It’s been a rough 14 months for Kakuryu since the passing of his former stablemaster resulted in the closure of Izutsu Beya and the yokozuna’s relocation to Michinoku stable.
The Mongolian veteran went into the September 2019 tournament as defending champion, with his 14-1 title winning performance in the previous meet seemingly the sign of a late career resurgence.
But while Kakuryu did come close to a seventh championship in March this year — just losing out in a final day loss to Hakuho — he has also missed 63 of 75 bouts in the five other tournaments held since that last Emperor’s Cup win.