Sole leader Hakuho dodged a bullet to stay on track for a 26th Emperor's Cup with his eighth win, while Kisenosato started to pick up the pieces of his shattered yokozuna promotion bid by beating Kyokutenho at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday.
Hakuho improved to 8-0 and the Mongolian yokozuna was one win clear of Bulgarian ozeki Kotooshu and Brazilian No. 12 maegashira Kaisei.
Fellow yokozuna Harumafuji suffered a second upset defeat when he was knocked back by a body slam from third-ranked maegashira Chiyotairyu and dumped out of the dohyo, leaving both men at 6-2.