Yokozuna Kakuryu handed surprising sekiwake Takayasu his first loss on Wednesday, the 11th day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, while yokozuna Kisenosato remained unbeaten.
The newly minted yokozuna survived a scare from No. 4 maegashira Yoshikaze to improve to 11-0 in the 15-day tourney at Edion Arena Osaka. Ozeki Terunofuji and 10th-ranked maegashira Tochiozan also won to join Takayasu at one win back.
Takayasu entered his match with a 5-11 career mark against Kakuryu (8-3), but looked solid and fully capable of beating the Mongolian, who avoided falling to a second straight defeat.