Before the Meiji Era, the title "yokozuna" was conferred on "ōzeki" who performed sumo in front of the "shōgun". This privilege was more often determined by a wrestler's patron having sufficient influence rather than purely on the ability and dignity of the wrestler. Thus there are a number of early wrestlers who were, by modern standards, "yokozuna" in name only. In these early days "yokozuna" was also not regarded as a separate rank in the listings, but as an "ōzeki" with special dispensation to perform his own ring entering ceremony.