Report Card: 2025 Nagoya Basho - Part 3

Continuing to grade the top division rikishi who were involved in the July tournament.

I’m continuing my look back at the Nagoya tournament, from July, and grading the top division rikishi who appeared here. This time around I’m grading all the way from maegashira 8 to 3. There’s some standout performers in there, including Tamawashi, Ichiyamamoto and Hakuōhō.

This is a premium post with a pay-wall in the Takerufuji section. You’ll need a paid submission to see all this post. Paid submissions directly support this blog/newsletter and help me dedicate the time needed to produce sumo content.

If you haven’t already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber today.

---

---

Bonus gif today is the Old Man and the Sea (salt).

fwhiff

Ichiyamamoto

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

Ichiyamamoto was leading all rikishi on Day 11, sporting a 10-1 record. During that stretch his go-to oshi-zumō (pushing/thrusting) moves were controlled and measured. And he complimented them with some yotsu-zumō (belt grabbing) techniques in ways we’ve not seen from him before. That improved grappling from Ichiyamamoto got him wins over Atamifuji, Rōga and Sadanoumi (all yotsu guys). Unfortunately, for him, the basho went pear-shaped after Takayasu threw him down on Day 11. Ichiyamamoto then lost his remaining five bouts (to Ōnosato, Aonishiki, Tamawashi and Fujinokawa).

Despite the poor final third of his basho, this is a good record for Ichiyamamoto and it’s great to see him adding a new dimension to his game.

This is his highest win total since he got that jun-yushō back in November, 2023. This is also his highest ranked kachi-koshi (winning record) ever. However, given that he was so overwhelmed by the higher ranked opponents he faced in July, I think we could see the affable Ichiyamamoto struggle after he goes up a few ranks in September.

Sadanoumi

Rank: Maegashira 8 East
Record: 4-11
Grade: D

Sadanoumi had a great May tournament, going 10-5 and getting the Fighting Spirit award. That earned him a promotion from M13 to M8. And, it’s clear after this basho, that this is just too high a ranking for the 38 year-old. Unlike Tamawashi, who I’ll get to later, Sadanoumi does not have a style that translates well for an aging body. Whereas Tamawashi relies on thrusts to get wins, Sadanoumi needs to gets hands on opponents’ belts and then thrash and wrench them around. He had a really hard time doing that in Nagoya.

He struggled to lock onto opponents in Nagoya and was often left chasing after them. With his lack of speed that often meant opponents were able to easily side-step him and usher him out (as Ura did below). Asakōryū also landed a good side-step against him and then pushed him deep into the crowd.

Endō

Rank: Maegashira 7 West
Record: 0-0-15
Grade: Ungraded

After doing surprisingly well on a very injured knee for the past six months, Endō finally opted to sit out a tournament. This is the first 0-0-15 of Endō’s career. At 34, I doubt this is a death knell for the former top prospect’s career, even if it might drop him to jūryō.

Tobizaru

Rank: Maegashira 7 East
Record: 3-10-2
Grade: D

Tobizaru pulled out of the tournament on Day 13, due to a leg injury. I think it was likely suffered in his bout with Rōga (below) after he was wrenched from his feet and driven into the clay.

He came out the next day (with a heavily strapped thigh), against Asakōryū, and was slung down with an armlock throw which saw him roll off the ring. It took him some time to get up from that.

Tobizaru is a pretty tough character and he is famous for being thrown (or throwing himself) into the crowd in almost every bout (I counted seven times he went into the seats in this basho). Because of that track record, there’s a chance that an injury would have to be quite serious to force the Flying Ape out of a tournament. Prior to this he only ever had two injury absences in his career.

Hopefully he’s fit for the aki basho. He’ll likely be fighting for his makuuchi life at that tournament.

---

Gōnoyama

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

Gōnoyama’s sumo in July wasn’t particularly nuanced, but it was effective. He hangs his hat on his oshi-zumo and his ability to generate a lot of power off the tachiai. See below how great that all looked when he ran through Hakuōhō.

His most artful win was his nifty hikkake (arm grabbing force out) on Takerufuji. He showed some great reaction speed and creativity to pull that off.

Gōnoyama really needed this performance in July. He’s spent a lot of time in the jōi since debuting in makuuchi in 2023. He’s failed, so far, to get over the hump and make it to san’yaku. With this most recent demotion out of the jōi, Gōnoyama was at a make or break point in his young career. To prove he has the potential to break into the san’yaku (which I’ve long believed he has) he really needed to show that here and not look like a young wrestler that would meekly slide down the ranks and into obscurity. This record will put him right back into the jōi and give him another shot of advancing past those ranks. Whether he can do it remains to be seen, but I think we can be confident that — at his very worst — Gōnoyama right now is at least cut out for the high maegashira ranks.

Takerufuji

Rank: Maegashira 6 East
Record: 5-8-2
Grade: D+

Takerufuji’s tournament was blown up by his Day 6 win over Sadanoumi.