Recently retired yokozuna Kisenosato showed little emotion on the raised ring, but he has since revealed that the final days of his injury-troubled career were anxious ones as he tried to prove he belonged at the sport's highest rank.
But looking back on his 17-year career, the 32-year-old, who remains in the sumo world as elder Araiso, said it was something he would not trade for anything else despite his regrets about retiring earlier than he had hoped.
"As Kisenosato, I have no regrets. As a sumo wrestler, I did everything," Araiso told Kyodo News in a recent interview. "I love sumo, so I'm sad that I can no longer compete. I wanted to do it until I was 40 years old."