Takayasu flopped in his ozeki debut Sunday, going down at the hands of second-ranked maegashira Hokutofuji on the opening day of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament.
On a wild day at the meet that saw all three ozeki and two yokozuna lose, Takayasu, promoted to sumo's second-highest rank after going 11-4 at the last tourney in May, looked shaky throughout his first career meeting with Hokutofuji.
The sellout crowd at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium was well behind Takayasu, but the Tagonoura stable wrestler allowed Hokutofuji to set the tone, the maegashira getting the inside grip on the belt.