In the early 20th century, the sport had two competing associations, which had their seats in the two historic centers of sumo wrestling, Tokyo and Osaka. In the 1920s, the Tokyo Association made the offer of merging with the Osaka Association, and in 1927 the 88 "elders" of the Tokyo contingent and the 17 "elders" from the Osaka contingent merged to form the "Dai-Nihon Sumō Kyokai". In the run-up to the merger during 1925 and 1926, a series of three joint tournaments was held to assess the relative strength of the "rikishi" in both organizations. Confirming the prevailing opinion that Osaka sumo was inferior, the Tokyo camp largely won out and wrestlers as high as "ōzeki" in Osaka sumo were relegated to the third "makushita" division in the new merged rankings. However, the "yokozuna" from both sides were maintained, as there was no precedent for demoting them, allowing Osaka sumo to save face.