Hakunofuji made his return today and powered out a stunned and injured Onokatsu. He simply cannot be here. Onokatsu limped down the hanamichi and Hakunofuji staggered off the dohyo in a great demonstration of what it means to be injured. Onokatsu, you need to go home now. Go rest. Juryo isn’t… well, Juryo is good, but so are you, just not when your toe has imploded and you literally can’t walk. You can be in Juryo. It’ll be okay.

MATCH OF THE DAY: I love a good Churanoumi victory, and today was one of those days. I think something is wrong with Wakatakakage’s knee but can’t prove it; he did fight very well today, but dare I say it, Chu fought better. It was a great tsuppari battle but in the end, Chu powered him out by oshidashi.

KIMARITE OF THE DAY: Tobizaru has been desperate for wins of late, and his match against Nishikifuji today… showed that. They locked up for a long, long snugglefest, with the only interesting feature being Tobizaru kicking his own sagari away to the inexplicable delight of the Osakan crowd. Then, finally, he accidentally fashioned his belt into some sort of loincloth and disposed of Nishikifuji by katasukashi, under shoulder swing down. The crowd loved it and honestly, I did too. Tobizaru needed this.

PINK MAWASHI DAY SEVEN: Ah, Ura. As I feared, Genki-yama was too much for him and he was simply taken out. He likes to go on streaks, doesn’t he? 3-4 now.

OVERALL SUMMARY: Daieisho slammed a gyoji out by backing directly into him, sending him staggering off the dohyo, which I personally found extremely entertaining. It was a feisty day today, with several highlights bouts in the second half, including Fujinokawa vs Kotozakura, Atamifuji vs Aonishiki, and Hoshoryu vs Oho. There were several contenders for Bout of the Day, but since I’m tired and I love Chu, he gets the prize.

Let’s look at the bigger picture. We now have a six-man leaderboard–three of them have won yusho before. Hoshoryu, Kirishima, and everyone’s favorite one-time yusho winner, Kotoshoho. Takayasu has nine jun-yusho, and Takanosho has had… a few, but I’m not sure how many exactly. So, Gonoyama is kind of our underdog here. But the good thing about Gonoyama being genki is that if he has to fight Hoshoryu, Ura will probably take his spot in the dohyo-iri. As I’ve said, I want Hoshoryu to win the yusho because I love him and I want Kirishima to win the yusho because I want him to be an Ozeki, especially since the Ukrainian lad’s loss to Atamifuji today basically confirmed that he won’t be making it up to Yokozuna this time around. But anyways, either of them, I’d be fine with seeing. I am not so much a fan of the other four contenders, but we shouldn’t discount the chase group either.

The JSA is “locking in”, as they say, and have prepared a brilliant slate of bouts for some Nakabi magic. Daieisho will take on Hoshoryu in the musubi-no-ichiban, while the Ozeki will fight Hiradoumi and Takanosho, who is the first of the Maegashira contenders to fight the upper echelons. I suspect the highlight match of the day will be Kirishima vs Takayasu, the Sekiwake facedown, and am personally excited for Yoshinofuji vs Fujinokawa. Ura will take on a similarly un-genki Roga.

Oh boy. Happy Nakabi Eve!