Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho sentenced front-running ozeki Kisenosato to his first defeat on Wednesday, grabbing a share of the lead in the process at the Spring Grand Tournament.

Kisenosato, who famously ended Hakuho's 63-bout winning streak at the 2010 Kyushu tournament and also beat him at the New Year's meet in January, looked nervous in the day's last bout at Edion Arena Osaka.

After one false start, Hakuho, sumo's most successful wrestler with 35 career championships, went steaming into the ozeki and sent him out to improve to 42-13 in their head-to-head series.