The 32-year-old former Wai'anae High football player dropped out of the Nagoya Basho yesterday after three consecutive losses and a 2-3 start. If he is unable to compete at a level befitting his status as a yokozuna in September, Musashimaru may have no choice but to hang up his mawashi and take the streak into retirement with him.

Curiously, the pipeline that gave sumo its string of marquee performers from Hawai'i has been allowed to run dry. Rule changes in the wake of the so-called foreign boom of the early 1990s have made recruiting tougher here and sumo has chosen to look to Mongolia for most of the imports it accepts.

Yokozuna is the one rank from which there is no demotion. But such is the burden of upholding its exalted status that those who can no longer do so find themselves compelled to retire.

For Musashimaru, the weight of expectations has grown heavy upon his 6-foot-3, 523-pound frame. Since winning the milestone 12th championship — the most by a foreigner — in September, Musashimaru has dropped out in November, sat out January, March and May tournaments and, now, taken himself out at Nagoya.

The wrist, first injured last November, has left him unable to train sufficiently and his sharpness has suffered and his weight has risen. It was a situation faced by his Hawai'i predecessors, Takamiyama (elbow), Konishiki (knees and lower legs), Yamato (pneumonia and injuries) and Akebono (knees and back), all derailed by the accumulated wear of the bruising sport.

"Injuries are your downfall when you get up there (in age)," said Jesse Kuhaulua, who as Takamiyama was the sport's ironman with 1,231 consecutive bouts in a career that ended in 1985 at age 39.