Just prior to the 2018 September Tournament, while sitting in a sweltering Ryogoku Kokugikan and watching the Yokozuna Deliberation Council practice session, I grabbed a quick selfie with a couple of rikishi standing over my right shoulder.

Tochinoshin and Mitakeumi were the two wrestlers in that photo. Both had lifted the Emperor's Cup for the first time that year, and looking at the picture I wondered who in the room would repeat the feat in the near future.

I certainly didn't expect it to be the man over my other shoulder, who was going into great detail about flans, cakes and desserts with NHK commentator Hiro Morita.