Our debutants last tournament did generally as expected. Ryūshō manged a 5-2 record, Fujiizumi was absent (and hopefully will be back sooner than the last time he skipped due to injury), and Furuta seems to have hit his ceiling. Fujiizumi and Furuta will be ranked back in Sandanme next time.
I will detail the projected shin-makushita (Kobayashi, Tenrōsei, Ryūji, Kōki, and Harunishiki) and catch up on a recently missed newbie (Anhibiki) in this edition.

Kobayashi (小林)

Stable: Kasugano
Age: 21
Height (cm/feet-inches): 178 / 5’10”
Weight (kg/lbs): 139 / 305
Home prefecture: Saitama
High School: Saitama Sakae
University: —
Career Record and notes: 56-23-26 (.709)
Debut: Hatsu 2023
Notes: Sandanme Yūshō in Nagoya 2025

Possibility of reaching sekitori: Likely.

Kobayashi won the Sandanme division last time, capping his return from a recent knee injury (posterior cruciate ligament) that took him back to Jonokuchi. He considers himself a rival of fellow Saitama Sakae high school graduates Gōnoumi, Gōnowaka (last tournament’s Jonidan champion), Fujinoshin, Kotokenryū, Kazeeidai, and last tournament’s shin-nyumaku Fujinokawa. His Sandanme championship will put him likely only behind Fujinokawa and Kotokenryū in the rankings. He indicated his goal is to become sekitori ahead of wrestlers his same age who first went to university, around the age of 21 or 22 – so he has to make his move this year.
Kobayashi has followed in the footsteps of Tochitaikai, Tochikamiyama, and Tochimusashi by joining Kasugano stable – referred to Kasugano by a supporter of the high school sumo club. His connection to Kasugano goes back further, as he used to train at Iruma sumo club (beginning sumo in 5th grade). Iruma sumo club’s coach was in the same Meiji University sumo club as Kasugano Oyakata (ex-Tochinowaka). When recruited, he indicated that “I chose this stable because they’ve looked after me since I was young. The decisive factor was their commitment to rigorous training.”

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)Kobayashi’s current shikona is just his last name – but he is likely to get a “Tochi-“ based shikona at some point.
He competed in Wanpaku and other tournaments before high school. In junior high school, he won the Kanto Tournament. In his second year at Saitama Sakae High School, he was runner-up in the Kanto Selection Tournament heavyweight division (100kg+). In his third year, he placed 3rd in the Kanto Tournament open weight division, 3rd in the National High School Selection Tournament (Usa Tournament), and reached the quarterfinals in the National Sports Festival.
Four straight tournaments with 5 or more wins at the beginning of his career saw him advance to the top of Sandanme before his first make-koshi. He was in upper Sandanme for another three tournaments before that right knee injury dropped him back to Jonokuchi. Displaying the humility of a good rikishi, he said in his yūshō interview: “It still hasn’t sunk in. I wasn’t nervous either. Before the tournament, my master told me to go all out with thrusting and pushing. I thought I lacked a feel for thrusting, but today, I won with a good thrusting push at the end. I’m glad I listened to my master.”

Kōki (昂輝)

Stable: Minato
Age: 21
Height (cm/feet-inches): 183 / 5’11”
Weight (kg/lbs): 157 / 346
Home prefecture: Aichi
High School: —
University: —
Career Record and notes: 128-117-14 (.522)
Debut: 2019 Haru

Possibility of reaching sekitori: Very unlikely.

Kōki participated in various sports during his youth, including karate, jūdō, soccer, and basketball.  He joined the Chukyo Sumo Club in his first year of junior high school.  During his 3^rd year at junior high, he finished second place at a prefectural tournament and entered the national junior high school tournament.  Minato-beya’s Nagoya lodgings are close to his home, so he attracted the attention of Minato Oyakata, who personally recruited him.  There are no stories I could find about the origin of his shikona.

Like his rank, Kōki’s weight has steadily increased since he joined the sumo world. Starting at 132kg, he has grown to 157. Starting out of junior high, he initially found himself easily defeated by wrestlers with high school sumo experience.  It initially took him 16 tournaments of reaching Sandanme (almost three years), where he has been a fixture since the end of 2023.  His performance has steadily improved, and he is now easily holding his own against the high schoolers, earning his promotion to the third division.  I hope that he can become a steady presence in Makushita for Minato-beya.

Ryūji (隆志)

Stable: Ōnomatsu
Age: 20
Height (cm/feet-inches): 188 / 6’1”
Weight (kg/lbs): 112 / 247
Home prefecture: Kanagawa
High School: Kanagawa Technical High
University: —
Career Record and notes: 58-40 (.592)
Debut: Haru 2023
Possibility of reaching sekitori: Very unlikely

Possibility of reaching sekitori: Very unlikely

Ryūji participated in various sports throughout his adolescence. He was involved in swimming, soccer, kickboxing, and softball.  It was during his sophomore year of high school that he discovered a sport he was passionate about, sumo. This passion was cultivated during his high school years. He attended Kanagawa Technical High.  His coach, Sudō – who also coached former rikishi Michihaya, helped to bring him to the attention of Ōnomatsu Oyakata. He also managed to finish in the top 32 of a high school tournament (100kg weight limit) in his junior year.

While light, he seems to have some high ambitions – saying that a journey of 100 miles begins with a single step.  He has the goal of “becoming the strongest in sumo” and to do “pretty and pure shiko”.  I wish him luck in those lofty endeavors. Like many athletic high schoolers, he found his way quickly into Sandanme after starting his career before hitting a small wall.  He appears to have overcome that with three straight kachi-koshi to bring him to Makushita. His last match in Nagoya was a victory against former top division, Bushōzan.

Being of slighter build, he sticks to orthodox approaches in his sumo. A few personal notes on Ryūji:  He uses his first name, which apparently takes one character from each of his parent’s first names, as his shikona. He likes Taylor Swift, tuna donburi, and says that people only live one life, so they should not be discouraged by difficulties but to always look forward to something new and move on.  He sounds like a bit of a student of mottos/idioms to me.

Tenrōsei (天狼星)

Stable: Shikoroyama
Age: 18
Height (cm/feet-inches): 186 / 6’1”
Weight (kg/lbs): 118 / 259
Home: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
High School: Meitoku Gijuku High (quit)
University: —
Career Record and notes: 18-3 (.857)
Debut: Kyūshū 2024
Notes: Jonidan Ketteisen in Natsu 2025

Possibility of reaching sekitori: Likely

Tenrōsei is famous for being the nephew of former Yokozuna Asashōryū and the cousin of current Yokozuna Hōshōryū.  That being written, he was not a sumo wrestler to start. He was into playing baseball as a youth, and that is what brought him to Japan.  As you may not know, baseball is not very common in Mongolia. He came to Japan and played baseball at Meitoku Gijuku junior high, but did not make the team. He did, however, join the school’s softball team, known to be a national powerhouse, and the team placed third in the national tournament during his third year.

He used to wrestle with his uncle, just for sport – and his uncle encouraged him to pursue sumo in junior high. He started wresting during his third year of junior high and found some immediate successes.  He was in the top 16 in the 100kg weight class division of a national high school sumo tournament in his freshman year.

He did not stay in high school long, dropping out after his sophomore year to join Shikoroyama stable. He had to take the long training period, and was with them a year before he could make his debut.  By the time he was starting professionally, it was said that he was already at the level of a Sandanme wrestler.  This was evident by his 5-2 start in jonokuchi, followed up by a 7-0 tournament in jonidan (losing in a playoff to fellow Shikoroyama-beya’s Mineyaiba).

His shikona is a reference to the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius (Canis Majoris) – and a bit of an homage to his father who was a professional wrestler (not sumo) in Japan, called “Blue wolf”. Sirius is also the “Great Star” for Mongolians and he has indicated his desire is to shine as bright as Sirius in his sumo career. He indicated “I like the sumo of the first Wakanohana. I love how he’d toss huge guys around with his slender frame. I want to be stronger than anyone.”

Harunishiki (悠錦)

Stable: Asahiyama
Age: 25
Height (cm/feet-inches): 181/ 5’11”
Weight (kg/lbs): 126 / 278
Home prefecture: Ibaraki
High School: Unknown
University: —
Career Record and notes: 160-161-1 (.498)
Debut: Aki 2017

Possibility of reaching sekitori: Maybe stranger things have happened, hard to think of one…  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lluvia_de_peces

Harunishiki did not initially plan to become a sumo wrestler. He was taking care of his father, who was recuperating from a health issue. His father took that time to encourage him to become a rikishi.  So, Harunishiki knocked on the door of Asahiyama stable and signed up.  Asahiyama-beya seems to specialize in recruiting wrestlers with little/no prior sumo experience. His first aim was to be like Kisenosato.

Despite his lack of experience, he has steadily climbed the banzuke, first under his own name (Sugawara) and then as Asahiō/朝日凰, before reverting to his own name for about another year.  His shikona takes the “Nishiki” from his stablemaster, former Kotonishiki.  The “haru” describes “permanence”, sort of like how he has taken his time to leisurely rise up the banzuke.  It is often used as a first name.

On day 10 in the Natsu 2023 bashō, Harunishiki was involved in an interesting incident that close banzuke watchers may recall.  He faced Murayama and pushed him out of the ring.  Maruyama’s oyakata (Naruto) called for a mono-ii. Under video review, it seemed clear that Harunishiki’s pushing had caused Murayama to step out. However, Naruto Oyakata (as head shimpan) announced that Murayama was the victor to the crowd.  This “overturn” resulted in Harunishiki’s 4^th loss of the tournament and a make-koshi. Harunishiki won his last two bouts and finished 3-4.  However, the Sumo Association recognized that there was an issue with the mono-ii and permitted Harunishiki to keep his rank (Sandanme 38) for the subsequent tournament despite the apparent losing record.

In the summer tour of Ibaraki, Harunishiki was able to borrow the chest of Kotozakura during the jungyo. He was happy to have the hometown’s support – despite going up against “a wall of muscle. It was scary.”  On this experience and his upcoming promotion to Makushita he says, “I want to convey to children that even if they do not have any sports experience, they can become strong if they work hard.”

Anhibiki (安響)

Stable: Ajigawa
Age: 19
Height (cm/feet-inches): 185/ 6’0”
Weight (kg/lbs): 139 / 2306
Home prefecture: Aomori
High School: Goshogawara Agriculturan and Forestry High School
University: —
Career Record and notes: 44-26 (.629)
Highest rank: Makushita 45
Debut: Kyūshū 2023

Notes: Jonokuchi Yūshō Hatsu 2024

Possibility of reaching sekitori: Unlikely

Anhibiki comes from Goshogawara Agricultural and Forestry High School, where he achieved 3^rd place in National High School Athletic Meet (Inter-high) tournament, which qualified him to actually be the first high school wreslter to earn a Sandanme Tsukedashi qualification. His father, Takuya, was a former runner-up in national corporate sumo.  He was personally invited to join Ajigawa-beya (which has connections to Aomori as home prefecture of Ajigawa-oyakata and Goshogawara High).  Aminishiki was a wrestler that Anhibiki had admired since he was a child, and when Ajigawa went independent from Isegahama – Anhibiki’s desire to train under his former idol increased. He is also an old acquaintance of Anzakura as they are from the same town and school.

Asked why he gave up the right to use the tsukedashi qualification (a first time someone volunteered to give this away in my long sumo watching career), he said “Even if I entered from Sandanme, I wouldn’t necessarily become a sekitori right away. Either way, I have to build my strength myself. Starting from the maezumo isn’t going to slow me down. I want to climb up from the bottom.”  The only example of not using tsukedashi privileges that I have seen comes from college or amateur champions who lost their  tsukedashi status for winning titles early in their college careers and “timing out” of the tsukedashi qualification – (Yoshikaze, Jōkōryū, Shōdai, and Hokutofuji are examples of getting amateur titles but starting in maezumo). 

His shikona is a combination of characters from from the stable/stable master plus a part of his first name (Kaoto – 力響). His sister and brother also use the “Hibiki” character in their first names, so it seems as if his own family has a stable-like naming convention. Both siblings are also in sumo clubs – his younger sister was at Kizuka High and younger brother was at Kizuka junior high when Anhibiki entered sumo. Kizuka High is the alma matter of former Maegashira Hōchiyama and current Nishiiwa wrestler Wakajin.

Anhibiki started sumo at age 10 (4^th Grade) at the Tsugaru Asahifuji Junior Sumo Club.  Goshogawara and Anhibiki won the team title at the National High School Selection Tournament during his sophomore year. In his junior year, he got second place in the team competition at the National High School Kanazawa Tournament and his 3^rd place finish at the Inter-high was also boosted by the school’s 3^rd place finish in the team competition.  Fellow Goshogawara Agriculture and Forestry alumns include Osanai (Takasago-beya), Tokitenran (Tokitsukaze-beya), Anzakura, and Tateyama Oyakata.  Don’t confuse this high school with the former Goshogawara Commercial High School (home of Takarafuji, Katsunofuji, and current Miyagino-Oyakata, former Asahifuji). The commercial high school was renamed in 2023 to Shimoyama Gakuen to help sumo fans avoid that confusion!

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).

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.