On July 25, yokozuna Hakuho, barring major injury, or another basho-cancelling scandal, will mount the dohyo at around 5:45pm to be presented with his 20th Emperor's Cup to date.
Expect a humble response from the best the modern game has produced. No Asashoryu-esque fist-pumps or waves to the crowd. This is the quintessential sumo champ, the man sumo has been craving since the retirement of Takanohana almost a decade ago. Hak, as he is known to the sumo-following community, will one day — and you can quote me on this in the future — become the most successful yokozuna the sport has ever seen. We are, therefore, watching history in the making.
At a similar age the career of the Mongolian yokozuna so many loved to hate — Asashoryu — had peaked and was on the downward slope. Asa was great when he had no real opposition at rank or from the ozeki gang, but Hak, even with a strong group of ozeki chasers, still manages to win basho after basho. Expect little different in Nagoya.