Nine share the lead: autumn sumo approaches its first weekend with an open title race

A yokozuna and a top-division debutant have reached the same point by very different routes. After five days of the September Grand Sumo Tournament, Onosato and Toshinofuji are part of a nine-man leading group at 4–1. No undefeated wrestler remains at the head of the makuuchi race, according to the Japan Sumo Association’s day-five list. The first Saturday approaches with several competing championship stories. ^[17]

The tournament runs from September 13 to 27 at Tokyo’s Kokugikan. Saturday, September 19, is day seven; Sunday is the eighth day, the tournament’s midpoint. This report uses confirmed standings after September 17, day five. Those numbers describe the opening third of the competition, with ten days still to come. ^[2]

A leaderboard stretching from the summit to the newcomers

Rank and record measure different things. The banzuke places wrestlers in the hierarchy entering a tournament; the running win–loss record describes what they have achieved in this particular competition. Reading the two together is essential. A shared record does not mean a shared route, identical opponents or identical prospects.

The breadth of this group makes a simple “establishment versus outsiders” account inadequate. Established contenders have kept themselves involved, but the race also leaves room for wrestlers whose immediate ambitions may begin with consolidating a place in the division. A promising start can widen those ambitions. It cannot settle the championship.

The contrasting mechanics of the senior contenders

Onosato’s official profile traces a rapid ascent: a professional debut in May 2023, entry into makuuchi in January 2024 and his first tournament ranked as yokozuna in July 2025. It lists thrusting, pushing, a right-hand-inside grip and forward belt wrestling among his strengths. His story brings together the authority of the highest rank and the comparatively short time he has spent in professional sumo. ^[4]

A useful way to watch him is to look beyond the decisive moment. Does the opening collision establish forward movement? If an opponent halts that first attack, can he remain balanced and create another? These are viewing questions, not a reconstruction of an unverified bout. They distinguish sustained control from a result rescued at the boundary.

Kirishima’s profile emphasizes a left-hand-inside grip, force-outs and throws. Kotozakura’s identifies a right-hand-inside grip, force-outs and pushing. Those differences give the initial struggle for position meaning: two wrestlers may both want a belt contest while wanting quite different arrangements of arms and grips. ^[5][6]

For a newcomer to watching sumo, the finishing move can appear to happen suddenly. Often the more revealing exchange is earlier—the contest over which arm gets inside, which hand reaches the belt and whose posture starts to break. Looking there turns a short bout into a sequence of decisions.

Atamifuji’s consolidation, Toshinofuji’s arrival

Atamifuji is in his third consecutive tournament at sekiwake and his fourth consecutive appearance in the titled sanyaku ranks, according to the association’s September ranking notes. That shifts the emphasis from reaching the upper hierarchy to establishing a durable place within it. ^[3]

The wrestler from Atami in Shizuoka entered professional sumo in November 2020. His profile identifies a right-hand-inside grip and forward belt wrestling as his favored methods. Watching whether he can create that position, and whether he can recover when denied it, offers a more useful test than interpreting every early victory as a promotion forecast. ^[7]

Toshinofuji represents a different stage of a career. The Isegahama wrestler debuted professionally in March 2024, reached juryo in March 2026 and entered makuuchi this September. Previously known as Seihakuhō, he now competes under the name Toshinofuji. His official profile lists right-hand-inside belt wrestling, force-outs and overarm throws among his specialties. ^[8]

A strong opening in a new division deserves attention without requiring an instant coronation. The compelling question is how a newcomer responds when an opponent disrupts his preferred approach. A debut tournament can reveal that adaptability even if its final result falls short of a title.

The experience hidden inside the maegashira ranks

Asanoyama is a reminder that present rank does not contain a wrestler’s entire career. His highest rank is ozeki. His profile lists pushing, a right-hand-inside grip and force-outs as strengths: familiar tools carried into a different position on the banzuke. ^[9]

Churanoumi, from Uruma in Okinawa, favors a left-hand-inside grip and force-outs. Roga’s listed strengths are a right-hand-inside grip and force-outs; Ura’s include pushing and leg picks. These are distinct technical identities within the broad label “maegashira.” ^[10][11][12]

That diversity is part of the appeal of a crowded race. A win achieved through a preferred attack and a win earned after that attack has been neutralized count equally in the standings. They may tell different stories about the next challenge. Results establish who is ahead; close observation helps explain how they remain there.

What to watch as the weekend develops

The association’s daily bout sheet is the reference for actual pairings. The questions for the weekend are whether members of the leading group meet, whether pursuing wrestlers take wins from them and whether the senior ranks can impose their preferred styles. These are analytical priorities, not claims that particular matchups have been announced. ^[16]

The winning technique, or kimarite, provides another reference point. The association publishes a catalogue of 82 techniques, distinguishing such finishes as oshidashi, yorikiri and uwatenage. But the label captures the finish rather than every event that produced it. Two bouts recorded as force-outs can contain very different struggles over balance, grip and momentum. ^[15]

The most informative viewing therefore connects three things: the record before the bout, the contest for position and the official result afterward. It also resists treating a single afternoon as a verdict on the whole tournament. After day seven, more than half of the fifteen-day schedule still lies ahead.

A traditional setting shaped by change

The atmosphere of an autumn tournament belongs to a much longer history of public entertainment. The association traces professional sumo’s foundations to the Edo period, when wrestlers made a livelihood from the sport, benefit events spread and regular tournaments developed. Ceremonial entrances, rankings and distinctive dress connect the contemporary spectacle with that past. ^[13]

Continuity did not mean an unchanging arena. In 1931, the ring’s diameter was enlarged from 13 to 15 shaku, approximately 4.55 metres. In 1952, four supporting pillars gave way to a suspended roof and colored tassels. The association’s chronology records the opening of the Kuramae Kokugikan in September 1954 and the new Ryogoku Kokugikan in January 1985. ^[14]

Those changes help explain why sumo can feel both inherited and immediate. Its setting preserves recognizable forms, yet each tournament gives them a new cast and a new competitive argument. September’s opening week has supplied several such arguments at once: authority at the top, consolidation below it, experience in the middle ranks and opportunity for a newcomer. The next wins will determine which stories continue to share the stage.