'Kotooshu makes history'

"Bulgaria's gentle giant becomes the first European to capture an Emperor's Cup," The Asahi Shimbun reported today. (Link to AP story here.) Kotooshu (below right, facing the camera) finished 14-1. I snapped the shot below on Friday, right before he lost his first and only bout of the tournament, or "summer basho". When he was pushed out of the ring, the audience let out hoots of surprise, and several people threw their seat cushions (kinda like college graduates tossing their mortarboards).