If Hakuho wins the upcoming Grand Sumo Tournament (May 6-20) it will be the 50th time a Mongolian has won the Emperor's Cup.
Of the 32 championship portraits currently hanging in the Ryogoku Kokugikan, eight on each of the four main sides, none are of Japanese sekitori, and currently all, bar one, are Mongolian.
That lone exception is ozeki Kotooshu of Sadogatake Beya, the Bulgarian national whose May 2008 yusho broke a run of 13 consecutive wins for the Mongolians.
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