I apologize for the late posting, but things have been busy this summer at home – things keep changing around me – but my love of sumo continues.

Last bashō, I documented eight newcomers to the Third Division (Makushita). Two of them were given special dispensation to enter at the bottom of Makushita (Makushita tsukedashi) – Ishizaki and Kazuma. Ishizaki finished with a 6-1 record and will move toward joining his brother in Jūryō – only losing to fellow newcomer Kyokukaiyū on day 6. Kazuma hurt his weak knee (again) in a loss to Tokitenran (see below) on day 9 and finished with a 4-1-1 record.  Kyokukaiyū is fast on becoming the first sekitori to be raised by the new Ōshima Oyakata and finished 6-1 (losing only to Kazuma on Day 7).  Thus, there are a few good collegiate guys coming up the ranks that could have an interesting rivalry. The only other new makushita with kachi-koshi (majority of wins and a promotion) was Kanazawa, who ran off a 4-win streak from day 3-9 and only lost to some experienced wrestlers, but did defeat former Jūryō Tochimaru.  The only other one to remain in Makushita was Tatsuōshō, who finished 2-5 but was ranked high enough to remain in the division.

Back in Sandanme are Higonomaru (2-5 from Makushita 45e) but with a win over former top Division Amakaze, Mikazuchiyama (3-4 from Makushita 55e), and Kawamura (1-6, as expected, from Makushta 51e)

For Aki, we have three former university wrestlers, one who enters at Makushita Tsukedashi, and one who aims to be the Godzilla of the sumo world.

Inami (伊波)

Inami fits the form of Andy’s favorite type of wrestler (Nihon University + Onoe-beya), like Haruyama and Shiroma before him.  Clearly, Onoe Oyakata has kept up his recruiting links with Nihon University. Ideally, he can turn these Nichidai boys into sekitori.

Inami had a bit of a late start in sumo – only joining the Sumo Club as a Freshman at Kagoshima Commercial High School. However, by Junior Year he reached the top 16 in the National High School Championships and performed well enough to be recruited to join the vaunted Nichidai Sumo Club.

As a Freshman, he was #2 in the East Japan 135kg and Under Tournament.  He finished third in the same tournament his Sophomore Year and Junior Year.  His Junior Year, he won the Openweight National Student Championship.

Sumo was not his immediate goal, and as he graduated he spent time working as a sumo instructor at the Kagoshima Prefecture Sports Association. However, the early successes of his former Nichidai teammates Haruyama and Shiroma convinced him he needed to put on the black canvas and start a professional sumo career.

He has risen quite quickly through the ranks, only losing once each in Jonokuchi and Jonidan divisions, only losing the Jonidan division on Day 13 to Kyokukaiyū – potentially setting up a good rivalry. He won the Sandanme Yūshō in Nagoya – earning a large boost up the banzuke and promotion to Makushita.

Tokitenran (時天嵐)

The wrestlers out of Tokyo University of Agriculture (Tonodai) may not be as popular as their Nichidai competitors or as famous as the recent Nippon Sports Science University (Nittaidai) graduates, but they have a long tradition of being recruited by Tokitsukaze-beya. Of course, I think that the radish ceremony is interesting and hope that one day there is a crowd celebrating Tokitenran’s accomplishments by dancing with radishes in the Kokugikan.

Tokitenran started sumo at the age of 4 and won the Hakuhō Cup in 5^th Grade. He was also the runner up at the All Japan Elementary School Championships in Year 6. He joined the Goshogawara Agricultural and Forestry High School team (that has produced numerous good wrestlers). His Sophomore year he finished in the top 8 at the National Sports Festival and National High School Selection Tournament. His Junio year, he was 4^th at the All Japan Junior Heavyweight Class and Top 8 at the Usa National High School Selection, earning recruitment to Tonodai.

At the University level, he had some success – finishing 3^rd in the East Japan Under 135 KG tournament his Junior year and 3^rd at the All Japan.  Senior Year he was 3^rd at the East Japan Openweight and in the Top 16 at the All Japan Student Championship, earning a Sandanme Tsukedashi qualification.

He has had some professional success, taking a four tournaments to climb through Sandanme division. However, the Nagoya basho was a breakthrough for him – as he was undefeated going into a Day 13 showdown for the yūshō with Inami (see above).

Hōgashō (豊雅将)

Hōgashō’s early claim to fame is that he is a distant cousin of former Tokyo Giants and New York Yankees professional baseball player, Hideki Matsui.  I once took a special trip out of my way to visit NYC with a Japanese friend just to watch Matsui in Yankee stadium. Until high school, Hōgashō was only practicing judo. In high school, he appeared in a few inter-high school sumo championships.

After joining sumo, he has steadily put on weight and risen through the ranks. When he reached Sandanme 55, he was celebrated at #55 (Matsui’s jersey number). He said that that rank specifically motivated him to win – and he finished with a winning record. He claims that being frustrated with his results gives him motivation to keep training and his motto is “struggle against the odds”. 

He claims to have difficulties adjusting to sumo, and sometimes has to resort back to his judo tricks – which is why you can see the big man sometimes resort to kakenage techniques. 

He says his goal is to become the “Godzilla” of the sumo world, to echo the nickname of his distant relation in the baseball world.

Mita (三田)

For the third bashō in a row, we have a Tsukedashi in Makushita. This time, we have a college wrestler joining Futagoyama-beya (a first for them). For those that love watching the Futagoyama Sumo Food Youtube Channel, Mita will soon become a star among the foreign sumo fan community (if he is not already).

He started wrestling at age 5, though not seriously.  He got 16^th place in a team competition at the All Middle-School Junior High Championships for his team at Wakakusa Junior High. Apparently, he was classmates with fellow Futagoyama-beya rikishi, Nabatame, during elementary school. He started taking sumo more seriously as a scrawny 65kg youngster at Kuroba High School. He was interested in Sumo and was eating 8 meals a day to try and quickly gain weight. He had good early success, wining a Kantō regional tournament even without much girth. As a Sophomore, he got 3^rd Place in the World Junior Championships (under 80kg class) and Junior Year won an Under 100kg regional tournament and the All Japan Junior Weight Division Championship. He claims to have been eating onigiri during every school break to put on weight.

That was the beginning of his successes. He gained an additional 20kg and joined the Kindai Sumo Club. As a Freshman he won the West Japan Under 115kg Championship and was 3^rd in the National Student Tournament Under 115kg division. Sophomore Year, he again won the West Japan Student Championship. Junior Year – the West Japan Student Championship was his again, as well as he finished 8^th in the National Student Championship, clinching his Makushita Tsukedashi.  Senior Year, he was 3^rd in the National University Select Usa Tournament, 2^nd in the National University/Corporate Championship in Wakayama, and the West Japan Student Champion again. He won 4 Western Japan Regional Tournaments during his tenure – and now that he graduated, someone else finally has a chance. He helped lead the Kindai Club to its first University Team Championships in 13 years.  Unfortunately, he suffered a terrible ACL injury in the All Japan in December and required surgery – this is what delayed his sumo debut until Aki (while the other same-year tsukedashi entrants already made their debuts).  If he delayed further, he could have lost the tsukedashi qualification (which is only good for a year), so he has rushed his return. At Kindai, he was a teammate of Ōkaryū, who will likely get a writeup in the next edition.

He likes “speed sumo” – otsuke, pulling, and wants to copy one of his heroes – Wakatakakage.  Like Wakatakakage, he suffered a knee injury that required a long recovery and is seeing his idol’s recent success as an inspiration.  He aims to be the best wrestler from Tochigi Prefecture and considers himself to be rivals with other Tochigi-ken wrestlers, like Nabatame. He joined Futagoyama-beya this past summer and was already training one-on-one with Nabatame in preparation for the Aki bashō.

Opinion time:

Successful recruits with no high school or university experience seem to be more and more rare these days. You have to consider that it can be a leap for a 15 or 16 year old to join the sumo world and try to stick with the hard daily life and make it to the top – someone in the form of Takayasu or Meisei (joined at 15 and spent 5.5 years in lower divisions) or Takanoshō (joined at 15 and seven years plus in lower divisions), or even Nishikigi (15 and 9 years in lower divisions).  To me, it seems that recent top ranks on the banzuke are filled with the ranks of “professional” amateurs out of high school and university clubs where they had access to professional coaches and training facilities.

Personally, I find the stories of the 15-year-old who joins sumo – slogs it out for 6 or 7 years before earning a sekitori slot – and fighting their way to the top against those who were trained in schools/universities as more inspiring. This makes it more fun to watch, say Hiradoumi (24 years old) – who only ever knew sumo life in a stable – challenge himself and rise to sanyaku than someone like Ōnosato (also 24 years old) – who had lots of other opportunities to get himself in a similar position.  Hiradoumi has only been trained in Sakaigawa-beya, while Ōnosato has had various trainers in high school and university. Hiradoumi had to slog his way through the lower divisions for years, serving his seniors and fitting into the hierarchy, while Ōnosato only wore canvas a short time and was treated with kid gloves during his short-time in the unsalaried ranks. Only born two months apart, they had very different careers to get them to Sanyaku about the same time. Don’t get me wrong – I do not have anything particularly against the more “professional amateurs” – and I am not implying that Ōnosato does not deserve to be where he is in the rankings or has not earned his success.  I am only expressing my opinion that I do not find the story of these successful high schoolers/university wrestlers as inspiring as those of the 15 year old or 18 year olds who sign up for the sumo world and work their way through it.  To me, it is not surprising that those with significant amateur success have a rocket-like rise through the lower division ranks – it should be expected. What is interesting is to watch the young guys gain weight, gain experience, and gain the hunger for future success.

That’s Justinough for now.