When you start out you have a single rikishi who may be already past his best.  With the right tactics and a bit of luck you may well be able to get him promoted to Sanyaku or even beyond.  However the liklihood is that if you are going to manage a rikishi to Yokozuna rank, it is going to have to be somebody you recruit young and train carefully.

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Signing up the right young rikishi may be the most important single choice you make in Virtual Sumo.  Of course you could go for a more profound beya strategy of increasing the rank of your beya quickly by recruiting established, older fighters who will immediately add to your beya's reputation.  This will then allow you to recruit more youngsters

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The Rikishi Table (under Rikishi on the main menu) will help you spot talented youth.  It identifies all rikishi available for drafting by a red ID no.  Compare their skills in relation to their age.  Compare their speed to their weight since young, lightweight wrestlers often have very high speed to their low weight.  However this will drop as they add the necessary muscle to compete in the top divisions.

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You should also pay close attention the honbasho performances of potential targets and to moshiai where many unsigned rikishi train.

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The advantage of retiring your rikishi before they fall down the divisions is two fold.  You create a space in your stable for fresh blood and the reputation of your stable increases permanently in line with their final rank.

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To retire a rikishi go to Recruit / Retire Rikishi via Play on the main menu and complete the relevant form at the bottom of the page.