Yokozuna Kisenosato's decision to retire as a sumo wrestler was met by much regret from many in the sport.
Heralded as the long-awaited Japanese-born yokozuna, Kisenosato has been plagued by the injuries he suffered during the 2017 Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, which he miraculously won. Including that tournament, his first as a yokozuna, the 32-year-old has only participated in all 15 days of a basho twice since ascending to the sport's highest rank.
The ill-fated sumo wrestler who only lasted two years as a yokozuna was described as "very serious and stoic."
On Tuesday night, his stablemaster, Tagonoura, had a discussion for about 30 to 40 minutes with Kisenosato about his retirement for the first time, Tagonoura said Wednesday morning.
Kisenosato seemed to be no different from any other day, Tagonoura said, adding: "For such a man with great patience like Kisenosato to talk about retirement, I thought he was clearly prepared to retire."
Stablemaster Nishiiwa, who had belonged to the same stable as Kisenosato, said sadly: "He was suffering as he could not achieve outstanding results as yokozuna, but for me, he was a terrific yokozuna."
The Japan Sumo Association's director of judging, Onomatsu, said with regret, "I wanted him to have more wins as a yokozuna on the dohyo ring."
Since Kisenosato made his debut as a sumo wrestler at 15, he had been seen as a promising wrestler. He rapidly moved up the ranks to the top makuuchi division.
After that, he seemed to have plateaued, but captured his long-awaited first championship when he was an ozeki at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in 2017.
He was promoted to yokozuna after the tournament. Unfortunately, he has had to deal with ordeal after ordeal since then.
In his first basho as a yokozuna, he injured his left chest area on the 13th day. He forcibly kept competing in the basho, claiming a dramatic victory to win the tournament on the final day.
From then on, it was as if he had entered a long dark tunnel.
Because of his injuries, Kisenosato could not execute his bread-and-butter offensive moves from the left.
Before he was promoted to yokozuna, he was hardly injured, sitting out only one bout. Since, he repeatedly dropped out halfway through tournaments, contributing to a vicious cycle.
Through Tuesday's bout, Kisenosato had posted eight successive losses, the worst run for a yokozuna since the introduction of six tournaments a year.
He competed in all 15 bouts in last year's Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament, putting off the issue of whether he should retire.
But at the following Kyushu tournament, Kisenosato lost four straight bouts from the start of the basho. With this shameful record, he dropped out of the tournament. In the ongoing New Year basho, the yokozuna started with three straight losses before announcing his retirement.
Kisenosato acquired his solid ability through strenuous training under late stablemaster Naruto and kept trying to make a full comeback.
When the Yokozuna Deliberation Council passed a resolution to "encourage" the wrestler, he made up his mind to accept the notice and thought it was important to achieve good results.
But the gears that had fallen off couldn't be put back in place. Kisenosato failed to earn a win since he won on the 14th day of the Autumn tournament last year.
"Kisenosato" literally means "unusual power," but his wish to make a full come back did not come true.
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