Sekiwake Mitakeumi finished up the tournament he had already won, not so much with a bang as a thud -- the sound of him landing hard after being thrown down by No. 9 maegashira Yutakayama.
Still, the loss on the final day of the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday does little to detract from the accomplishment of Mitakeumi, who became the first Nagano Prefecture native ever and first wrestler from the Dewanoumi stable in 38 years to win a title.
Mitakeumi appeared headed to victory when he twice had Yutakayama (12-3) backed to the edge. The maegashira fought those off and went on the attack, eventually using a judo-like inner-thigh throw to send Mitakeumi flipping through the air and flat onto his back to finish 13-2.
With a first championship under his belt, Mitakeumi, who has spent nine straight tournaments at either komusubi or sekiwake, can now take aim at making the big jump to the upper end of the sanyaku -- the three ranks below yokozuna.
The unofficial critieria for promotion to ozeki calls for 33 wins over the previous three tournaments as a sanyaku -- Mitakeumi now has 22 through two tournaments after chalking up nine at the Summer tourney in May.
In other final-day action, Goeido won a showdown with fellow ozeki Taka- yasu, slipping out of a headlock and easily shoving him out of the ring. Both had entered the tournament needing a majority of wins, which they had already achieved, and Goeido finished 10-5, one win better than Takayasu.
Sekiwake Ichinojo managed to save his rank, tripping No. 6 maegashira Endo backward to secure his fifth win over the final six days and kachikoshi eighth win overall.
No. 5 maegashira Yoshikaze, who on Saturday ended the possibility of becoming the first wrestler since 1991 to finish a tournament with an 0-15 record, finished with a winning streak when he bulled out komusubi Shohozan to end 2-13. Shohozan will drop from the sanyaku after finishing 3-12.
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