What if I told you that the yokozuna trio of Hakuho, Asashoryu, and Harumafuji might one day all be back in the ring together wearing their ceremonial tsuna (lightning bolt-adorned ropes)? Unlikely as that sounds, thanks to one of sumo’s numerous traditional and ceremonial aspects, it could come to pass sometime around 2045.
That’s the year when Hakuho will turn 60 and have his kanreki ring-entering ceremony.
Celebrated in several Asian countries, kanreki marks the end of one complete lunar calendar cycle and in Japan is closely associated with the color red.