Last bashō, I documented four newcomers to the Third Division (Makushita). Three of the four managed to get kachi-koshi (majority of victories).  Only Āron, from Nishonoseki, had a losing record of 2-5.  Shiroma’s 4-3 record did not come as a surprise, and Takashōki also had demonstrated an ability that would allow him to succeed in division three.  Suzaki’s 4-3 record was a bit of a pleasant surprise – mainly because I will continue to see his technique in the May tournament division three highlights (if I can figure out how to see them now that our heroic streamers have been kicked off of so many platforms).

Matsui (松井)

One newbie to Makushita that I did not cover is Matsui – as he got Tsukedashi qualification from the bottom of the division.  Matsui took a short-cut to the tsukedashi qualification, which has traditionally gone to ex-collegiate wresters with a few notable exceptions (Ichinojō and Hakuōhō),  Matsui, like Hakuōhō, joined the recently closed Miyagino-beya and now comes out of Isegahama-beya.  The similarities to Hakuōhō continue as they both are graduates from Tottori Johoku and went into corporate sumo after grandating high school.  Matsui finished in the top 8 in the corporate sumo (National Sports Festival tourhament), which qualified him to appear as makushita tsukedashi on his debut. He is 19 years old, 171 cm (5’8’’) and weighs in at 118 kg (260 pounds) – making him another one of the smaller Miyagino recruits (a la Ishiura, Enhō, Kihō, Raihō). He comes from Umi, Fukuoka prefecture.  The 5-2 record from this mainly tsuki/oshi wrestler in his debut is not a surprise.  We will see if he hits an upper limit.

Kusano (草野)

This tournament, there is another new entrant who has qualified for Makushita Tsukedashi and followed in the footsteps of his high school and university senpai and long-time friend, Kihō, into the sumo world.  It is safe to say that he was recruited to Miyagino-beya as it was being shut down.  As Miyagino is no longer permitted to officially recruit, it was Isegahama Oyakata who visited Buntoku High School for the recruiting announcement.  He was team captain at Buntoku High School when his team won at the interhigh for the first time in 21 years in 2019 and made college Yokozuna in 2023. He won the 101^st National Student Tournament  championship (after a monoii) in November 2023 and then finished in second place at the 72^nd All Japan Sumo tournament the next month. He also won the Gold Medal for the heavyweight division in the 2023 World Sumo Championship. He has amateur wins over Gōnoyama, Shirokuma, Asakōryū, Ōshōma, Ōnosato, and more.  Thus, he should be able to have good record in his debut.  He has been a consistent college performer, with a first, second, and third place finish at three major tournaments in 2023.  He uses a wide range of techniques, from migi-yotsu to tsuki, oshi and morozashi.

He is 22 years old, 185 cm (6’0’’) and weighs in at 160 kg (352 pounds) and comes out of Uto, Kumamoto Prefecture – same as Shōdai and his friend Kihō. At his press conference held at Buntoku, he indicated “I want to do my best to become a sekitori as soon as possible. My goal is to become an ozeki or yokozuna.”

Kotetsu (虎徹)

Kotetsu is a 22 year old wrestler from Ōtake-beya.  He hails from Tsu, Mie Prefecture and is 181 cm (5’11’’) and 169 kg (372 lbs).  He comes from Nabari High School. He started with judo when he was in third grade and finished in 2^nd place in a Prefectural judo tournament as well as appearing in the Tōkai tournament.  He had no experience in sumo but war recruited by Ōtake Oyakata.  His shikona comes from a famous Edo period swordsmith and was given to him by his father. As you can note in the picture above, he won the Jonidan division (Division 5) in Haru 2022, after overcoming an injury in Aki 2021 that dropped him from lower Sandanme back to Jonokuchi.  He has been in the upper half of Sandanme for most of the past year and flirting with a promotion to Makushita a few times.  His 5-2 record at Sandanme 19 will clinch his promotion to Division 3 in May and join his stablemate Suzaki! He has a 85-56-20 career record since his debut in March 2020.

Aonishiki (安青錦)

Aonishiki is a 20 year old wrestler from Ajigawa-beya.  He hails from Vinnytsia, Ukraine and is 180cm (5’10’’) and 125 kg (275 lbs). He has rocketed up the banzuke since his debut, with a 20-1 record since his debut in Nagoya 2023. He began wrestling at age 7 and practicing sumo at the age of 13 and won the bronze medal at the middle weight class at the 2019 World Junior Championships and won the 2021 European Sumo Tournament under 100kg division. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was evacuated as a refugee to Japan in where he started training at Kansai University. He was invited to come to Japan by the Yamanaka family.  Mr. Yamanaka had met him at the World Junior Championships and accepted him into his home where he started training first at Sekidai Sumo Club and then the university. His shikona is a reference to the blue in the Ukrainian flag, the color of his eyes and a deference to Ajigawa-Oyakata (former Aminishiki). The first name of his shikona, Arata, is to honor Mr. Yamanaka.  He won the jonokuchi (division 6) and jonidan (division 5) yūshō back-to-back and won his first six fights in Sandanme (Division 4) – starting with a career record of 20-0.  His winning streak was broken by Nagamura (see earlier new Makushita reports) in the division finals.  Aonishiki wrestles both on the belt (yotsu-sumo) and by pushing and thrusting.

Rinko (麟虎)

Rinko is a 17 year old wrestler from Nishonoseki-beya.  He hails from Okaya, Nagano Prefecture and is 173cm (5’8’’) and 118 kg (259 lbs). I am always energized to see 16- or 17-year-olds enter Makushita – they have chances to flame out, or have high ceilings. After the March tournament, he has a 50-34 career record. Rinko joined sumo along with his twin brother, Hayashiryū (林龍), at the 2022 Spring tournament.  The Hayashi brothers started sumo wrestling in elementary school and trained at the same sumo dojo as Mitakeumi.  The brothers were active in national competitions throughout middle school and were recruited together by Nishonoseki oyakata.  Both brothers started out with similar shikona, using the Hayashi (林) character that can also be read as “rin”. Given his success, he was rewarded with a shikona change.  The new “rin”, (麟), has historically been a kanji used in Nishonoseki stable, being the latter one in “Giraffe” (Kirin – 麒麟). He is joining other Nishonoseki recentl shin-Makushita (Āron and Nishida – see earlier entries).

Hamanoumi (濱ノ海)

Hamanoumi is a 22-year-old wrestler from Tokitsukaze-beya alongside his brother – Hamayutaka.  He hails from Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture and is 186 cm (6’1’’) and 171 kg (376 lbs). He has a sub-.500 career record of 134-153 – which is not something you often see from a new-Makushita wrestler outside a freak 7-0 appearance from lower Sandanme or 6-1 from about Sandanme 50.  However, Hamanoumi has been in the “promotion zone” since early 2023 and has established himself as a solid upper Sandanme level wrestler. He was a baseball player in elementary and middle school and had no experience as a sumo wrestler before deciding to join his older brother at Tokitsukaze-stable.  This lack of sumo experience was quite evident in his early career. He is one of the “long-time” makekoshi streakers to start a career – going 8 tournaments in jonokuchi before achieving the elusive first kachi-koshi.  He has put on a lot of weight since his debut in March 2017 – gaining about 70 kg. He likes sushi, but is not a fan of spiders.