Harumafuji snapped his losing streak at two as the yokozuna defeated Myogiryu to improve to 3-2 at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday.
Harumafuji's western counterpart, Hakuho, stood as the only unbeaten wrestler a third of the way through the meet, outclassing komusubi Tochiozan (3-2) in the yokozuna's march toward his 24th championship.
Hakuho continued to dominate Tochiozan, moving to 17-1 for his career against the Kasugano wrestler. A pack of eight trail Hakuho at 4-1, including ozeki Kakuryu and sekiwake Baruto.
Desperate to avoid a third straight defeat, Harumafuji left nothing to chance against Myogiryu (2-3), barreling into the No. 2 maegashira and never looking back.
Of the four ozeki, Kotooshu was the only one who failed to win, going down meekly to Baruto, who barely broke a sweat in pushing his foe out of the ring.
Kotooshu now has lost four straight, after defeating No. 1 maegashira Takayasu on opening day.
Kotoshogiku (3-2) beat sekiwake Goeido (3-2) by uwatenage for his second straight win before fellow ozeki Kakuryu dismissed Takayasu (1-4) by sotogake.
Kisenosato (3-2) also scored for sumo's second-highest rank against No. 2 Chiyotairyu (3-2), who failed to reproduce the magic he worked against Harumafuji a day earlier.