Word: yokozunas
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Dates: during 2003-2003
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...PROMOTED. ASASHORYU, 22, 136-kilogram ethnic-Mongolian sumo wrestler, to yokozuna, the highest rank in Japan's ancient sport; in Tokyo. Asashoryu is the first Mongolian, and the third foreigner, to win the title. With only four years of professional sumo experience, his rise is the fastest in the modern history of the sport...
...sumo, the term yokozuna means "grand champion," and few yokozunas were grander?inside and outside the ring?than Japan's Takanohana, who announced his retirement from sumo last week. From his start as a gangly 15-year-old phenom wrestling in his father's stable, Takanohana quickly grew to dominate sumo, winning his first championship at the record age of 19 and earning the coveted title of yokozuna at 22. When he wasn't shoving overmatched opponents around like a human bulldozer, Takanohana?together with his older brother, Wakanohana?charmed the nation with his good looks and pop-star persona...
...September, but after losing last week to an opponent he would once have chomped like sashimi, he knew it was time to hang up the loincloth. "I have no regrets," he told the press. Maybe, but sumo's notoriously conservative overlords might, as Takanohana was the only active Japanese yokozuna. The most Japanese of sports may crown as its next champion a Mongolian named Asashoryu. Tsuneo Watanabe, the head of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, said: "I pray Takanohana's retirement isn't symbolic of Japan's decline." In a country that seems to be shrinking every day in every...