When the Kyushu Basho down in Fukuoka drew to a close on Nov. 27, much of the conversation was centered on sekiwake Kisenosato and whether or not he deserved his all-but-publicly announced imminent promotion to the rank of ozeki.
To some more comfortable with stats and pie charts, his 32 instead of "usual" 33 wins in the last three basho as a sekiwake meant he was being promoted unfairly. Others had won 32 but no talk of promotion was heard. In addition, talk of a sizeable dollop of sympathy apparently also helped following the sudden death of Kisenosato's stable master, Naruto Oyakata, just before the tournament.
To others, the quality of his sumo of late, and his consistency over the last year, were more important points to consider. And it was this factor alone that saw him judged worthy of serving in the sport's second highest rank.