[sumo] Yokozuna face

[Doreen Simmons]

I had a good look at the TV news reports of the Meiji Shrine dohyo-iri, 
and there, suddenly, was the face of a yokozuna. It's easy to see, hard 
to explain -- but the young man Hakuho had become something else, 
something extra. I saw it in Akebono, too; and regardless of what he 
has become since, he was a great yokozuna and that is something nobody 
can take away from him.

I've been looking at some post-keiko photos I took of Hakuho only a few 
months ago, and am amazed at how he's grown and changed.

Thumbing through my old Kansai Time Out columns, I find that the first  
one I wrote on a new yokozuna was #2 -- and the Shin-yokozuna at that 
time was Chiyonofuji. The last time was #88, on Wakanohana III -- the 
previous Shiranui-style. And now I have to write another article -- 
fortunately each time isn't a repetition but a fresh look at a fresh 
yokozuna (with a few extra  bits of gossip).

PS Hakuho's double loop tsuna was a bit kinky today at Shuzan's 
dampatsu -- but the dohyo-iri was picture perfect.

Doreen Simmons
  jz8d-smmn at asahi-net.or.jp