 Kisenosato was listed as the top "yokozuna" on the January 2019 "banzuke", despite not winning a match in November, because the other two "yokozuna" had sat out completely.He lost his opening three bouts of the tournament, giving him a sequence of eight straight losses from the last day of the September 2018 tournament (not counting defaults), the worst by a "yokozuna" since 15-day tournaments were established in 1949.On the morning of the fourth day of the tournament, stablemaster Tagonoura announced that Kisenosato had decided to retire from the sport.