Wakatakakage is kyujo with an elbow injury. Must be pretty bad if he’s not willing to risk two more bouts, but that isn’t really a surprise. Good luck and stay healthy, Waka. At least the fusen went to Daieisho, who is now 7-7. Churanoumi also looks quite hurt after his fight against Hakunofuji, maybe a back issue, but who knows?

MATCH OF THE DAY: Well, well, well. Kirishima–no. Let’s focus on the grief. Let’s focus on the pain. Let’s focus on Yoshinofuji. Oho and Yoshinofuji, two men whom I at least hail as Yokozuna-slayers, took to the clay today to fight their make-koshi. I hate it when the JSA does things like this, and unfortunately, Yoshinofuji got his first career make-koshi in a pretty great bout. Oho and Yoshinofuji slammed into one another but Oho won with a sly pull and a tsukiotoshi. Well done, Baby Taiho. But ugh, poor Yoshinofuji!

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Today, we were awash in pretty-good-but-not-quite-great kimarite, so we’ll do a “wow, what skill!” kimarite. And that one goes to Fujinokawa in a bout between tiny little firecrackers, Fujinokawa and Hiradoumi. They had a terrifying tachiai and slammed into each other face-first; I wouldn’t be surprised to see either of them swelling up tomorrow, unfortunately. It looked like Hiradoumi was going to win, but Fujinokawa pivoted with a brilliant sukuinage, beltless arm throw.

PINK MAWASHI DAY FOURTEEN: Oh, Mitakeumi. This seems to be the basho of the ex-Ozeki, as Mitakeumi earned his kachi-koshi today by defeating our spherical pink friend. Ura refused to give up but when he realized, “Oh boy, I sure do have a lot of tape on them knees, don’t I?” he gave in to the sukuinage and popped back up. Better that than another year-long comeback, but I do hate Ura losses…

OVERALL SUMMARY: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but on Day 14, the Makuuchi yusho is decided. And our winner is The Once and Future Ozeki Kirishima Tetsuo. His rikishi profile is already in the works! Kirishima, I have been rooting for you from day one, and though I’m a little surprised about how it came about, I am so, so, so glad that you got this win. He said that he was delighted to win so that he could let his daughter celebrate with him. It is my belief that his daughter was born in February 2020 and is now 6 years old, which means she is approximately the correct age to be very cute. I haven’t seen much of her but I’m sure she’ll make an appearance in the coming festivities, so pictures forthcoming.

Aonishiki is hanging on at 7-7 and will fight Hoshoryu tomorrow in the oddly anticlimactic final bout of the March 2026 basho. Kotozakura and Kirishima will fight before them in an extremely awkward bout. “I got re-promoted,” Kirishima says as he mounts the dohyo. “And I have more than 8 wins,” Kotozakura replies. And then, in unison: “Is Onosato going to be back next time?” But no, they both did well and probably would have even if the Big O was back and healthy. It would be harder, though.

I don’t know what’s going on with Aonishiki, or Onosato really, but Hoshoryu has looked very strong despite not winning a yusho so far in his Yoko career. I’m sure he will, though. Kotozakura seems to have found unusually good footing, and Kirishima is clearly ready to be back up at Ozeki. This promises to be an exciting group of rikishi in the future.

I know people are going to say, “He wouldn’t have gotten this far if Aonishiki and Onosato were healthy.” And I agree, but Kirishima has been in excellent form. Did Aonishiki, one of the best young rikishi to grace the surface of the dohyo, beat him? Yes. Did Churanoumi, a not so stellar and overranked Maegashira, beat him? Also yes. But he also beat some of the best active rikishi: Atamifuji, Yoshinofuji, Takayasu, Hoshoryu, and two strong rikishi in excellent form, Gonoyama and Takanosho. If he had fought Onosato and lost, he’d still be in sole lead of the yusho race. It sucks that he won the yusho because Hoshoryu lost, and I’m sure people will be hating on him for that, but you know what? He won, suckers.

OZEKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!