The yokozuna decision sumo watchers were expecting in 2026 has been postponed. Aonishiki's pursuit of a third consecutive top-division championship - which would have triggered the Yokozuna Deliberation Council's consideration of his elevation to the sport's 76th rank - is on hold after a 4-5 stretch through the first nine days of the Osaka spring basho.
The Ukrainian ozeki dropped bouts to Yoshinofuji, Churanoumi, Oho, Atamifuji and Takanosho - five losses across nine days that were as much a product of the wrestler's evolving form as of opponents who arrived in Osaka with answers for his preferred grips.
That reset has unlocked a title race that, by mid-basho, looks more open than any in recent memory. Kirishima, Kotoshoho and Gonoyama are tied at 8-1 atop the day-nine standings, with Hoshoryu - the only remaining yokozuna in the meet after Onosato's withdrawal - sitting just behind at 7-2.
Kirishima's run is the most consequential in administrative terms. Demoted from ozeki at the end of 2025, the wrestler entered the basho needing wins for re-promotion to the senior rank. The pace he has set sits well inside the customary threshold.
"With only three wins left in the next six days, he seems odds on to make that mark," the official tournament report noted.
For Aonishiki, the spring basho has been a different sort of education. He had walked into Osaka as the unbeaten New Year basho winner riding back-to-back top-division yusho and a series of training-camp reports that pointed to him as the most prepared wrestler in the senior rank list. The 4-5 stretch did not match the form pre-tournament expected.
The Yokozuna Deliberation Council typically considers promotion only when a wrestler has won two consecutive top-division championships. Aonishiki had already met that threshold heading into Osaka. A third yusho would have been a confirming win and almost certainly would have triggered an elevation vote. Instead, the spring basho is now a setback that pushes any decision to later in 2026 at the earliest.
The broader rank list has not stabilised. Both yokozuna have been managing injuries through the past two basho cycles, with Onosato's withdrawal in particular reopening the question of whether the senior rank is currently held by two wrestlers operating at the consistency level the rank historically requires. Hoshoryu's 7-2 is professional but did not deliver the kind of dominant week that yokozuna are expected to produce when challengers stumble.
The rest of the leaderboard reflects how thin the margin has become at the top of sumo's hierarchy. Three wrestlers tied at 8-1 going into the second week is rare for any honbasho; it is rarer still for the trio to be drawn from across the rank list as Kirishima (former ozeki), Kotoshoho (mid-rank ozeki) and Gonoyama (maegashira) are.
The final six days will produce a new champion - whoever wins, the spring basho will deliver a result that reshapes the May tournament's storyline. For Aonishiki specifically, the rebuild starts with the next basho. The yokozuna door is not closed, but it is back to being two consecutive yusho away rather than one.
