Little-known Tokitsuumi grabbed the sole possession of the lead with his ninth victory after a dominating display of power over ozeki Tochiazuma on the 11th day of action at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday.
While the seventh-ranked maegashira flipped the script in the penultimate bout at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium to move to 9-2, ozeki Musoyama walked away the vanquished in an upset to Toki to fall into a pack of six wrestlers one behind the leader at 8-3 with just four days remaining in Nagoya.
Tokitsuumi gave Tochiazuma a run for his money and won the whole pot, allowing no leeway as he manhandled the ozeki with a stiff right-handed grip and eventually escorted him over the straw bales to the amazement of the crowd.
Musoyama charged quickly out of the blocks in the final bout but the fourth-ranked maegashira Toki (7-4) kept the ozeki at bay with some well-placed head thrusts before using the forward momentum to drop his opponent to his third loss.