Perennial runner-up Takayasu is one of two leaders at the midway point of the Autumn Basho after a clutch win over Mitakeumi on Sunday, September 17.
In a showdown of former ozeki, No 7 maegashira Takayasu overcame a slow face-off, circled to his right and finished with an impressive slap-down of 11th-ranked Mitakeumi.
With the win, Takayasu improved to 7-1 at the midway point of the 15-day Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. He shares the lead with maegashira No 15 Atamifuji, who recorded a frontal push-out victory over 14th-ranked Aoiyama (2-6) on Sunday.
Takayasu has been a runner-up a total of seven times in his long career but has never lifted the Emperor's Cup.
The last time he came close was November of 2022 when he went 12-3 in the Kyushu Basho and was awarded the Outstanding Performance Award.
But he lost his final bout to Abi and then went to a three-way playoff with Abi and Takakeisho.
In the first playoff match, Takayasu drew Abi, but lost after his head slammed hard into Abi's chest at the face-off. Takayasu appeared stunned and needed assistance to get off the ring.
Abi would eventually win the playoff and Takayasu was left to rue another missed opportunity.
Hoshoryu Falls to 3-5 at Autumn Basho
In other major bouts on Sunday, newly promoted ozeki Hoshoryu (3-5) was handed a shock defeat by Ura when the No 4 maegashira shoved his opponent back to the edge and swatted down the stunned Mongolian. Ura improved to 5-3.
Hoshoryu was promoted to sumo's second-highest rank after winning the July tournament in Nagoya. But he struggled during the first week of the Autumn Basho.
No 4 maegashira Takanosho (4-4) handed ozeki Kirishima, who needs a winning record in this tournament to hold on to his rank for the November basho, a setback, thrusting out the higher-ranked grappler. Kirishima slipped to 5-3.
"I just wanted to go all out against the ozeki and see what I could do," Takanosho said. "I've had success against him in the past so I felt confident going in."
Tobizaru Conquers Takakeisho
Sumo's Flying Monkey Tobizaru made it a clean sweep of ozeki losses when he shoved out Takakeisho in the day's final bout.
Komusubi Tobizaru improved to 5-3, the same record that Takakeisho now has.
Sekiwake Wakamotoharu stayed one win off the pace when he shifted to his left at the edge and swatted down winless No 3 maegashira Tamawashi to move to 6-2.
Fifth-ranked maegashira Gonoyama also stayed one win off the pace at 6-2 when he bulldozed Kotoeko out with a series of arm thrusts to the upper body. Maegashira No 8 Kotoeko fell to 2-6.
Further down the ranks, Myogiryu is also at 6-2 after he defeated fellow rank-and-filer Daishoho (2-6).
Sekiwake Daieisho dodged a bullet when he swatted down newly promoted komusubi Nishikigi at the edge to give both grapplers a record of 4-4.
Popular No 2 maegashira Asanoyama overpowered top maegashira Meisei (3-5) with a frontal force-out to improve to 4-4.
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Author: Jim Armstrong
The author is a longtime journalist who has covered sports in Japan for over 25 years. You can find his articles on SportsLook.
