Stablemaster Musashigawa confirmed Tuesday that Samoan-born grand champion Musashimaru will miss the upcoming Summer Grand Sumo Tournament after failing to fully recover from a nagging wrist injury.
"I spoke with Musashimaru yesterday and we decided that it is better to sit out (the summer meet)," Musashigawa told reporters.
"He hasn't recovered as quickly as we hoped and is in no condition to practice. We didn't think it would take so long to heal but it's a bad injury," he added.
Musashimaru's no-show at the May 11-25 meet at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan will be his fourth straight having failed to recover from surgery on his left wrist.
"Before the operation, the doctor told me that I'd be okay by May at the earliest but the Nagoya meet (in July) would probably be more realistic," said Musashimaru.
"Even when I'm not moving my wrist it hurts but there is not a great deal I can do about it. I'll wrestle in Nagoya. I want to get back on the ring as soon as I can," added the yokozuna.