Report Card: 2025 Haru Basho - Part 4

Grading more of the top division rikishi who were involved in the March tournament.

We have the May tournament coming up soon, so I really need to get these report cards finished and sent out to you all.

Final assignments and exams delayed the process this time around, but I have lots of time to get through these this week. Part four (of seven) is below and it includes grades for Ōshōma, Atamifuji, Tamawashi, Shōdai, Takerufuji, Hiradoumi. That’s a fun bunch!

Tamawashi and Takerufuji were especially good in March, but all of these lads have interesting and defined styles of sumō for us to dig into.

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Ōshōma

Rank: Maegashira 8 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: B

This was a good tournament for Ōshōma, who slightly improved upon his 8-7 record in January from the maegashira 9 rank. In March the Mongolian reeled off a nice six day winning streak which included wins over Hiradoumi, Midorifuji and Wakatakakage.

Ōshōma is an unusual case in the top division. He’s the highest ranked wrestler in the sport whose sumō is built around the hatakikomi (slap down). Over 30% of his wins come by that kimarite (finishing technique). That’s miles over the sport-wide average of 8.85%.

In past tournaments, at this level, Ōshōma has looked a little like a one trick pony. However, in this tournament he showed some signs that he is looking to add new levels to his sumō . Most notably, Ōshōma was able to win three bouts by yorikiri (frontal force out). He came into the spring tournament with just 17 of those on his record (spread over 21 senior tournaments).

The yorikiri he landed in March came thanks to him using the mae mitsu (frontal belt grab). Once he had that grip, Ōshōma would use the same kind of lateral footwork he uses to search for slap downs, but would instead be looking to pull his opponent around and find the right angle for the force out. This technique also led to an okuridashi (rear push out) win on Takarafuji, too.

The mae mitsu is Ōshōma’s best route to getting a yorikiri. This grab allows him to keep distance from his opponents. When he’s forced to go chest-to-chest he loses, due to how upright he keeps himself and the strength disparity he has against guys like Takerufuji, Atamifuji and Hakuoho. See below how Takerufuji was able to straighten up Ōshōma and bounce him out with relative ease:

I don’t want to see him improve in those hug-and-chug battles. I’d like to see him continue to avoid them, with the mae mitsu and look to keep spinning guys around and forcing situations where he can knock them down or force them out on an angle.

Atamifuji

Rank: Maegashira 8 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D+

I will continue to preach patience for Atamifuji. He’s only 22 years-old. Despite his young age he was able to stick the landing in makuuchi on the second attempt and he’s been in the top division for ten straight tournaments now. He’s yet to replicate the stunning back-to-back runner-up finishes we saw in 2023. But he’s got a lot of his career ahead of him and I think he’s got potential to be a san’yaku wrestler and even pick up a yūshō (championship) at some point.

Atamifuji is a migi-yotsu (right arm inside, left arm outside) player. Once he gets that grip he likes to use gaburi yori (pushing using his stomach) or ‘hug-and-chug’. That’s a great route to victory for Atamifuji, since he is blessed with an awesome belly.

Watch him use that inside arm position and belly to make short work out of Meisei below:

In March Atamifuji looked more game, than usual, to throw down with thrusts. On Day 1 he was actually able to beat Tamawashi in a striking battle. He also thrusted out Nishikigi and went toe-to-toe with Kinbōzan, albeit in a loss.

At times I’ve criticized Atamifuji for being a little demure in the ring. He seems too nice to try and hurt someone. That’s a lovely quality to have outside of combat sports. But it’s something you have to shelve if you want to be successful in the hurt business.

In this tournament he looked a little meaner, thanks to those thrusts (he even drew blood on Kinbōzan). He also put Shishi in a lot of pain with a kimedashi (arm barring force out). Shades of his mentor Terunofuji, there.

So, though 6-9 isn’t a great result for Atamifuji, I think he was better than the result showed and I think there’s sign that his sumō might be evolving.

Tamawashi

Rank: Maegashira 7 West
Record: 10-5
Grade: A

Someone needs to search Tamawashi’s stable for the fountain of youth. The 40 year-old looked fantastic in March and gave himself an outside shot of competing for the yūshō. Tamwashi earned this 10-5 record doing what he goes best, the nodowa (throat thrust).

Plenty of people do that move, but none have mastered it like Tamwashi. He throws that shot with power, accuracy and intensity. Add his size into the mix and it’s easy to see how he was able to totally overwhelm some opponents. Hakuoho, Takerufuji, Shishi and Hiradoumi all got a lesson in what this old dog does and learned that their youth doesn’t mean a damn thing against him.

Tamawashi was also able to get a big win over Kirishima (to keep himself in with a chance of getting into a play-off). In that match, Tamawashi showed off an extra layer of violence. See below how he used one hand to thrust Kirishima’s throat and the other to grab his love handle.

Ouch!

Tamawashi is a great example of someone who is not afraid to cause pain during a match. Not everyone is comfortable doing that and, as a result, not everyone will rise to the highest levels of this sport. Tamawashi is limited in that his style is very one dimensional, but his truculence has given him the edge he needs to stay in the mid to high maegashira ranks and consistently bully wrestlers who don’t have that ferocious mentality.

This mentality isn’t going to go anywhere with age, so I’m fully expecting Tamawashi to still be around this time next year (at least!).

Shōdai

Rank: Maegashira 7 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D

Shōdai is firmly in the “just does enough to get by” stage of his career. The 33 year-old former ōzeki has now had three make-koshi (losing records) in a row. That’s seen him fall from komusubi to maegashira 10 (for the May tournament). At M10 he’s probably going to wake up a little and give more effort to prevent himself sliding further towards the danger zone.

In the March tournament he showed some flashes of desire. He won long back-and-forth battles with Atamifuji and Kotoshōhō. In those bouts he was pushed back and showed a lot of grit and determination to circle around the outside and work his way back into the fight. Those bouts were almost exclusively fought in the clinch.

When he was forced into a long fight with Tobizaru, at range, he got tired and Tobizaru was able to shove him out.

I think this bout is an example that Shōdai’s mind/mentality is often up for a fight, but his body just can’t keep up at a higher pace. Some of Shōdai’s strength might have also left him in the last year or so. Hakuoho ‘smoked’ him, as per Hiro Morita. Takerufuji and Shirokuma were also able to out muscle him in the clinch.

In this tournament Shōdai lost to every oshi-zumō (pushing/thrusting) practitioner he faced (Kinbōzan, Tamawashi, Ichiyamamoto, Tobizaru). Kinbōzan and Ichiyamamoto were able to get him out very quickly, preying on his very upright stance off the tachiai and drilling him in the chest with both hands.

As I said early, I think we’re going to see one of Shōdai’s better efforts this month. I’m interested to see if that will translate to a kachi-koshi (winning record). I think it might be a tough ask for him, given some of the styles of those ranked around him this coming tournament.

Takerufuji

Rank: Maegashira 6 East
Record: 9-6
Grade: B

Takerufuji got off to a good start in March before fading down the stretch, where he lost his last four bouts. The first two losses in that run were to Ōnosato and Kotozakura.

Takerufuji was one of the tournament leaders until he met that elite opposition. He got himself into the lead due to his awesome tachiai. Few hit harder than he does off the line. His go-to sequence is that hard tachiai leading to an immediate hidari-yotsu (left arm inside, right arm outside grip). He then powers his opponents out, often without the need of an actual belt grab, just with the underhook.

He was able to blow away much of his competition with this sequence alone.

What makes Takerufuji even more dangerous is that he can replicate the power of his yotsu game with his thrusts. If he’s unable to get his inside position, or keep hold of it, he can run down his opponent’s with thrusts and blast them off the dohyō with his hands.

See how Churanoumi denied Takerufuji his favored grip and was punished with hard pushes/thrusts.

Takerufuji’s sheer strength in both the tachiai and his thrusts can’t be overstated. See his match with Ura, below. He was able to send Ura skidding backwards off the tachiai. That was a great achievement, given how strong Ura is at resisting this when he squats down and engages his massive lower body. After Ura put the breaks on, Takerufuji was able to send him off the ring with a massive push from close range.

Unfortunately for Takerufuji, this pushing/thrusting game didn’t work with Ōnosato and Kotozakura. Those are two of the strongest wrestlers in the sport and two of just a handful of wrestlers who can’t be bullied by Takerufuji’s brute force.

Here’s Ōnosato withstanding Takerufuji and then using that brute force against him:

The key to Ōnosato’s success here was meeting Takerufuji’s now famously powerful tachiai with a high block.

Ōnosato received Takerufuji with his arms in close, preventing Takerufuji from getting his left arm on the inside.

Ōnosato used his rising momentum to push Takerufuji upright from there. This sapped a lot of the power out of Takerufuji’s opening drive. It also gave Ōnosato space to look for an inside position of his own.

You can see above how Ōnosato stretched out his fingers to try and get on Takerufuji’s belt. However, with his own inside position blocked, Takerufuji had resorted to his plan B: thrusting.

Takerufuji’s thrusts were enough to start Ōnosato moving backwards (thus eliminating the chance of a belt grab). And that’s when Ōnosato triggered his slap down move. He timed it perfectly and this was an example of how Ōnosato has been improving with his decision-making and decisiveness.

Since Takerufuji didn’t have any kind of hold around either of Ōnosato’s arms, Ōnosato was free to use them both to push down for the win.

The match with Kotozakura was very similar to this, except in this fight Takerufuji was able to get his inside position off the tachiai. He wasn’t able to move Kotozakura back like that, though. When he realized this, I think he panicked. He likely didn’t want to stay in the clinch for fear that, if he couldn’t move Kotozakura, he was going to get moved back himself. After he broke free he then tried to push and that’s when Kotozakura did what Ōnosato did, push him down with both hands.

After these two losses, Takerufuji was eliminated from the title chase. I think that might have affected him in his losses to Aonishiki and Wakamotoharu on the last two days. He didn’t seem as intense or powerful in either of those losses.

Takerufuji will be disappointed in how this tournament ended, on the year anniversary of his improbably yūshō. But he continues to prove that he’s a legitimate high level rikishi with a future in the san’yaku if not beyond. He’s already 26, so he might need to move quickly. Once he exits his athletic prime, I’m not sure he will be able to keep up that torpedo like tachiai.

Hiradoumi

Rank: Maegashira 6 West
Record: 9-6
Grade: B+

Hiradoumi recovered from a rough start to the basho (going 2-5) to rescue a kachi-koshi with two days to spare.