Makes Appearance At Kokugikan For Hakuho Cup.

During Sunday’s youth sumo tournament – the “Hakuho Cup” held at Tokyo’s Ryōgoku Kokugikan, fans were delighted to see Yokozuna Kakuryu make a personal appearance in support of event. Kakuryu had a disappointing tournament in January, where he withdrew after day 10 with a recurrence of lower back pain. This is the same problem that has plagued Kakuryu in the past, and the reason why he was missing for the Nagoya basho in 2016.

When asked about his injuries, he remarked that he was going to tough it out, and continue to train, and expects to appear in the Osaka tournament, in spite of his chronic back problems. Readers skilled in reading Kanji can take a stab at the source material here.

It’s fantastic to see Kakuryu mobile and apparently in good spirits, but Tachiai fears that without some kind of medical intervention, Kakuryu is going to continue to deliver disappointing performance. Sumo fans everywhere wish him good fortune and a strong recovery.