TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Kotozakura lost his perfect record after five days and fellow ozeki Aonishiki was beaten for the second straight day at the Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament on Thursday, leaving nine wrestlers including yokozuna Onosato tied for the lead.

Kotozakura (4-1) relinquished his outright lead after failing to deal with a low-angled opening drive from Churanoumi (4-1). While the ozeki tried to escape along the straw bales, the No. 3 maegashira kept the chase on and claimed a push-out win at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan.

Ozeki Aonishiki (3-2) fell to a stunning defeat at the hands of Gonoyama (2-3) as the No. 3 maegashira produced an explosive initial drive and bulldozed the Ukrainian star out of the dohyo in a blink.

Back at the second-highest rank of ozeki this month, Aonishiki did not get the best preparation ahead of the meet after competing with a left ankle injury and hurting his big toe while winning July's Nagoya meet.

Yokozuna Onosato (4-1) bounced back from his defeat a day earlier after the grand champion seized a right underarm belt hold and showed little trouble in forcing out No. 2 maegashira Yoshinofuji (0-5).

Kirishima (4-1) lost his footing early on against Takanosho (3-2) and was on the receiving end of some pushes from the No. 4 maegashira, but the ozeki moved toward his left while backpedaling and managed to get behind his opponent before pushing him out.

Kirishima, who went 12-3 in July, needs a championship-caliber performance at the ongoing 15-day meet as he bids to reach the exalted rank of yokozuna.

Sekiwake Atamifuji (4-1) kept his cool against pusher-thruster Daieisho (1-4), the ozeki promotion hopeful making the most of his bigger frame to shove away the komusubi several times before ousting him off the ring.

Atamifuji needs 12 wins this month to reach the usual requirement of 33 wins over three straight meets fighting as either sekiwake or komusubi to be considered for promotion.

New sekiwake Fujinokawa (3-2) came out on top of a fierce battle with new komusubi Hakunofuji (1-4), grabbing a push-out win.