WTR

Who’s That Rikishi #5: Okinoumi Ayumi

Liam R Kyushu Basho 2017 , ,

OkinoumiAge: 32
Birth Name: Ayumi Fukuoka
Home Town: Okinoshima, Japan
Stable: Hakkaku
Highest Rank: Sekiwake

Okinoumi Ayumi never intended to take up professional sumo. Born Ayumi Fukuoka on the Western Japanese island of Okinoshima, he saw his future out on the sea rather than atop the Dohyo. While studying to be a licensed mariner, Ayumi was introduced to former Yokozuna Hokutoumi Nobuyoshi. Now oyakata of Hakkaku beya, Hokutoumi convinced Ayumi to join his stable and pursue a career in sumo. In 2005, Ayumi made his professional debut in Osaka, fighting under his family name of Fukuoka. After three years of hard work and steady progress, Fukuoka experienced his first taste of success when he won the Makushita yusho with a perfect 7-0 record at the Hatsu basho of 2009. This victory earned him his first promotion to the Juryo division. Before his Juryo debut, he addopted his new shikona of Okinoumi to pay homage to his home island. Back-to-back poor performances of 4-11 and 5-10 would see the newly named Okinoumi relegated back to Makushita for Nagoya. This demotion prompted him to adopt the name Fukuoka again, which seemed to have a positive effect on the young rikishi as he earned another Juryo promotion at the 2009 Aki basho.

The re-christened Okinoumi made his Makuuchi debut at the 2010 Haru basho, becoming the first rikishi from Shimane prefecture in 88 years. In early 2010 the sumo world was rocked by the baseball gambling scandal, and as a result of his involvement in illegal betting, Okinoumi was suspended for the Nagoya basho and demoted to Juryo for the following tournament. A strong performance in September saw him back in Makuuchi by the 2010 November tournament. Okinoumi’s 2011 started with an impressive 11-4 at the New Year tournament, where he finished second place in the yusho race and picked up his first special prize. After two years of being a rank and filer, Okinoumi recorded his second career jun-yusho at the 2013 basho in Osaka. His performance also earned him a promotion to Komusubi, but a 4-11 record at the Natsu basho would land him back in the Maegashira once more.

March 2015 would see Okinoumi receive a significant bump up the banzuke from Maegashira 6 to Sekiwake, his highest rank to date, due to the underperformance of several rikishi above him. An injury forced him to cut his first tournament at Sekiwake short, however, and he droped back down to the lower Maegashira for the 2015 Natsu basho. Except for two brief appearances at Komusubi, nagging health issue would keep Okinoumi floating around the mid to high Maegashira throughout the rest of 2015 and much of 2016. A respectable 9-6 showing at the 2016 Aki basho, which also saw him take home the outstanding performance prize and two kinboshi victories, resulted in another promotion to Sekiwake for the November competition. Much like before he would not hold on to this position for long, and was soon back amongst the rank and filers where he has remained to the present. Preferring to fight on the mawashi, Okinoumi uses a variety of yotsu-zumo techniques to win his matches. His favorite kimarite winning move is a yorikiri, and he prefers a migi-yotsu left hand outside right hand inside grip. Much like fellow rikishi Endo, Okinoumi is also very popular with sumo’s female fans due to his handsome appearance.

Endo (left) vs. Okinoumi (right), Kyushu basho 2017.

Links:
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=6463
http://www.sumo.or.jp/EnSumoDataRikishi/profile?id=2759
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinoumi_Ayumi

Who’s That Rikishi #4: Chiyomaru Kazuki

Liam R Kyushu Basho 2017 , ,

Chiyomaru

Age: 26
Birth Name: Kazuki Kinoshita
Home Town: Shibushi, Japan
Stable: Kokonoe
Highest Rank: Maegashira 11

With his rotund physique and jolly personality, one would be hard-pressed to miss Chiyomaru Kazuki. Born in Shibushi city in 1991, Chiyomaru practiced judo throughout much of his youth before entering Kokonoe beya after high school. His younger brother Chiyootori Yuki joined him a year later, and together the two trained under former Yokozuna Chiyonofuji. In 2007 Chiyomaru made his professional debut and made steady progress through sumo’s lower ranks over the next few years. Tragedy would strike his family in 2011 when a fire burned down his parents’ home. Chiyomaru and his brother, now an active rikishi as well, decided to turn their tragedy into motivation and vowed to become more successful to help their parents rebuild their home.

It appeared that Chiyomaru’s younger brother was more serious about their vow, and in 2012 Chiyootori overtook his elder sibling and reached the salaried rank of Juryo. In an attempt to motivate him to train harder, Chiyonofuji assigned Chiyomaru to be a tsukebito for his brother. This assignment had the desired effect on Chiyomaru, who felt shame in being his little brother’s personal attendant. From this point on he applied himself full-heartedly to his training and eventually joined Chiyootori in Juryo at the 2013 Aki basho. In January of the following year, Chiyomaru won his first division championship, taking the Juryo yusho with a 13-2 record. This victory ensured his promotion to the Makuuchi division for the following tournament, where Chiyomaru  joined Chiyotoori and marked the tenth time in history two brothers had competed in the top division simultaneously. Another strong performance saw him promoted to Maegashira 11 for the 2014 Natsu basho, his highest rank to date. Chiyomaru remained in the lower Makuuchi for the next year until a disastrous 3-12 record in May of 2015 saw him relegated back to Juryo. Unable to put together a streak of winning records good enough to warrant a return to the top division, he remained in Juryo for another two years. In July of 2017, Chiyomaru was able to re-establish himself as a top rank rikishi, and he has remained in Makuuchi ever since. Chiyomaru mainly uses oshi-zumo on the dohyo, winning nearly 60% of his matches with either an oshidashi pushout or a yorikiri forceout. Chiyomaru has developed a large following of female fans who find him incredibly kawaii, and who affectionately nicknamed him 22, referencing his body fat percentage.

Kaisei (left) vs. Chiyomaru (right), Aki basho, 2017.

Links:
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=7240
http://www.sumo.or.jp/EnSumoDataRikishi/profile?id=3040
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyomaru_Kazuki

Who’s That Rikishi #3: Kagayaki Taishi

Liam R Kyushu Basho 2017 , ,

KagayakiAge: 23
Birth Name: Tatsu Ryoya
Home Town: Kanazawa, Japan
Stable: Takadagawa
Highest Rank: Maegashira 4

Tatsu Ryoya, the future Kagayaki, was born in the city of Kanazawa in 1994. Despite being average size at birth Tatsu grew quickly, and by the time he reached Kindergarten he was already much larger than other children his age. His passion for sumo began early, and he started practicing the sport in the first grade. At the age of thirteen Tatsu already stood six feet tall, and weighed over 200 pounds. Two years later, having won the National Junior High School Sumo Championship, he would end his formal education and take up sumo full time. Joining Takagawa beya, Tatsu revealed during his maezumo that his idol was Yokozuna Hakuho. He also told the press that he hoped to be a Yokozuna in six or seven years. Tatsu moved quickly through the lower divisions and was promoted to sumo’s third highest rank, Makushita, after only seven tournaments. At the 2012 Hatsu basho, he lost the Makushita yusho in an eight-man playoff. He continued to find success in the division and received a promotion to Juryo at the 2014 November tournament. It was during this basho that he  announced his new shikona, formally taking the name Kagayaki Taishi. He chose to name himself Kagayaki after the shinkansen train of the same name, which connects his hometown of Kanazawa to Tokyo.

After seven basho in Juryo, Kagayaki made his Makuuchi debut in January 2016 alongside fellow Makuuchi rookie Shodai Naoya. While Shodai would go on to a tremendous 10-5 record, a poor performance at the Hatsu basho saw Kagayaki back in Juryo the following tournament. He made his return to the top division two tournaments later. Kagayaki would reach his highest rank of Maegashira 4 after a 9-6 record at the 2017 Natsu basho. The following tournament marked the first time Kagayaki had ever taken on Ozeki and Yokozuna level rikishi, including his childhood idol Hakuho. As a result of this stiff competition, Kagayaki would only manage five wins in Nagoya. A similarly disastrous performance in September of 2017 saw him back in the lower Maegashira for the next basho. A pusher-thruster rikishi, Kagayaki primarily uses oshidashi push out and yorikiri force out techniques to win his matches.

Kagayaki (left) vs. Takakeisho (right), Aki basho, 2017.

Links
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=11845
http://www.sumo.or.jp/EnSumoDataRikishi/profile?id=3255
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagayaki_Taishi

Who’s That Rikishi #2: Arawashi Tsuyoshi

Liam R Arawashi (荒鷲) ,

Arawashi

Age: 31
Birth Name: Dulgoun Erhebayar
Home Town: Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Stable: Minezaki
Highest Rank: Maegashira 2

While some rikishi experience meteoric rises up the banzuke, for others slow and steady wins the race. This was the path that Arawashi Tsuyoshi took to sumo’s top ranks. Of all the foreign-born rikishi who have ever competed in the Makuuchi division, only one has taken longer to get there than the Mongolian born Arawashi. This long and arduous path began at a 2002 junior sumo tournament. From the beginning, it was obvious that Arawashi was talented. One noteworthy spectator at this tournament was Kyokushuzan Noboru, Mongolia’s first sekitori and veritable department store of sumo techniques. Kyokushuzan was impressed by Arawashi and commented on the young man’s skill on the dohyo. Later that same year Arawashi was invited to join Araiso beya and made his professional debut at the Kyushu basho. At the same time as his debut another foreign-born rikishi, future Ozeki Kotooshu of Bulgaria, was also beginning his career. Though they may have begun together, Kotooshu advanced quickly up the ranks leaving Arawashi behind. Unperturbed, Arawashi vowed to make it to the top division to once again compete against his Bulgarian rival.

Over the next three years, Arawashi made steady progress through the ranks. This progress was disrupted when a dislocated shoulder forced him to withdraw from competition and miss the first two basho of 2006. From this point on his shoulder was prone to dislocation and would afflict the young athlete on seven different occasions. Arawashi eventually relented to getting corrective surgery. While rehabilitating his shoulder, he began to study the techniques of Yokozuna Chiyonofuji, who had also suffered from shoulder dislocation issues throughout his career. In September of 2008, Arawashi relocated to Hanakago beya after his original stable closed due to the retirement of its owner. In the 2011 Nagoya basho, Arawashi was promoted to the Juryo division despite having a losing record in the previous tournament. This unexpected rise up the banzuke was due to the dismissal of several high ranking rikishi who had been implicated in the match-fixing scandal of 2011. Arawashi continued to float in and out of Juryo over the next three years. Hanakago beya would close in 2012 as a result of financial difficulties. Arawashi once again found himself transferring to a new stable. The move to his current stable, Minezaki beya, seemed to have a positive effect on Arawashi. He found more consistency in his sumo and would eventually break into the top Makuuchi division at the 2014 Natsu basho.

Debuting at Maegashira 16, Arawashi became the twenty-first Mongolian to compete in sumo’s top division. Despite reaching Makuuchi he was not able to fulfill his vow of once again meeting Kotooshu on the dohyo. Ironically, Kotooshu announced his retirement at the very basho Arawashi had been added to the top ranks. After a career-high 11-4 winning record at the 2016 November basho, Arawashi was promoted from Maegashira 10 to Maegashira 2, his highest rank to date. Although he only managed to record six wins at this rank, two were kinboshi victories over Kakuryu and Hakuho respectively. Arawashi primarily uses yori-kiri force outs and uwatenage overarm throws to win his bouts. His favorite grip is a migi-yotsu left hand outside, right hand inside hold. After Ishiura, Arawashi is the second lightest rikishi in the top division

Shodai (left) vs. Arawashi (right), Kyushu basho, 2017.

Links:
http://www.sumo.or.jp/EnSumoDataRikishi/profile?id=2512
http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=2832
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiyonofuji_Mitsugu