Onosato (right) and Yoshinofuji crash out of the ring in a closely contested bout at the November Grand Sumo Tournament at Fukuoka Convention Center in Fukuoka on Sunday. | JIJI
Nov 11, 2026
One obvious difficulty with assessing the first three days of any Grand Sumo Tournament is that the sample size is too small to conclude much beyond “rikishi A looks good, and rikishi B doesn’t.”
A hot start puts a wrestler on the front foot, of course, but with four-fifths of a basho remaining most outcomes are still possible.
Kotozakura, Fujiseiun and Asakoryu, for example, all started the September meet 3-0 but finished 9-6, while Takanosho followed up his 3-0 start the same month with 8 losses in the following 9 bouts before withdrawing from the tournament.
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Source: The Japan Times · John Gunning
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