Yokozuna Kakuryu clinched his fourth career championship on Saturday, the penultimate day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament.

The 32-year-old Mongolian defeated ozeki and local favorite Goeido (9-5) to clinch the title at Edion Arena Osaka with one day left in the 15-day competition. Kakuryu, whose only loss here came on Thursday to January's champion, sekiwake Tochinoshin, needed only one win over the final two days.

"Last year was brutal," said Kakuryu, who only managed to complete one grand tournament in his injury-hit 2017 campaign. "But so many fans stuck with me and cheered me on, and so many people kept supporting me, I wanted to make those people happy."

In the absence of his yokozuna rivals Hakuho and Kisenosato for the second straight tournament, Kakuryu has been on a roll. He won 10 straight to open January's New Year tourney before being slowed by injury and had the best start of his career here by opening with an 11-match win streak.

The climactic match ended almost before it started. The ozeki came head-on in his charge but slowly enough for Kakuryu to wrap his right arm around Goeido's neck and yank him down to the ring's sandy surface.

It was a huge relief for the yokozuna, who nearly withdrew from the tourney before it started with pain in the fingers of his right hand.

"I so wanted to win. It (my hand) was an issue," he said. "But it turns out my decision to accept this challenge without backing down proved to be the right one."

In the penultimate bout, ozeki Takayasu (11-3) handed sekiwake Mitakeumi his eighth loss, a defeat that will likely prevent him from fighting at sumo's third-highest rank in May for a sixth straight grand tournament.

As he so often does, Mitakeumi started well but finished poorly. He got around to the ozeki's left but could not bring him down as Takayasu spun out of danger. After some wild sparring at mid-ring, Takayasu got the sekiwake off balance and thrust him down.

But Takayasu's win only served to tie him with two other wrestlers, No. 6 maegashira Kaisei and No. 14 Ikioi, at 11-3 in the bid to finish as the tournament's runner-up.

A day after flubbing his lines in a crucial loss against Kakuryu, Kaisei made short work of No. 13 maegashira Daishomaru. The Brazilian behemoth hooked his arms under Daishomaru's on the charge and pushed him down to his fifth defeat. Kaisei, who is 31 and first wrestled in the upper division in 2011, has never won 12 bouts in his career.

"The thing I want most is one more win," Kaisei said.

Ikioi blasted diminutive Ishiura (7-7) out of the ring, when the 116-kilogram No. 12 maegashira aborted his charge and was easily shoved out. On Sunday, Ikioi will have a shot at matching his career high of 12 makuuchi-division wins when he fights Kaisei.

Komusubi Ichinojo (9-5) cemented his bid for a second promotion to sekiwake by throwing No. 4 maegashira Shodai to his seventh loss. The other komusubi, Chiyotairyu, will be saying goodbye to his time in the elite upper ranks after dropping to his 11th loss, easily forced out by No. 7 maegashira Yoshikaze.

Sekiwake Tochinoshin used his deadly left hand to latch onto roly-poly No. 5 maegashira Chiyomaru (6-8) and force him out. The Georgian has now won nine-plus bouts for three straight tournaments but will have a tougher time manhandling 215-kg Ichinojo on Sunday.