Like ships that pass in the night, the yokozuna promotion hopes of ozeki pair Takakeisho and Kirishima briefly intersected on the final day of the November tournament.
Unfortunately, the final top-level bout of 2023 failed to generate much excitement — either in the warm-up, or once the action on the clay got underway, with a quick slap down ending the fight almost as soon as it began.
What could have been a titanic struggle, with silverware and promotion hopes at stake, had much of the energy sucked out of it because of Atamifuji’s loss earlier in the day — which handed Kirishima the title — as well as five defeats over the previous fortnight that put paid to Takakeisho’s hopes of becoming yokozuna.