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 ¡ª just losing out in a final day loss to Hakuho ¡ª he has also missed 63 of 75 bouts in the five other tournaments held since that last Emperor¡¯s Cup win.
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