NHK Anchor and popular Sumo presenter/play-by-play man Hiro Morita has published his 2018 Year in Review this past week on the NHK World website, and if you haven’t seen it, click here to give it a read.
The full piece is well worth a look. As any listener of Hiro’s coverage – particularly his live sumo coverage – will know, he is prone to work in little bits and pieces he’s picked up directly from the rikishi themselves, and this bit at the end stood out in particular as we continue to debate the ability of current crop of Yokozuna:
I had a chance to talk to Hakuho during the winter provincial tour in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan in December, and the 41-time champion told me that he’s looking forward to take on all comers in the new year. The Mongolian Yokozuna strongly believes he has what it takes to prove that he’s still the king of the ring.
Especially if you’re new to sumo or just nostalgic, it’s a good look back on the year that was as we get ready for the year that will be.
Thanks for highlighting this article Josh. There are loads of great bits in there. Interesting to see about the US sumo tournament too!
There will be another one on March 23 this year – tickets are on sale Jan 8! We’ll do another post once they’re available with more info.
Kind of unfortunate that it will fall this year during a grand sumo tournament.
I went to the US Sumo last year and met Mr. Morita. It was great fun.