Quote:
Originally Posted by
JasPR 
Hi Carl, I actually made a comment about this subject in the kawari thread.
Basically I said, that I understand the spirit of that pecking order line up in that sanke and showa need to get more right ( all 3 colors) But a good kohaku, even though it have just red and white, the standards and expectations are very high for this variety. So they must be really excellent to beat other kohaku and other gosanke. A showa, on the other hand is expected to be a tad off on one color and is still judged as 'complete' more or less. So in a certain sense, they are cut some slack that a kohaku could never get away with?
Still, I think this is why, when you count the winners of the All Japan, you see kohaku winning most followed closely by sanke and showa being the least frequent visitor to the winner's circle by far.
By the way, I hear from my spies in Japan that this years upcoming All Japan might very well be won by a showa ( in hidding!)!