On December 20, 2017, the Yokozuna Deliberation Council discussed the techniques of the yokozuna Hakuhō. Its chairman, Kitamura Masatō, criticized his slaps, the harite, and his forearm blows, the kachiage. He said: “Harite, kachiage, on ten days or more out of fifteen. This style can hardly be called the sumo of a yokozuna. It is not beautiful. I do not want to see it.”