Hakunofuji will be back tomorrow, but no one else has pulled out or returned today. Juryo has released a collective sigh of annoyance and Tomokaze will be heading up tomorrow to battle Asahakuryu.

MATCH OF THE DAY: This one I thought was just kind of dumb, honestly. Kotoeiho won with what seemed like a close, but relatively clear, hatakikomi victory. Asakoryu’s footwork was good but Kotoeiho’s was better. The gyoji, however, decided to prank Kotoeiho and had them do a rematch, which Kotoeiho won, for real this time. I don’t know if Kotoeiho said something mean about Hakkaku in the hallway or something, but I’m pretty sure he won both those matches. He should be 5-2.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: You gotta keep the streak going, even though Gonoyama made a point of interrupting it with an actually good kimarite last time. Onokatsu finally got a win, which I found a relief, though to be fair it was more of a not-loss. Oshoma looked at first like he had won, but the replay showed that he had in fact thrown Onokatsu to the clay by grabbing his topknot. Rude. The JSA disqualified the win by hansoku, top-knot pull.

PINK MAWASHI DAY SIX: Oh, Ura. He just can’t bring himself to defeat Ichiyamamoto; that must be it. I mean, who can, really? Ura just had nothing and Ichi took him down by hatakikomi. Well, if it was going to be anyone, it may as well be him. Better luck tomorrow.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Takayasu lost to the youngest Onami, meaning that he joins such greats as Hoshoryu, Kirishima, and a bunch of random Maegashira as the yusho leaders. I am rooting for Hosh and Kiri on this one, though obviously, the Shodai yusho is certainly one I’d be willing to see. I have infinite faith in him. Technically, four out of the seven yusho contenders are ex-Ozeki, counting Hoshoryu, because clearly he didn’t do enough at the rank of Ozeki. Takayasu and Shodai are frequently branded as “ex-Ozeki” by the NHK commentators, but Kirishima never seems to be. Understandably, neither does Hosh. I do suspect that this is because they can feasibly see Kirishima as an Ozeki again. Aonishiki, to my surprise, was forced out by Oho. I hate to say it, but the double promotion run looks pretty much over. Kiri is great, but Aonishiki is clearly struggling, though he doesn’t seem particularly injured. Everyone has to stop being that good sometime, but I really did expect him to get to Yokozuna first. It does make the basho more interesting, I suppose.

Hoshoryu will take on Ozeki-slayer Oho tomorrow; I know this is weird, but I feel like Oho wins bouts like this a lot, and my money’s on him. Now he will proceed to lose disastrously to prove me wrong. So now that I’ve said I believe in both outcomes, I will undoubtedly be happy tomorrow, yes? No. I will be sad for Ura, because he is fighting Gonoyama, who is very genki. Aonishiki is fighting Atamifuji in a truly heartwrenching matchup, while Zaku will take on Fujinokawa (who has learned the true meaning of joi-jin) and Kirishima will fight Hiradoumi. Yoshinofuji, at least, is getting the very un-genki Wakamotoharu.

Rough times.