Butyrskaya, with tears in her eyes, stepped off the podium right after presentation of medals and hurriedly walked off the rink alone.

"I was the last skater, so I didn't watch Irina skate. But many people told me that I skated better than any others today, and it was enough to reverse the placement," said Butyrskaya, winner in the Nations Cup and Lalique Trophy this season. "I feel that my performance today deserved the gold, not a silver."

Slutskaya said: "I think Maria skated very well. But it's up to the judges to decide the winner."

Uzbekistan's Tatyana Malinina, fourth after Friday's short program, overtook Japan's Fumie Suguri to place third and qualify, along with the two big-name Russian skaters, for the lucrative Grand Prix series final in Tokyo in February.

NHK Trophy was the sixth and last figure skating Grand Prix event of the season. It offers the last opportunity for skaters to collect points.

Suguri, a local favorite, fell to fifth, just behind American Angela Nikodinov.

Three other spots for Tokyo went to skaters who skipped this event, including Michelle Kwan and Sarah Hughes of the United States and Russian Elena Sokolova.

In the men's competition, Russian Yevgeny Plushenko performed a solid short program with speed and polish, taking the lead going into Sunday's long, free program that will decide the final placings.

The 18-year-old European champion and defending NHK champion, skating to "Bolero," landed a clean quadruple toe loop combined with a triple at the beginning. He later had a triple axel and then a triple flip in addition to a rhythmic sequence of spins, spirals, steps and camels that kept the capacity crowd of 3,500 nearly spellbound.

Former world junior champion Ilia Klimkin of Russia also hit a quad in a shaky combination with a double, but his otherwise flawless performance left him in second place.

Canadian Ben Ferreira placed third, just ahead of Andrejs Vlascenko of Germany.

Elvis Stojko of Canada withdrew because of a lingering groin injury. Earlier, a nagging heel injury forced the three-time world champion to pull out of Skate Canada, another Grand Prix event. He now has no chance to qualify for the Grand Prix series final.

NHK Trophy had fewer big-name skaters this time, with Kwan, Russian Alexei Yagudin, Timothy Goebel and his fellow American Todd Eldredge skipping the event after qualifying for the series final.