Mongolian ozeki Harumafuji kicked off his third bid for promotion to sumo's highest rank of yokozuna with a powerful, if hesitant, win over Bulgarian komusubi Aoiyama on the opening day of the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday.
Grand champion Hakuho, meanwhile, dodged a bullet in the day's finale against Tochinoshin before manhandling the Georgian komusubi in dominant fashion for a first-day win at the 15-day meet at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Harumafuji, who won the Nagoya meet in July with a perfect 15-0 record for his third career title, let his opponent do all the thrusting at first and stepped back once before getting a left hand on top of Aoiyama's mawashi for a comfortable frontal takeout.