Ivan Sergeyevich

I'd say the opponent was probably Kyokudozan and whatever the kimarite was, it couldn't have been sokubiotoshi as it was added to the recognized kimarite list only in 2001.

Anyone but Kokonoe.

I'm looking forward to 14-1... In any case I agree with 12-3 yusho & 13-2 jun-yusho crowd. There's no demand of two consecutive yushos, just two consecutive yusho equivalent performances. Moreover, Kaio is no ordinary ozeki. No one except Takanohana II has won (in modern times, at least) over three yusho without becoming a yokozuna (and he naturally became one later after... seven?). Not every yokozuna secures his promotion by two zensho yusho. Sure, it's ideal but I don't think the threshold should be risen too high. It's not a question of life and death. Whatever....

There needs to be at least two ozeki in the banzuke but there's no need for yokozuna at all as they are kind of derivatives of the ozeki. Yokozuna were included in the banzuke as ozekis until 1890 when Nishinoumi demanded his rank be separately mentioned. Glossary of this forum says it as follows: "yokozuna-ozeki, arrangement where it is possible to artificially create the demanded two ozeki even when there is only one ozeki presently on the banzuke; yokozuna is temporarily marked as a sort of a ozeki on banzuke (tozai depending on which side has a vacant ozeki rank), primarily the term is used for referring to nishi sei-yokozuna but in the very rare case that no ozeki presently exist, both sei-yokozuna could be in principle referred to as yokozuna-ozeki, see saiko-ichi, saikokyu" See for yourself as the passage above includes links to other terms telling you more.

20, you mean. ;-)

Well, I never personally saw the bout so I'm relying on hearsay anyway. We'd probably need to hear this from someone who actually saw the bout and has excellent memory but what you describe sounds quite plausible.

I can't recall exact details either. Anyway sometime in mid-Nineties Takatoriki was about to be shown to have lost to Tosanoumi (?) when Tricky's heyamate Takanonami raised his hand asking for a discussion where it was discovered with the help of video replay that Tosa had indeed stepped out briefly and the decision was overruled or so seemingly most people remember this to have happened. This right of a hikae-rikishi hadn't been used for several decades and it was thought to have died due to the lack of use until Takanonami revived it. He later said it was completely reflex-like reaction from him. About the term hikae-rikishi though... Does it mean any rikishi sitting by the dohyo or only those who still haven't had their bout of the day? Ah, trivia... (Blinking...)

And let's not forget Takanohana had to skip Kyushu 1996 entirely. He would've most likely been close of breaking Kitanoumi's all-time record of 82 from 1978. For more see Rowy's* page and his site in general. * Wanchanyama?

Hmm, reminds me of Kiev Dynamo's "scientific" football... (Clapping wildly...) I'm not sure too much data is a good thing. Do these things really work?

I stand corrected about Kototenta. Thank you for clarification.

While I basically agree with you and share your gratitude to the aforementioned, there are legal aspects to keep in mind as the original video is copyrighted to NHK.

I thought the record was Kototenta's 28-0.

The legendary photo. :-D Thanks to Czech Sumo Association for bandwidth. :-P

I seem to recall that bout was so exceptional even then-rijicho Tokitsukaze commented specifically about it. Someone might have it uploaded somewhere. Let's seek...

Thank you for your efforts! :-( (Scratching chin...)