two stable masters and 23 rikishi were forced to resign. he was one of them. >> translator: i didn't do it, period. >> reporter: he did more than to stick to his story. he filed a lawsuit in a bid to return to the ring. did you ever feel like giving up or that you were defeated? >> translator: being alone i got lost in thoughts, plenty of times. but i had lots of people supporting me. >> reporter: messages collected in his room were written by people who believed in his innocence and campaigned for his comeback. in march, the tokyo district court rejected the allegations that he intentionally lost bouts. it invalidated his dismissal from sumo and ordered his reinstatement. [ applause ] the organization accepted the decision without filing an appeal. >> translator: we are quite sorry. he would have been at his peak strength in these years. >> reporter: about a month after winning in court, the rikishi was back in the sumo ring. he took part in an official practice session before the deliberation council. he had a grand champion as his oppone

. >> the main player is ozeki champion first to make rikishi in 15 years. he was beaten on day three, so he can't afford to lose anymore bouts. he's also trying to become the first home grown rikishi in over seven years to win the emperor's cup. he gets aggressive. he overwhelms the yokozuna want-to-be. his chances of making yokozuna this tournament are out the window. more than anything, he failed because of the tremendous pressure on him to rise to the top rank. now, i know it's way too early to predict the championship winner, but yokozuna grand champion hakuho is definitely the man to beat. he's won each of the last two tournaments with no losses, and he's 5-0 in the current competition. having said that, i could sense his winning streak may be coming to an end. let me explain my observation. here he got himself in a decent attacking position a number of times but kept struggling to put him away. i think he's out of shape due to a lack of quality practice sessions. in this bout the yokozuna knocks him out. hakuho's ability to quickly react and recover h

but when the nagoya tournament starts on sunday, one rikishi's exile will be over. his problems started when his name got entangled in a bout fixing scandal. all along, sokokurai insisted on his innocence. he prevailed in the fight of his life. now he's got to prove himself in the ring again. nhk world has more. >> reporter: he returns to where he left off. the top ranking division. he earned his way there from china's inner mongolia. the allegations against him kept him out of the ring for what might have been his peak years. he's 29 now. how did you cope during this time? >> translator: it was long. i thought my ordeal would be over more quickly. >> reporter: he arrived in japan a decade ago, aspiring to make