Former Ozeki Asanoyama will return to the salaried ranks in January. He’ll be joined by Shonannoumi (5-2), who will be making his sekitori debut. Also promoted was Hakuyozan. Obviously, it is the promotion of former Ozeki Asanoyama that is gaining the most attention. For those of you who do not know (or remember) Asanoyama was sidelined for a year when the Japan Sumo Association handed him a suspension of six grand tournaments for breaking its coronavirus safety guidelines ahead of the Summer Grand Sumo in May 2021. Asanoyama forfeited his Ozeki rank and dropped to the sport’s fourth-tier sandanme division.