeing him bring this kind of style to bouts with the two yokozuna (whom he’s never faced)?
There’s no official video of it, but Wakamotoharu beat Oho with the utchari last night. He came up bloody from that one, after both men hit the floor. I’m sounding like a broken record now, but I hate this move.
Oshoma lost and Oshoumi won last night to both go 5-1 and stay in that pack of rikishi currently chasing Ol’ Machine Gun Arms. Oshoma tried, and failed, to slap down Churanoumi on his way off the ring. Oshoumi out muscled Mitakeumi. I doubt these two will keep this run going much longer.
Tonight Hoshoryu takes on Hakunofuji. He’s 3-1 against him. Hakunofuji won their last bout, on the opening day of the November tournament.
Onosato has Daieisho, whom he has a very good 7-1 record against. If Onosato is soft in the tachiai for this one, his shoulder might take quite the pounding from the big pusher/thruster. If his shoulder is really bothering him, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the yokozuna either try and get a quick jump in the tachiai or perhaps even go with the henka tonight.
Kotozakura (who showed good mobility when beating Daieisho last night) and Wakatakakage are set to duel. They are 8-8 head-to-head.
Aonishiki has Wakamotoharu. He’s 2-1 against him.
Kirishima meets Yoshinofuji for the second time in his career. Yoshinofuji won their first bout, in November.
Abi’s perfect start will be tested by Asanoyama. He’s 4-9 against the former ozeki. Their last bout was in March, 2024 when Asanoyama was M1 and Abi was a komusubi.
Juryo jolt!
That’s right, more juryo. Kayo is currently joint leading the second division. The no longer golden peep floated away from Dewanoryu last night. He’s looking like a good bet for a makuuchi promotion this month.
He’s tied at the top by Fujiseun. Fujiseun could have gone 6-0 last night, but he was slapped down by Shonannoumi. Shonannoumi limped away from that win.
Meisei is 4-2. He beat Kotokuzan last night. He was strong enough to bounce Kotokuzan back and then used his speed advantage to circle out of trouble and find an angle for the rear push out.
Fujiryoga is 4-2 after surviving a brutal match with Kagayaki. These two clashed heads on the tachiai, with Fujiryoga seeming to take the brunt of the damage. After brawling it out for a few seconds, Fujiryoga dived to put Kagayaki over the straw. The initial call was that Kagayaki scored the hatakikomi win, but that would be reversed.
Takerufuji lost to Asasuiryu last night. He’s 3-3 now and, at this point, it doesn’t feel like he’ll be escaping juryo in time for March (and the two year anniversary of his improbably yusho). I think he was too worried about a possible henka from Asasuiryu in this bout. That meant he let the small man come to him. Once he did, though, Asasuiryu had enough muscle to push the former champ off the dohyo.
Makushita Minute!
Here are last night’s top five makushita matches.
The first clip shows Otsuji pushing out Daiyusho to go 2-1. Then we see Hanaoka slam down Kazuto with a sukuinage (beltless armthrow), to also go 2-1. Hanoaka has a great collage record and was able to enter Grand Sumo at makushita. This is his fifth tournament there. He’s a Kyushu guy training at Sakaigawa (alongside fellow southerners Hiradoumi and Sadanoumi).
The next clip shows us that Miyanokaze is out, gifting Shimanoumi the fusensho and a 2-1 record. Next up we see Arashifuji pushing out Shimazuumi to go 3-0 (and prevent the former makuuchi wrestler doing the same).
Lastly Yoshii is seen getting the win over Takakento (and his very badly damaged left knee).
It’s not on the video, which is criminal, but Enho also won last night. He got a shitatedashinage (pulling underarm throw) on Fujisodai. That means he is 3-0, tied with his teammates Arashifuji and Toshinofuji (who has the 3-0 Mineyaiba tomorrow). Arashifuji will try and stay perfect when he takes on the experienced Tochimaru (who is on 3-0, too).
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