Report Card: 2025 Hatsu Basho - Part 3

Let's put this basho to bed!

Thanks to February being a wash in my household, due to bugs brought home from kindergarten, I have not been able to get these report cards out as I would have hoped to.

This final one is sneaking under the wire before the haru basho gets underway on Sunday (can’t wait!).

To get this in on time I’m going to keep things brief. I’ve said that before and failed. But this time I’m going to try and be short and concise as I give out my grades for our highest ranked rikishi.

I’m sending this one out for free again. Even so, paid subscriptions really make a difference and allow me to dedicate a lot of time to this blog.

Also, I’m giving away a tegata this month to paid subscribers. There will be more details about that on my Day 1 recap newsletter in a few days.

Ok, let’s get to grading!

So shiny.

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Note: In past report cards I’ve made lots of use out of homemade gifs. Though I believe the usage of those gifs is covered under ‘fair use’, I will not be including homemade gifs of full matches in these report cards. I will instead only use videos from official sources. As a result, there will be less videos/gifs in this report card than you may be used to.

Wakatakakage

Rank: Komusubi 1 west
Record: 7-8
Grade: D

Wakatakakage got off to a great start with a quick win over Terunofuji, but everything got harder after that point. Wakatakakage’s most noticeable downfall in this tournament was how he kept coming off second best in tsuppari (palm striking) battles. He was beat up by Oho, Hoshoryu (below), Daieisho and even Ichiyamamoto.

In grappling exchanges he was able to show off his great strength and technique, reversing Takanosho, Atamifuji and Gonoyama for force outs. Still, more often than not he was being bounced around with thrusts. His record could have been worse, too. He beat Abi due to a slip and he also got past the hampered Kotozakura after the ozeki accidentally stepped out of bounds.

This make-koshi (losing record) costs Wakatakakage his place in the san’yaku. It’s his first losing record since returning from that devastating knee injury in 2023.

Abi

Rank: Komusubi 1 east
Record: 7-8
Grade: D

Despite his 7-8 losing record Abi retained his komusubi rank for March. In January he was his typical aggressive self and he was able to overwhelm a few opponents or trick them with his usual ploys (see the Onosato bout below).

In this tournament Abi struggled against opponents who are both sturdy and who are very used to his particular brand of sumo. Takayasu, Shodai, Daieisho and Takanosho all notched wins by not biting on his feints and not backing down from his strikes. By doing that they were able to pick their shots and push Abi out when he got too close to the straw.

Daieisho

Rank: Sekiwake 1 west
Record: 11-4
Grade: B+

Daieisho looked both powerful and patient in January. This Day 1 bout with Gonoyama is a good example of that. In the bout Daieisho delivered his usual crushing blows, but also used a nice side step and some defensive swipes to score the victory.

Daieisho was pretty locked in for most the basho and was alternating well between big hits and disguised side-steps. When opponents tried to grapple with him, he did a good job of not giving up a bad position. He did this by sometimes focusing his thrusts into his opponent’s armpits, to disrupt whatever they wanted to do with their arms.

11 wins puts Daieisho on an ozeki run to start the year.

Wakamotoharu

Rank: Sekiwake 1 east
Record: 6-9
Grade: D-

Every man and their dog knows that Wakamotoharu lives and dies by his hidari-yotsu (left arm inside, right arm outside) grip. If he gets it, he usually wins. If he can’t, he usually loses. In January, he barely got it at all.

Almost every oshi-zumo (pusher/thruster) stylist he met was very successful at denying his entry attempts. Those entry attempts, which are usually a reach towards the belt with his left hand, were mostly blocked on the tachiai when his opponents got fast starts on him and were able to push him back with their opening shove. After that he just didn’t seem prepared or eager enough to fight through those hands and secure his go-to grip.

At times Wakamotoharu seems to wrestle under a funk and his results start to slip. He may have been fighting hurt this tournament. Or he might have been mentally checked out. Either way, it was a disappointing end to his latest foray into the sekiwake rank (a rank that sadly might represent his peak).

Onosato

Rank: Ozeki 2 west
Record: 10-5
Grade: B

Onosato secured an ‘ozeki kachi-koshi’ in January, with a performance that really defined that term. 10 wins are great, but it really felt like the bare minimum someone like Onosato should be getting in a given tournament. And in this tournament, it felt like Onosato was giving us the lower-end of what he’s capable of.

After a stuttering start to the basho (courtesy of Tobizaru and Abi), he was chasing the leading pack for the whole two weeks. He could never catch up and, as a result, was left on the outside looking in (a rare occurrence for him in his top division career).

A couple of Onosato’s losses in January could have been negated if he’d shown a little more care and patience in his offense. Onosato likes to crash into opponents like a tidal wave and wash them off the ring as quick as possible. However, in doing so he sometimes neglects to lock down a firm hold of his opponents. He picks speed and violence over technique and surety. This is evidenced in how he will try to force opponents out with a single, and sometimes rather loose, grip on one side of an opponent and nothing on the other side. This lack of balance and connection helps opponents slip out the weak side and turn the tables on him. That’s what happened against Oho, below:

Hoshoryu

Rank: Ozeki 1 west
Record: 12-3, yusho
Grade: A

Hoshoryu is our tournament winner and, as a result, our 74th yokozuna. He claimed his second Emperor’s Cup, and ultimate promotion, the hard way, though. He was chasing Kinbozan and Oho for most of the basho. But when it came down to crunch time, he wouldn’t be denied. This wasn’t a dominating yusho, but it still deserves plenty of plaudits and — in my books — Hoshoryu is a very deserving yokozuna.

In this tournament, Hoshoryu was more diverse in his initial attacks; compared to how he operated in November. In November he almost exclusively led with the nodowa (throat thrust). He would batter foes back and then either try to thrust them straight out or switch to a belt grip (sometimes off a feint).

He did that a few times in this tournament, but he also went straight to the belt a couple of times. When he got on a belt, his goal was to get double grips on the mawashi. He was able to do his best Tochinoshin impression from those positions on a few occasions. He was able to move a couple of opponents around like this, or get side-on/behind them for push downs.

You can see his ‘Mongolian forklift’ in action against Takerufuji, below. That was served with a side of stare-down… probably revenge for Takerufuji’s extra push on Hoshoryu’s buddy Meisei.

Sometimes he bit off more than he could chew with this approach, though. When he tried to out-muscle his biggest opponents, with either straight up thrusting or with double belt grips, he didn’t always seal the deal. Takanosho and Onosato were able to resist his attacks and then push him back, forcing Hoshoryu to resort to his arsenal of throws. This approach also led to his losses against Shodai and Atamifuji.

If there is improvement to be made by our new yokozuna, I think it’s as simple as putting on more weight. That would help, if he’s married to this strategy of nodowa, nodowa feint, belt grab, lift or force out — especially against guys with physical profiles like Shodai and Onosato.

Kotozakura

Rank: Ozeki 1 east
Record: 5-10
Grade: E

Kotozakura looked strong on Day 1, defeating Takanosho. That win may have taken a lot out of him, though. On Day 2 he looked stiff and awkward against Abi. That resulted in him being pushed off the ring, landing painfully on his heavily strapped left leg. On Day 3 he looked even more diminished and that resulted in an even heavier fall, this time at the hands of Tobizaru.

From that point on he was walking wounded and seemed incapable of resisting opponents in chest-to-chest battles. He was also tossed to the side a number of times, by Takerufuji and Ura. Seeing Kotozakura being moved and thrown so easily was shocking, given how great he looked all last year.

There are reports saying that Kotozakura was forced by his father/stable-master to stay in this competition, despite wanting to pull out due to injury. If that’s true, then this was a gross incident of abuse within a power dynamic. And I think Kotozakura deserves a lot of sympathy if that’s the case.

I don’t get the feeling that Kotozakura gets special treatment, of the positive kind, at his stable. I think it’s likely that his dad, the former Kotonowaka, has made him work ten times harder for everything in life.

This attitude may have signed Kotozakura up for an ozeki demotion. He doesn’t look great in the training/practise bout footage I’ve seen ahead of this current tournament. If he was allowed to rest for the majority of the last tournament, he might have been able to recover more and then stand a better chance of rescuing his ranking and thus preserving that precious ‘family honour’. Personally, I don’t see much honour in a family where a father forces a son to endure pain and humiliation.

Terunofuji

Rank: Yokozuna 1 east
Record: 2-3
Grade: Ungraded.

Terunofuji gave it his best go in January. Unfortunately, the dai yokozuna’s body couldn’t hold up, though. After a few bouts it was clear Terunofuji wasn’t in a condition to compete. Even in his early wins in the basho he looked very slow, stiff and, frankly, anguished as he moved across the ring. It didn’t come as a shock when the big man told us this would be a wrap on his fighting career. He’s had a great one and the role of oyakata now awaits (he’ll likely inherit the Isegahama name/stable soon).

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And we’re done. That was tough. Obviously, I love writing this stuff. But I’d very much like to avoid a time crunch like this in the future.

Here’s hoping March and April go smoothly and I can roll out report cards while our memories of the haru basho are still fresh. That tournament starts on Sunday! You’ll hear from me then.

Peace.