Report Card: 2025 Nagoya Basho - Part 1

Grading the top division rikishi who were involved in the May tournament.

We had a great tournament in July with an unexpected winner, who was being trailed by a number of unexpected challengers.

In this, my first report card for the 2025 Nagoya basho, I’ll be grading a few of those guys. I always start at the bottom of the banzuke with these and that means I’ll be grading our champ Kotoshōhō and runner-up Kusano right off the bat. I’ll also be grading Mitakeumi and Fujinokawa, who both had great tournaments, too. Making up the numbers on this report card are Shishi, Kotoeiho, Kayo and Hidenoumi.

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Bonus gif today is the golden peep himself, Kayo!

Shishi

Rank: Maegashira 17 West
Record: 7-8
Grade: D+

Shishi banked his second make-koshi (losing record) in a row in Nagoya and is now perilously close to being demoted back to jūryō in September. It feels like Shishi has lost a lot of his mojo since that stand-out 9-6 in March. This is an underwhelming result on paper, but I’m not that mad about how Shishi performed last month. He had an awful stretch in the middle of the basho, but he finished with some quality wins over Tokihayate and Asakōryū.

Unlike in most tournaments, the bottom of the maegashira ranks in July were somewhat of a shark tank. You had Kusano and Fujinokawa coming up from jūryō, the shocking Kotoshōhō, a rejuvenated and motivated Mitakeumi and some vets coming off bad showings who were really too good for this level (Shōdai, Churanoumi, Takanoshō, Midorifuji). Shishi fought everyone I mentioned there. He was simply over-matched. In this situation, getting just a 7-8 isn’t terrible.

Kotoeiho

Rank: Maegashira 17 East
Record: 6-9
Grade: D

Like Shishi, Kotoeiho was negatively affected by the increased difficulty level of the maegashira basement in July. Also, again like with Shishi, the 6-9 losing record, given the context, isn’t awful — especially for someone so young (22). Kotoeiho has some interesting physical gifts. He’s highly flexible (as demonstrated by his near vertical shiko stomp). He has very good speed and OK strength. When he gets a good jump off the tachiai he’s strong enough to score quick force outs on big opponents (like he did with Shōdai). However, he lacks a lot of lower body strength. His hips are very agile, but he doesn’t have a lot of muscle below them. Too often he was yanked right off his feet and thrown to the side. Shishi, Kusano, Tokihayate and the smaller Fujinokawa, Midorifuji and Asakōryū all scored throws on him. Most of those throws came when he was being rotated due to him not having the strength to squat down and dig his heels into the clay.

This record will most likely see him relegated to jūryō. I don’t think this is the last we see of him in makuuchi, though. Even so, I’m not sure he can get very far in the top division unless he adds more bulk.

Mitakeumi

Rank: Maegashira 16 West
Record: 10-5
Grade: A

Mitakeumi really surprised me in this tournament. I thought, after coming up with just an 8-7 from jūryō, he would be too slow for the youth movement occupying the lower rungs of the maegashira ranks. That theory was quickly dashed when Mitakeumi got off to a 6-0 start which had him as one of the early leaders of the tournament (he beat tournament winner Kotoshōhō during that run). He picked up his kachi-koshi (winning record) four days later. I expected him to really coast after that, but he still showed up down the stretch and was able to pick up two more wins to earn double-digits for the first time since he was an ōzeki in 2022. In July Mitakeumi showed great strength in the clinch (locking in his preferred right arm inside position), but also good speed, both off the tachiai and when completing force outs. He also showed some decent stamina, coming through a long match against Hidenoumi with a win.

Mitakeumi is still relatively young. He turns 33 in December. I don’t know if this is a sign of a late career renaissance for Mitakeumi or just an example of him being very motivated not to drop back down into jūryō. Either way, though, I won’t be totally counting him out — like I did before this tournament.

Kayo

Rank: Maegashira 16 East
Record: 4-11
Grade: D-

Like Shishi and Kotoeiho, Kayo was out of his depth in July — having to fight an unusually hard schedule for someone ranked this low. Kayo is an unusual rikishi. He’s small and round and relies on speedy lineal movement to create space. When an opponent is lurching forwards, Kayo likes to hit them with a powerful chop from his T-rex arms to force them down. This game-plan didn’t work very well at all in July. A big reason for that is how he wasn’t able to create the space he needed for his slap downs because his jumps backwards were not quick enough and they didn’t have enough distance. His little bunny hops were mostly followed by an opponent shuffling their feet, quickly, to close distance and then push him out as he landed flat-footed. A lot of opponents were able to lay in wait for this and successfully time their pushes. Kayo left himself open for this because he was not going forwards with enough aggression (if he went forwards at all).

In order to make his sumō work in this division, he needs to have opponents second guessing whether he will hop black or plow forwards. Ideally, he needs to be able to lower his head and hit an opponent hard and then combo that with his hop back and slap down (something we see Gōnoyama do when he’s at his best). He gave us a little example of this on Day 14, when he pushed Hidenoumi back with a nodowa (throat thrust) and then hopped back for the pull down.

I would love Kayo to figure this all out, since he’s a fun addition to makuuchi. And I don’t say that just because of how he looks. If he can master this wrecking-ball-swinging-back-and-forth style of sumō, he would give opponents in the low makuuchi an interesting/different look and that could lead to some longevity in the division for the man from Okinawa.

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Hidenoumi

Rank: Maegashira 15 West
Record: 2-11-2
Grade: E

Hidenoumi looked banged up from the start of this tournament, with strapping around his knee, calf and elbow (looking a little like my Sumo Stomp! logo). The calf seemed to be the most troubling injury during this tournament. It looked as if it prevented him from driving into opponents with much power. Without that ability, it’s very hard for a yotsu-zumō (belt grappling) practitioner to pick up wins. A good example of his lack of strength came in his bout with Fujinokawa. The much smaller Fujinokawa, who is an oshi-zumō (pushing/thrusting) practitioner, was able to get moro-zashi (double inside position) on Hidenoumi and move him back half the length of the dohyo and then put him out of bounds. At full strength, you’d expect someone as big as Hidenoumi to either wrench a smaller opponent up by the arms for a kimedashi (arm barring force out) or force a makki-kae (switch from outside to inside position) to get their favourite grip and then power the opponent out.

It’s unfortunate that injuries prevented Hideonumi from giving his best effort in July. However, at 36, and with just twelve top division tournaments under his belt, Hidenoumi is simply not good enough to hang in makuuchi anyway.

Kotoshōhō

Rank: Maegashira 15 East
Record: 13-2, yushō, shukun-shō, kantō-shō
Grade: A+

Kotoshōhō was the ultimate surprise of the tournament. He quietly strung together wins (after hiccups to Fujinokawa and Mitakeumi) against his fellow low ranked wrestlers and managed to keep pace as the leading pack started to thin out. Deep into the second week, Kotoshōhō was tested with bouts against serious title contenders. He didn’t seem fazed by the opponents or the situation and he finished off Takaysu, Ōnosato and Kirishima with an incredible amount of confidence and extremely economical sumō.

This all set up his final bout with Aonishiki, where a win would secure the cup and a loss would result in a play-off