I first introduced Kotooshu when I 'came out' as sumo fan in my Sumo diary.

Though the second-highest rank of ozeki is granted for sustained high winning margins (at and above 10-5 for three consecutive tournaments), ozekis are expected to win at least one tournament. But, while Kotooshu rose real fast to achieve the rank by January 2006, he never got even close to tournament victory in the next 14 Bashos.

Kotooshu struggled with injuries (especially to a knee), nervousness, and visibly low spirits. Plus, the disadvantages of his giant stature: at 202 cm, he is the highest sumo wrestler, and his flat stomach (that made him women's favourite) contributes to a high center of gravity, thus his more seasoned opponents found it easy to throw him. Switching to passive tactics (meant to protect his knee) only made things worse.

So you could imagine how everyone from journalists' proverbial taxi driver to Sumo Association head was talking non-plussed about this improbable comeback. Sumo re-gained a popularity in Japan it didn't have for years.

What the Bulgarian ozeki learned was to keep his hips low, and to protect his knees by winning - controlling the bout by going on the attack. Here he defeats yokozuna Asashoryu (who won 22 tournaments!) on Day 11 - let the seat pillows fly!

(06:46, actual bout starts 02:55 in; also watch body language from 01:55, the smile he can't suppress during the seat pillow rain, and from 03:53 in when he walks off to salute his stablemaster)

...and here is the all-important Day 12 victory against the second yokozuna, Hakuho, who trailed him in the race for the championship. Fighting someone both stronger and faster, the only weapon is to never lose the initiative:

(05:30, actual bout 00:35 in; again look at the smile too)

Then came his defeat against his longtime low-ranked nemesis Aminishiki, but on Day 14, he secured his championship against tricky little Mongolian Ama - again by keeping the initiative, thus Ama's lightning-fast throw attempt came too late:

(05:19, actual bout 00:35 in; look at his father from 01:33 and 02:40 in))

Ama, currently sekiwake (3rd highest rank), is actually my personal favourite sumo player, even ahead of Kotooshu. He is just shy of being the lightest in the top division, but he is very fast and uses a great variety of techniques. Allowing him spectacular last-split-second saves, so he is now a crowd favourite (but I noticed him earlier, neener neener).

Ama's problem is losing to also-rans while he seems to focus only on his difficult opponents. He is Hakuho's nemesis, beating the Grand Champion four times in the last five meetings - last on Day 10 of the present tournament:

(05:29, Ama starts from left, actual bout from 01:10 in)

And here is his most spectacular victory snatched from the yaw of defeat this tournament, against young Russian giant Wakanoho (+10 cm, +40 kg!) on Day 8:

(04:02, begins with actual bout; look from 01:10 how angry W gets at himself as he walks off!)

:: :: :: :: ::

A final note: as you could have guessed from the above, sumo has become very international, and the current tournament had more non-Japanese than ever - 16 of the 42 top-division players:

• 8 Mongolians (including both yokozunas, sekiwake Ama, and one of the two komosubis [4th - and last elevated - rank]),
  
• 3 Russians,
  
• 2 Georgians,
  
• 1 South Korean, Estonian and Bulgarian each.

But, with the home market still being the biggest one, sumo 'needs' promising Japanese contenders, too. Fortunately for them, two youngsters emerged who are seen capable of rising to the top (Kisenosato, who is already the other komusubi, and Goeido), though they weren't that stellar this tournament.