Twelve months ago, Terunofuji entered the new year ranked at komusubi, and coming off a playoff loss to Takakeisho in the previous meet.
One year later, he stands alone atop the sumo world, a yokozuna whose most recent outing ended in a perfect 15-0 championship.
With four Emperor’s Cup wins in 2021 (bringing his career total to six) and promotion — first to ozeki, and then yokozuna — there is little arguing that the Year of the Ox belonged to the veteran from Ulaanbaatar.