We have a solo Makushita tsukedashi entrant for the Nagoya tournament.  Beyond that, there were only two other newcomers.  So, I am taking this opportunity to catch up on a few returnees to Makshita that I missed as newcomers in recent tourneys. Student Yokozuna Buckchuluun, who joined Kasugano-stable and has a Makushita Tsukedashi qualification, appears to be on the six-month period to get the work visa – and so will likely start late this year.

Last tournament was a bit surprising – in that Gyōtoku was the best performing of the tsukedashi.  All of them managed to get winning records – but I expected a bit more from both Hanaoka and Urayama.

As expected, Murayama and Daishinkai were ranked over his current level of ability, each recording  2-5 records on their debut. Gōseizan and Ikarigata both also slightly disappointed with losing records of 3-4 – but they will be able to bounce back and achieve higher things. All of them may be appearing in Sandanme next time (although there is a chance Ikarigata could remain in Makushita).

Ryūshō (竜翔)

Stable: Oitezake
Age: 22
Height (cm/feet-inches): 187 / 6’1”
Weight (kg/lbs): 125 / 275
Home prefecture: Kumamoto
High School: Buntoku High
University: Nihon University (Nichidai)
Career Record and notes: 0-0-0
Debut: Nagoya 2025 (Makushita 60 Tsukedashi)

Possibility to reach sekitori: Very Likely

Ryūshō is the brother of former Onoe-beya’s Juryo wrestler Ryūko (竜虎) and the nephew of Onoe Oyakata.  As Onoe is family, and has connections with Nihon University, it is somewhat of a surprise to see Ryūshō join Oitekaze stable.  Ryūshō’s family connections to sumo include his grandfather, who was chairman of the Kyushu Sumo Federation and his cousin, Terutaka, in Onoe stable. Like his older brother, Ryūshō tarted sumo at a young age. He was also a teammate (and same year) as last basho’s entrant, Hanaoka.

Ryūshō earned the Makushita Tsukedashi qualification by finishing in the top 8 at last year’s student championships.   He seems to have followed Kawazoe and Hanaoka – all of them coming from Tsuroshiro Junior High to Buntoku, and then to Nichidai.  In fact, they all had amateur success together – with Ryūshō winning individual lightweight division championships starting in middle school.  Let’s see if he cannot mimic their successes in Grand Sumo.

Fujiizumi (富士泉)

Stable: Nishikido
Age: 21
Height (cm/feet-inches): 184 / 6’0”
Weight (kg/lbs): 153 / 337
Home prefecture: Yamagata
High School: —
University: —
Career Record and notes: 44-19-28 (and 13 tournaments banzuke-gai) (.698)
Debut: 2021 Hatsu

Possibility to reach sekitori: Unlikely – but would be a great story.

Fujiizumi is a very interesting story, as I wrote off his sumo career many years ago. He initially seemed an interesting prospect for Nishikido stable – recruited at the age of 15 and with a decent amateur sumo record already.  However, he then disappeared from the banzuke for over two years (13 basho, from Nagoya 2022 to Nagoya 2024) due to injury.  I had just assumed he ran away and Nishikido had not turned in his retirement papers. 

Fujiizumi started sumo in 5^th Grade at Misaka Nishi Elementary school. He was an immediate success, placing in the top 16 of the Hakuho Cup that year and in the next year (6^th grade) he was top 16 in the Wanpaku tournament. In his second year of junior high, he transferred schools to be able to participate in training at Nishikdo stable. He rose to Sandanme in only five tournaments and at the age of 17, but was absent in his Sandanme debut. This absence continued until he fell off the official rankings and sort of disappeared from view.

It was a big surprise to see him return to mae-zumo in Nagoya last year – his first appearance in the ring in three years! He defeated Gōseizan (see Natsu basho shin-makushita) in his opening match.  His record has been great since his return (no make-koshi in the past year), and a 6-1 record from Sandanme 39 East, that will now propel him into Makushita.

So, what happened to him? A lower back hernia and an injury to his right knee resulted in his absences. To rehabilitate, he left the stable and went back home – devoting himself to medical treatment and recovery.  Since he was going to be banzuke-gai (and could not drop any lower), he took the time to get fully healed.  His absence was noticed by keen sumo watchers, who just assumed he had retired. During this time, he kept in regular contact with his Oyakata (every 1-2 days) and indicated his intention to return. He kept his mage and kept his image of a sumo tori this entire time. He finally came back to the stable, started basic exercises and worked his way to bouts against Mitoryū.  Finally, he made his appearance in the ring after over 1,000 days.  He is still 20 years old and ready to resume his life as a rikishi.

Furuta (古田)

Stable: Nishonoseki
Age: 24
Height (cm/feet-inches): 178 / 5’10”
Weight (kg/lbs): 102 / 224
Home prefecture: Hiroshima
High School: Takehara High School
University: Nippon Sports Science Univserity (Nittaidai)
Career Record and notes: 25-10 (.714)
Debut: Nagoya 2024
Possibility to reach sekitori: Unlikely

Furuta is a small sized graduate from Nippon Sports Science University (Nittaidai), who has come to Nishonoseki along with his NSSU teammates Shirokuma and Ōnosato. He is a late addition, joining sometime after his teammates – as he was not going to go pro at first. 

He began sumo at a young age and was appearing already in national championships while at Takehara Junior High. He continued to Takehara High, with decent performances in high school sumo tournaments. He was 3^rd place at the National High School Selection Tournament (80kg weight class) and won the Hiroshima Prefectural Championship.

This led him to be recruited by NSSU – and he competed in many under 85kg events, often finishing towards the top of the individual competitions (recently 3^rd place in the All-Japan lightweight competition – which meant he missed the World Championships – and 3^rd in the East Japan Corporate Championships (under 110kg).  After graduating, he did not immediately go pro – and worked at an assistant coach at NSSU while participating in corporate sumo events.  He was finally convinced to go pro by his former NSSU teammates and Nishonoseki Oyakata.

He says Ōnosato is a good classmate, but also an inspiration (goal). He thought that Nishonoseki stable would be the best fit (both for its environment and vigor).  His teammates include Ōnosato, Ōunokatsu, Kyokukaiyū, and Ishizaki (younger). He wants to catch up to and overtake these teammates as soon as possible.  He quickly worked his way up the banzuke, despite a somewhat disappointing 4-3 record in his debut.  He followed it by rampaging through Jonidan with two 6-1 records and spent only two tournaments in Sandanme.

What follows is a brief catch-up on two missed recent shin-makushita, who are due to return to the division in Nagoya.

Ieshima (家島)

Stable: Yamahibiki
Age: 20
Height (cm/feet-inches): 176 / 5’9”
Weight (kg/lbs): 151 / 332
Home prefecture: Hyōgō
High School: Takamatsu Agricultural High School
University: —
Career Record and notes: 111-92-7 (.547)
Debut: Haru 2020
Highest rank: Makushita 54

Possibility to reach sekitori: Very unlikely

Ieshima started sumo at Kamehama Dojo in Himeji during the 4^th Grade. He appeared three straight years in the Wanpaku Tournament, reaching the top 16 in his 6^th Grade appearance.  He participated in many tournaments over his junior high school years. He finished in the top 16 at the National Prefectural Junior High School Championship.  He was recruited, along with his older brother (Ienoshima) by Yamahibiki Oyakata.  Having joined sumo at the age of 15, those were the limits of his amateur accomplishments.

Since joining Grand Sumo, Ieshima steadily has increased his place on the banzuke. He started with a 6-1 record in Jonidan and made his Sandanme debut after only 8 basho (one of which was a heya-COVID related forced absence).  He has had 6-1 records three times in his career – most recently in Aki 2024 that propelled him from Sandanme 40 into Makushita (debut in Kyushu 2024). He has had two appearances in Makushita since then (both losing records).  Fingesr crossed that the third time is the charm for that first ever Makushita kachi-koshi.

He should be ranked ahead of his older brother (Ienoshima is a year older) for the Nagoya basho. 

Yōkōmaru (陽孔丸)

Stable: Musashigawa
Age: 25
Height (cm/feet-inches): 178 / 5’10”
Weight (kg/lbs): 142 / 313
Home country: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Home prefecture: Okayama
High School:
University: —
Career Record and notes: 130-119-3
Debut: Haru 2019
Highest rank: Makushita 45
Possibility to reach sekitori: Very unlikely

Yōkōmaru, with his jūdō background, rose quickly up the banzuke after his debut. He was in Sandanme within a year and compiled three separate 6-1 records from Aki 2019 to Nagoya 2020. However, he appeared to hit a ceiling in mid-Sandanme and stalled there for almost 4 years straight (except for one drop to Jonidan). A 6-1 record from Sandanme 25 in Kyushu 2024 propelled him to make his Makushita debut for Hatsu 2025.  His two tournaments in division 3 were a bust – compiling 2-5 records each time. Perhaps, like Ieshima, the third time will be the charm.

Yōkōmaru started with jūdō as a junior at Asahi Higashi Junior High School and continued into Takamatsu Agricultural high school, where he joined the wrestling team.  He already had his eye on sumo and figured the experience in these two sports would contribute to achieving his goal.  He was a successful high school wrestler, excelling in numerous competitions, including runner-up at the 125kg weight class Greco-Roman National Athletic Meet. He aims to “do his home prefecture, Okayama, proud”. He was recruited by Musashigawa Oyakata over a period of years – first meeting him 4 years before entering the sumo world. This is what he claims ignited his interest in sumo. He is the family’s oldest son and has three sisters, enjoys fishing, and likes kaisendon (various raw seafood over rice).  He aims to be the first sekitori from Okayama since Kotokuni in 2009 (so over 16 years).