At the 2025 Nagoya tournament, Kotoshoho won his first championship by beating Aonishiki on the final day. Kotoshoho came in on two losses, Aonishiki on three, so their head-to-head bout decided the title outright. It ended in an instant when Kotoshoho put Aonishiki down by tsukiotoshi, a thrust-down, sealing the first championship of a career that had spent years on the edge of a breakthrough.
A New Arena and a Race Nobody Saw Coming
The Nagoya tournament arrived with a change of address. It was the first basho held at the new IG Arena, and the building announced itself before a single bout: tickets sold out early. A debut at a new arena tends to sharpen everything. The crowd leans in. The wrestlers feel it.
What the building could not script was the championship race. This was a title chase almost no one predicted. The names you would normally pencil in at the top did not run away with it, and as the days passed the leaderboard kept refusing to settle into anything familiar. For anyone who follows the honbasho calendar closely, an unpredictable race is the best kind of theatre, and Nagoya delivered one that held its shape right up to the closing afternoon.
The Final-Day Bout, Decided in an Instant
It came down to the last day, and it came down to two men. Kotoshoho stood on two losses. Aonishiki stood on three. That arithmetic turned their meeting into a winner-take-all bout: settle it head-to-head, and the championship went with it. There was no margin and no tomorrow. Everything rested on one charge.
Then it was over almost before it began. A huge roar went up from the crowd, and in that same breath Kotoshoho had finished it, putting Aonishiki down by tsukiotoshi. A thrust-down is a sideways collapse of leverage, the kind of finish that reads as inevitable only in replay. In the moment it simply happened, and the speed of it left people stunned. One technique, one instant, and Kotoshoho had his first career championship.
Why tsukiotoshi fit the moment
Of all the ways to clinch a maiden title, a thrust-down carries a particular drama: it rewards timing over brute force, a read of the opponent’s balance rather than a long grinding push. It is one of the named winning moves catalogued in any guide to kimarite, and on this final day it became the technique that turned a career-long wait into a championship in the span of a heartbeat.
Who Is Kotoshoho? The Long, Patient Climb
This was not an overnight arrival. Kotoshoho made his top-division debut in July 2020, and the road from there ran anything but straight. He was demoted to the second division twice, the kind of setback that quietly ends plenty of careers, and each time he had to climb back. By the time he lifted the Emperor’s Cup he had spent 25 tournaments in makuuchi, a long apprenticeship for a wrestler still only 25 years old.
Along the way he gathered the markers of a wrestler the sport rated but had not yet seen break through. His special-prize haul, counting this tournament, stands at one Outstanding Performance prize and two Fighting Spirit prizes. For years he wore the label of promising hope, the talent everyone expected to step up, and for years the step did not quite come. He had drifted somewhat out of the spotlight, present but unnoticed, the sort of name that gets mentioned and then passed over.
There is a family thread here, too. Kotoshoho is the older brother of the wrestler Kotoeiho, so this first championship lands not just on one career but across a sumo household that now has a title to its name.
The Wins That Built the Run
A two-loss tournament does not happen by accident, and Kotoshoho’s path through Nagoya was lined with serious scalps. His two defeats came against Fujinokawa and Mitakeumi. Everywhere else, he kept knocking over the names that matter. He beat the yokozuna Onosato. He beat the sekiwake Kirishima. He took down the komusubi Takayasu. He handled the top maegashira Aonishiki, the same man he would later face with the title on the line, and he also got past Kusano.
Stack those results together and the championship stops looking like a fluke of the final day. To beat a yokozuna, a sekiwake and a komusubi inside one tournament is to go through the upper ranks one by one. The patient years had not dulled him; they had loaded him, and the run finally arrived all at once.
The Wider Final-Day Picture
Kotoshoho was not the only story on the closing day. The three-loss newcomer Kusano arrived in Nagoya with a chance, however slim, at a fairy-tale debut-tournament title. After the championship had already been settled, he faced Takayasu and ran into a wall of strength, overpowered by the more experienced man. The dream finish did not come. What did come was hardly a consolation: Kusano walked away with a double prize, taking both the Fighting Spirit prize and the Technique prize for a debut that announced him as a name to watch.
At the very top of the banzuke, the marquee bout went to Onosato, who beat Kotozakura by yorikiri to finish the tournament on eleven wins. Kotozakura ended on eight. Across the tournament, the yokozuna and ozeki ranks combined for a modest record overall, which is part of why the leaderboard stayed so open and why a wrestler long on the margins could step through and seize it. Nagoya opened a new building, and it closed with a champion almost nobody had predicted.
Kotoshoho won his first career championship at the 2025 Nagoya tournament, settling it on the final day by beating Aonishiki with a tsukiotoshi thrust-down.
The title capped a long climb: a July 2020 top-division debut, two demotions to the second division, and 25 tournaments in makuuchi for a wrestler still only 25.
His run took down yokozuna Onosato, sekiwake Kirishima and komusubi Takayasu, while Kusano earned a Fighting Spirit and Technique double prize and Onosato finished on eleven wins.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did Kotoshoho win the 2025 Nagoya championship?
It came down to the final day. Kotoshoho was on two losses and Aonishiki on three, so their direct bout decided the title. Kotoshoho won it by tsukiotoshi, a thrust-down, in a finish that was over in an instant and clinched his first career championship.
Why was this championship such a surprise?
It was a race almost no one predicted. Kotoshoho had long been seen as a promising hope who struggled to break through, and he had gone somewhat unnoticed. He made his top-division debut in July 2020, was demoted to the second division twice, and had spent 25 tournaments in makuuchi before finally taking the title at age 25.
What else happened on the final day at Nagoya?
The newcomer Kusano, on three losses, faced Takayasu after the title was decided and was overpowered, missing out on a debut-tournament championship but earning both the Fighting Spirit prize and the Technique prize. In the yokozuna-ozeki bout, Onosato beat Kotozakura by yorikiri to finish on eleven wins, with Kotozakura on eight.
