pending
Since reaching ozeki rank, a Kotozakura bout had a fairly predictable shape. He would get up close to his opponent, try to acquire his grip, and then stay there — resulting in longer matches where he leveraged his weight and tried to win through sheer refusal to be moved while forcing the opponent down or countering where possible. It worked often enough to keep him at his rank of ozeki, but it was not the style of sumo that brought him to the top and no longer what his sumo looks like today.
His bouts are shorter now but Kotozakura is achieving a similar result each tournament so no one is talking about his amazing development as he evolves his style of sumo. He has accomplished this while holding his rank, and although close in several tournaments, he has rarely reached kadoban status. Because of his recent trend to reach 8 or 9 wins each tournament the past year he has not been seen as a dominant ozeki but rather a barely stable ozeki and thus overlooked by many. Let's take a deeper look at the rikishi and specifically his lower body and footwork that is evolving his sumo.
Three generations at Sadogatake
Honouring his family tradition, Kotozakura trains at Sadogatake beya. His current shikona namesake and grandfather, the 53rd Yokozuna Kotozakura (1940–2007), once served at Sadogatake as oyakata, and his father, the former Sekiwake Kotonowaka, now holds that same role. Kotozakura debuted in November 2015 and confidently began to rise in rank as the years progressed. He reached Juryo in July 2019, Makuuchi in March 2020, and made his sanyaku debut in January 2023. The ozeki promotion followed in March 2024, and he took the name Kotozakura — his grandfather's name — on reaching that rank, fulfilling a goal he had stated openly since his sekitori days.
Sadogatake beya is part of the Nishonoseki Ichimon family of beya. The current Sadogatake was started in 1955, though the Sadogatake toshiyori name itself dates back more than 200 years. Sadogatake beya does not seem to have a specific style as we look at these three generations with Yokozuna Kotozakura favouring a charging bull style, current Sadogatake oyakata (former Kotonowaka) favouring countering techniques, and the current Kotozakura using a combination of grappling mixed with countering.
New feet of strength
His previous style, although not quite the "hug and chug" approach which would include forward momentum, can maybe be called "hug and twist." Kotozakura first establishes his grip, then sets his stance by planting his feet and bringing his weight into effect, and then out-muscles his opponent. This is belt sumo at a fundamental level and it carries a low risk, low requirement for mobility, and success depends on being the stronger man on the dohyo. When it resulted in wins, it did so because Kotozakura is quite a big and strong rikishi so it played to his strengths and worked out more often than not. The problem was when it failed, and he had no second plan, because the whole approach assumed the fight would be won standing still. If the initial plan failed, Kotozakura would shift into a counter style similar to his father's. He was no longer pushing forward, and something needed to change.
As I mentioned, the answer lies in his lower body movements and specifically his footwork. There is no clear metric we can reference, but if we could track the distance and speed of movement, you would see a clear growth between his rise to ozeki and today as he prepares for Nagoya 2026. Kotozakura has started moving forward quickly when his opponent steps back, and he shifts left and right to find openings when he sees an advantage. In the May tournament (Natsu basho), he achieved a 3-9-3 result, but we can see even when losing, he is moving much better against both Gonoyama on day 9 and Shodai on day 11. The movement to the side is quick and stable, providing Kotozakura with solid footing to move forward in both cases. Both of these days end in a loss as the direct result of solid footing leading to rapid movement that both opponents recognize and take advantage of his momentum. But the underlying evolution of technique is there, and as Kotozakura comes to better leverage this new mobility, he will surely become more dangerous as a result.
A form curve that doesn't look like the record
Looking at the results, Kotozakura's last few tournaments show that he is in decline. Twice since reaching ozeki he has had to withdraw and was not able to finish a tournament: first the September 2025 tournament, with knee ligament damage, and then the recent May 2026 basho, with a lower-back injury after just three wins. This makes five total withdrawals across his career and also puts him into kadoban status heading into Nagoya to defend his ozeki rank. Yet it is the bouts he has finished that tell us a different story, in my opinion, and show us his new techniques in action. His Day 14 win over Yokozuna Hoshoryu in March 2026 ended the yokozuna's championship hopes, and then again he defeated Hoshoryu in the June exhibition tournament in Paris.
The version of Kotozakura who beats a yokozuna twice in three months is the version he hasn't made his default sumo style yet. He isn't comfortable enough with the new footwork to trust it instinctively — injuries compound the difficulty, but they aren't the root of it. This gap is the whole story of his ozeki run so far.
That gap is also what separates him from the two men currently ahead of him in the conversation. Hoshoryu and Onosato have had their own challenges with staying healthy, but both have been able to convert big wins in dominating fashion as expected for their rank. Kirishima's position above him as the East ozeki this tournament — and his own yokozuna run — only highlights the contrast: Kotozakura is now defending his rank in the same tournament where a rival is closing in on sumo's highest rank.
What to watch in Nagoya
Kotozakura already possesses significant strength and grappling skills, as well as similarly advanced countering skills, likely due to training under his father. If his footwork and mobility continue developing, he may yet fold in his grandfather's "charging bull" style as well — and a yokozuna run stops being a stretch and becomes a real possibility. Over a full fifteen-day tournament, the honest read is that Kotozakura either remains a wrestler with one style that works and one that's still theoretical or proves that he is able to reset and continue pushing forward. Nagoya should start to answer which.