Akebono wrapped up the Nagoya Basho on both triumphant and disappointing notes, losing to fellow-yokozuna Musashimaru in the final bout but finishing his first yusho in more than three years with an excellent 13-2 record and reaching his long-awaited goal of 10 championships.
But he lost a golden opportunity to rack up the first perfect performance of his career by suffering consecutive losses to ozeki Chiyotaikai and Musashimaru on the last two days.
Sekiwake Tochiazuma finished in the runnerup position with his best record ever of 12-3, giving him a leg-up on his long-delayed quest to gain promotion to sumo's second-highest rank of ozeki. The other sekiwake, Kaio, virtually assured himself of ozeki promotion by easily defeating No. 4 maegashira Wakanoyama to wind up with his target record of 11-4.