He looks like he's been mainlining bull testosterone these past few tourneys.

yeah, it's pretty cool to see him just coming into the prime of his career

Pour one out for my boy Takayasu, hope he heals in time for the next one.

Also: Teeth, you seem to be more knowledgeable in these things, what's you take on Kisenosato?

Feel free to read that in a Howard Cosell voice.

i think he's (kisenosato) has never really been able to get healthy since he injured his chest right about when he got promoted - and i think he might have been promoted to yokozuna too soon since there's been such a hunger for a japanese yokozuna the yokozuna deliberation council probably gave him a pass where a mongolian or another foreigner would have been rejected. he's a great rikishi, don't get me wrong, but between the injuries and the mental pressure to "take back" sumo from the foreigners after a decade or so without a japanese yokozuna might be a bit much for him to take on. although, if he can come back from his most recent injury, it looks like hakuho is starting to slip a little bit, so, maybe he can catch up, who knows. there's a lot of strong newcomers rising through the ranks right now and i really don't see kisenosato sticking around too long, frankly, but i've been wrong before

that being said if i somehow ran the sumo association and could wave my wand and change everything I would move from 6 tournaments to 4 a year so that rikishi actually have a chance to heal properly

Surprisingly balanced view, I keep seeing people really dissing him and I want to not just assume that the organization is 100% corrupt and xenophobic and what have you.

Anyway, thanks for the prompt reply.

i get why people are dissing him - a mediocre yokozuna is super disappointing - but anybody who can get up to that level of sumo is still somebody to be reckoned with. if he had stayed at ozeki and had performed consistently well at the ozeki rank i imagine he'd be a lot more popular. i hope he gets healthy. personally, i just want everybody to be doing the best sumo they can, regardless of nationality, but it is a factor, and to pretend like a lot of the private citizens on the yokozuna deliberation council and a lot of the oyakata don't lean right-nationalist is pretty naive

and thanks for the questions