Ura Beats Hoshoryu for His Third Kinboshi as the Yokozuna Pulls and Loses Two in a Row; Tatsunami: 'He Can't Withdraw'

November 11, 2026

Yokozuna Hoshoryu, 27 (Tatsunami), gave up a kinboshi for the second day running on Day 4, pushed out by East Maegashira 2 Ura, 34 (Kise), in the musubi. Ura dove in head-first; Hoshoryu met him with both hands, then pulled right away, and Ura followed him straight out in about two seconds (Sankei Shimbun). Hoshoryu is 2-2; it is the first time he has given up two kinboshi by Day 4 since last year's Nagoya basho. He walked back down the hanamichi, stared at a monitor replaying the bout with his hands on his hips and tilted his head, then declined interviews through a tsukebito for the second straight day (Nikkan Sports). He had surgery on his right knee after the July Nagoya basho and sat out September.

Ura, 0-3 before the bout, got his first win and his third kinboshi, his first in 25 basho since beating Terunofuji in September 2022; his first came against Harumafuji in July 2017, so he now has kinboshi against three yokozuna. 'It's a feeling I can't put into words,' he told Nikkan Sports. Asked if he was moved: 'It's not that kind of feeling.' To Sports Hochi: 'I'm happy. I just tried to give it my all.' He gets Onosato in the musubi on Day 5.

Stablemaster Tatsunami (ex-komusubi Asahiyutaka), commenting on NHK radio, had said before the bout that Hoshoryu 'doesn't want to let him inside' and 'has to go forward or it leads to injury.' Afterward: 'With sumo like this, it's tough. Today's sumo is unacceptable. He went in saying he was fine, so he has to produce results.' He said he would 'talk with him a bit' back at the stable in Itoshima, but on withdrawing: 'No, no, he can't withdraw' (Nikkan Sports, Sponichi, Mainichi). Judging chief Asakayama (ex-ozeki Kaio): 'The worst sumo came out. I hope his spirit doesn't break. If his knee is bad, he has to think about it; if not, he needs to rebuild.' Hakkaku: 'Looking at how he collapsed [on Day 3], he's not 100 percent,' and after Day 4, 'His desire to win is strong.' NHK commentator Nishiiwa: 'It's worrying, given the content.'

Columnists were blunt. Former ozeki Kotokaze in Sports Hochi: 'He deserves the criticism. I can't understand why he pulled.' If his knee is bad, withdrawing is one option; if not, he should grit his teeth to senshuraku, as Onosato did when he recovered from 1-3 to 9-6 in July. Tamanoi (ex-ozeki Tochiazuma) in Sponichi: pulling to spare the knee is backward. 'He has no option but to go forward.' Tokyo Sports notes he has not won a title as yokozuna and that a poor record or a mid-basho withdrawal could raise questions about his future.