Fujiryoga Topples Hoshoryu for His First Kinboshi; Yokozuna's Surgically Repaired Right Knee Buckles

November 10, 2026

West Maegashira 1 Fujiryoga (Fujishima), 23, beat yokozuna Hoshoryu (Tatsunami), 27, by oshitaoshi in their first meeting on Day 3 for his first kinboshi, handing Hoshoryu his first loss in his return from three straight absences. Hoshoryu opened with a right nodowa and thrusts but could not drive him back. Fujiryoga survived the deflection and kept coming; as Hoshoryu circled right reaching for his favored right outer grip and missed, his right knee buckled, and Fujiryoga charged in and sent him tumbling off the dohyo (Sponichi, Daily Sports, Sports Hochi). Both men are 2-1.

Hoshoryu declined interviews through his attendant, and Daily Sports says he groaned in frustration as he got into the bath. It was the 18th kinboshi he has given up (Tokyo Sports). He had surgery on the right knee in late July after withdrawing from the Nagoya basho and sat out all of September; with no title as yokozuna, a poor showing here could bring questions about his future. Earlier in the afternoon his stablemaster Tatsunami (ex-komusubi Asahiyutaka) said his charge was getting better and, noting how well Fujiryoga fought Onosato on Day 2, said he wanted Hoshoryu 'not to lift his chin and not to fall forward.'

JSA chairman Hakkaku (ex-yokozuna Hokutoumi): 'His legs and hips still aren't complete. That's the effect of the injury. When he was deflected, he couldn't drive in. The tachi-ai was fine, but the flow after was bad. He couldn't get the mawashi. His knee gave way' (Nikkan Sports, Daily Sports). 'This basho will be tough. He has to go back to the frame of mind he had on Day 1. He mustn't think negatively' (Sports Hochi). Of Fujiryoga, Hakkaku said, 'There was pressure,' and that keeping his distance was the key. Judging chief Onoe (ex-komusubi Hamanoshima): 'He didn't stop and kept going out. That's his strength. You should praise Fujiryoga.' Of Hoshoryu: 'He invited him in. If you take it, that can lead to injury.' Mainoumi on NHK: 'The yokozuna couldn't do anything. His right knee nearly gives way in the movement. It isn't fully healed. His footwork is slow and clumsy' (Tokyo Sports, Nikkan Sports).

Two former ozeki wrote columns. Kotokaze (Sports Hochi) said he would not blame Hoshoryu: the missed outer grip may be the technical reason, but his right knee 'dropped' when he deflected, and 'there's no doubt the surgery had an effect.' Having had knee surgery himself, he said the knee can suddenly give out, but one day it starts to hold; Hoshoryu has dropped his bad habit of the harizashi and has charged honestly with his head for three days, so 'he has to be patient.' He compared Fujiryoga to the 1970s pusher, ex-ozeki Daiju: 'Nothing but things to look forward to.' Tamanoi (ex-ozeki Tochiazuma, Sponichi) liked Fujiryoga's 'head-on sumo with no tricks' and likened his style to Konishiki's, while saying Hoshoryu lost by carelessly reaching for the mawashi; after the layoff his feel for sumo has not returned, and his feet did not follow at the crucial moment.

'I was happy. I attacked forward without stopping, and that was good,' Fujiryoga said (Chunichi Sports, Sports Hochi). 'Yesterday's sumo wasn't the kind to get down about, so I switched over and only thought about attacking forward. I want to keep piling up kinboshi without being satisfied with this.' To Mainichi he said, 'I'm happy only today. I'll switch over and wrestle every day as if it were Day 1.' 'I had decided what to do. I just did it, and hit hard so I'd have no regrets,' he told Nikkan Sports, adding that his stablemaster Fujishima (ex-ozeki Musoyama) told him to get the tachi-ai right. Mainichi notes he had borrowed Hoshoryu's chest on the tour.

Nikkan Sports says the kinboshi in his 11th basho (on Day 3) is the seventh-fastest since 1958 among makushita tsukedashi entrants. The 180-cm, 184-kg Kasugai, Aichi native was third at the 2024 All-Japan Championships as a Takushoku University senior, debuted at makushita 60 tsukedashi in March 2025, won the juryo title as a new juryo that November (Jiji), and is at a career-high Maegashira 1 in his fifth makuuchi basho. His hair is still too short for an oicho-mage. Nikkan says he stays in during the basho, eating at the stable with gifts of mentaiko and goma saba, taking long hot baths and stretching. A winning record could put him in line for sanyaku.