The action was in Nagoya, but the celebrating will be liveliest in Nagano Prefecture, as sekiwake Mitakeumi became the first sumo wrestler from the mountainous prefecture to capture a grand tournament title.
Mitakeumi sewed up his first career title with a day to spare when he forced out No. 13 maegashira Tochiozan for his 13th win in 14 days of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Saturday.
Securing a left-hand belt hold on the jump-off, Mitakeumi marched Tochiozan out of the ring to the cheers of the crowd at Dolphins Arena. Mitakeumi had beaten Tochiozan in five of six previous meetings, with the lone loss coming a year ago in Nagoya.
Mitaekeumi started the day two wins ahead of a pair of maegashira, No. 13 Asanoyama and No. 9 Yutakayama, and could still have clinched the title had all three lost. But he took his fate into his own hands to win the tournament that saw all three yokozuna and newly minted ozeki Tochinoshin miss either all or most of it due to injuries.
"I was nervous, but hearing my supporters, I wanted to win the title no matter what," said a tearful Mitakeumi in a post-match TV interview.
Mitakeumi's career has been on an upward trajectory since the former collegiate champion made his debut in March 2015, as he needed just four tournaments to make the uppermost makuuchi division. That tied the second fastest rise since the Showa era.
Mitakeumi earned promotion to komusubi for the Kyushu tourney in November 2016, and sekiwake for the 2017 Nagoya tournament in July last year, making him the first wrestler from the Dewanoumi stable to make the third-highest rank in 35 years.
His victory gave the Dewanoumi stable its commemorative 50th all-time title and first in 38 years.
"I wanted to give something good to my stable," he said.
The son of a Japanese father and Philippine mother, his sumo name comes from a famous mountain that straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures. He won the All-Japan collegiate championship when he was a senior at Toyo University in November 2014, and the national amateur title in December that year, enabling him to start his pro career in the makushita division.
Earlier Saturday, Asanoyama put the pressure on Mitakeumi by defeating No. 6 maegashira Endo for his 11th win, launching a strong pushing attack that had Endo over the edge in seconds.
Never ranked higher than No. 11 maegashira, Asanoyama is in line for a big jump up the rankings for the next tournament.
In the day's final bout, Yutakayama also improved to 11-3 when he pushed out ozeki Takayasu, who fell to 9-5.
The other ozeki, Goeido, also dropped to 9-5 after losing to sekiwake Ichinojo, who kept his hopes alive of retaining his rank by evening his record to 7-7.
In a bout between wrestlers with 8-5 records that has further ramifications, No. 3 maegashira Takakeisho weathered a furious battle with No. 2 maegashira Ikioi to push him out and notch his ninth win. That puts him in the driver's seat to fill a likely opening at komusubi for the next tournament.
No. 5 maegashira and former sekiwake Yoshikaze, who perhaps can be praised for just sticking it out in a disastrous tournament in which he suffered 13 straight losses, notched his first win by hurling down No. 16 maegashira Meisei.
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