When the basho opens today, few rikishi will be as ill-prepared as the two yokozuna: Hakuho and Harumafuji.
Neither man has had time to properly prepare for the annual jaunt in Osaka, Japan's third largest city.
Subject to such events as PR visits to local dignitaries, supporters club parties, museum visits and dedicatory ceremonies at the Sumiyoshi-taisha shrine in the south of the city in the fortnight leading up to shonichi, both will be entering the tournament short on practice, undoubtedly tired, and far from peak condition.
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