Behind the Curtain - July 2023

It is time to journey to Nagoya for the July Basho.  We have five rikishi stepping out from behind the curtain this tourney.

 

Ms1e Shiden (4-3) got a kachikoshi from the first slot of Makushita to guarantee his wearing of the silk mawashi this basho.  This is his second time getting promoted to the paid ranks.  However, the last time, he didn’t get to do one bout at Juryo because he reprimanded from the Kyokai for going gambling and did not even gamble, but got suspended by his Oyakata, causing him to drop back to Makushita, again, without having a single bout.

 

Shiden was born in Machida, Tokyo.  His grandfather loved sumo and influenced him to join a local sumo dojo at a very young age. He attended Oyamada-minami Elementary School where he won a local child sumo tournament in the fourth grade. He went on to attend Machida Shiritsu Oyamada Junior High School where he wrestled in multiple national competitions. After graduating junior high school, he studied abroad at Saitama Sakae High School and was a member of the school's prestigous sumo club. During his third year, he won the national group sumo championship with his school and also notched a strong record in the individual competitions. Upon graduating from high school, he enrolled at Nihon University's College of Commerce and was also a member of the university's sumo club. However, he did not win any major titles during his time in collegiate-level sumo. Nevertheless, he opted to turn professional upon graduation from college.

 

Ms1w Kawazoe (5-2) put up 5 wins to get promoted to Juryo.  He was born in Uto, Kumamoto, and he began sumo wrestling during his time at Hanazono Elementary School. In his third year at Uto Kakujo Junior High School, Kawazoe won both the National Junior High School Sumo Championship Lightweight Class and the Hakuho Cup. For high school, Kawazoe attended Buntoku Gakuen Gymnasium where he performed well on the national stage. After graduating, he enrolled at Nihon University's College of Humanities and Sciences where he studied physical education. During his college career, Kawazoe won a total of four titles, including the National Student Sumo Championship which made him eligible for makushita tsukedashi. Upon graduating, Kawazoe joined Miyagino stable.

 

Ms2w Shishi (6-1) had a near perfect record to be able to step in front of the curtain.  Sergey Sokolovsky was born in Ukraine and grew up in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He began wrestling at the age of 6 and won many amateur tournaments. He transitioned to sumo at the age of fifteen and won the European championship. He was runner-up in the 2018 World Sumo Championships. He joined Irumagawa stable in November 2019 but did not make his debut until March 2020.

 

Ms3w Chiyonoumi (4-3) managed to get moved up the banzuke to the paid ranks with a simple kachikoshi.  He was born in Kuroshia, a small town in Kochi Prefecture. He attended Kochi Prefectural Sukumo High School and belonged to their sumo club. He enrolled in Nippon Sport Science University and joined their sumo club. His most memorable college match was against Endo, a future makuuchi division wrestler, who he beat in a team competition. Endo was a 4th year student (senior), and Hamamachi was only a 2nd year student (sophomore). As a senior, Hamamichi was team captain in the National Student Sumo Championship tournament and led them to a team championship.

 

Ms5e Yuma (5-2) managed to get the open slot in Juryo to get to wear a silk mawashi this basho. He was born the second of three sons in Hirakata, Osaka, Japan. He started sumo wrestling during his fifth year of elementary school and participated at the National Wanpaku Sumo Tournament later that year. 

He attended Hirakata Municipal Nakamiya Junior High School, however, from his second year the school's sumo club was suspended, so he continued his training at Kindai University High School's sumo club. After graduating junior high school, Nakao was introduced to Onomatsu stable by the director of Kindai University High School's sumo club.

 

To make space in the paid ranks for these rikishi the following changes took place.  J5e Tochinoshin retired. His intai and Ichinojo’s create two openings in the second division. Two more slots will be vacated by winless veteran J9w Chiyonokuni (0-10-5), who may be next on the intai watch, and Juryo debutant J14e Tokihayate (6-9).

Behind the Curtain - May 2023

 The cherry blossoms left us after the Haru basho, and now after the Golden Week holidays we get to the Natsu basho.  Who is stepping in front of the curtain this tourney?

Chiyosakae Eita Ms 2w (5-2) posted a strong result to put on the silk mawashi for the 2nd time.  He spent half of 2022 in a silk mawashi.  Chiyo is from Fukuchiyama, Kyoto.  He debuted in January 2009.  He is a member of the Kokonoe-Beya.

Chiyosakae was born in the town of Kasuga (currently the city of Tamba) in Hyogo prefecture. Chiyosakae began practicing judo at the age of 3 and attended judo classes while in elementary school. During his fifth year of elementary school, Chiyosakae began attending judo classes in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, and would use this as his official birthplace when joining professional sumo. He attended Sanda Municipal Ai Junior High School in Sanda, Hyogo, before transferring to Fukuchiyama Municipal Nisshin Junior High School in Kyoto during his second year. During his time in school, Kishi won many prefectural judo tournaments. After graduating from Kyoto Kyoei Gakuen High School, the director of Kishi's high school judo club recommended that he join professional sumo since he was a fan of ozeki Chiyotaikai. Chiyosakae agreed and subsequently joined Kokonoe stable.

Fujiseiun Tatsuki Ms 2e (4-3) just cleared the hurdle of a kachikoshi result to make it to the paid ranks for the first time.  Fuji is from Kumamoto City, Kumamoto-ken.  He debuted in March 2021.  He is a member of the Fujishima-beya.  

Fujiseiun started sumo wrestling during his first year at Kawachi Elementary School, but stopped sumo wrestling in his third year and played baseball from his fourth year to sixth year. He then attended Kumamoto Shiritsu Kawachi Junior High School where he was a member of the judo club. He went on to attend Buntoku Gakuen Gymnasium and was a member of the school's sumo club. He continued his sumo career at Meiji University where he made top 32 at the Kokutai Sumo Tournament.

After graduating university in 2020, Fujiseiun got a job with Toppan, a printing company, and was planning to work at a factory in Saitama prefecture while simultaneously continuing his sumo career at the corporate level. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic he could not participate in training or tournaments so he decided to go pro instead.

Tokihayate Hideki Ms 3e (4-3) got his 4th win to secure a visit in front of the curtain.  He is from Kurihara, Miyagi-ken.  He made his debut in March 2019.  He is a wrestler from Tokitsukaze-beya.

Tokihayate began sumo wrestling during his second year of elementary school because he was bigger than most of his other classmates. In addition to sumo, he also participated in soccer and volleyball, but after entering junior high school, Tokihayate solely focused on sumo. For high school, he attended Miyagiken Kogotanorinkoto School where he finished third at the National High School Sumo Championship during his third year.

Behind the Curtain - March 2023

The cherry blossoms are on their way coming up Honshu from the south and may reach Osaka in time for the basho. This basho we have 4 rikishi stepping in front of the curtain, 2 returnees, and 2 newcomers. 

Tokyushoryu Ms2w (4-3) finished his one basho visit to the unpaid ranks and is our first returnee. 

Tomokaze Ms2e (4-3) is a former Maegashira 3 but suffered a terrible leg injury in 2019, dropping him behind the curtain. He is our second returnee of this basho.

Tamashoho Ms1e (4-3) is a Mongolian rikishi who is the brother-in-law and stablemate of Tamawashi. After 11 years in sumo, he is making his sekitori debut this basho. He beat Asanoyama in November to secure the Makushita Yusho at that basho.

Ochiai Ms15 TD (tsukedashi) (7-0) won the Makushita Yusho. Being ranked in the top 15 slots, means automatic promotion to the paid ranks, though there was some question of this rule applying to him. In a previous Ms15 TD zensho, the rikishi was not promoted to Juryo, due probably to a lack of open slots. Since he started sumo at Ms15 TD, he will be a sekitori in only his second tourney, and without a chomage but a crew cut.

For these 4 rikishi to step in front of the curtain, four rikishi have to trade their silk mawashi for cotton and get behind the curtain.

One of the four slots opened when Okinoumi retired from sumo, becoming an oyakata. The other 3 slots were opened by rikishi that managed 5-10 records at the Tokyo basho; J12w Kaisho, J11e Chiyosakae, and J10w Terutsuyoshi.

Behind the Curtain - March 2022

Spring is in the air so it must be time for the Osaka Basho. At this Basho we have 2 new faces and 2 returnees to the silk belt. Let’s get rolling with the new faces first.

Atamifuji Ms1w 4-3, Isegahama-beya, Shizuoka, 19 years old. Born Takei Sakutaro in Chiba, he moved to Atami and his shikona is a nod to his hometown. He joined Isegahama stable at age of 18. Atami has a very controlled approach to his bouts and doesn't seem to get fazed much by anything. He belongs in Juryo and ought to have an extended stay.

Shimazuumi Ms2w 4-3, Hanaregoma-beya, Kagoshima, 25 years old. Shimazuumi, formerly known as Nakazono, is from the new Hanaregoma-beya. Shimanoumi's first appearance in juryo ended in failure as he won only four of his fifteen matches and was relegated back to makushita. Competing towards the top of the third division for the rest of 2016 and throughout 2017 he performed consistently before a 5-2 result in January 2018 secured his second promotion to Juryo.  After stepping behind the curtain again, he has been close to the curtain for over a year now, and he finally nailed it after three consecutive kachi-koshi basho. He has been in sumo since 2012. He's been in Makushita consistently since 2017. It took him 5 years but he is finally in the paid ranks.

Takakentou Ms3e 4-3, Tokiwayama-beya, Kumamoto, 25 years old, 2nd promotion, back after 2 basho. He made his debut in January 2014 and currently wrestles for Tokiwayama stable. He reached the Juryo division in March 2021. His highest rank as of 2022 is Juryo 4. Now he returns to wearing the silk mawashi. He ought to be able to get beyond Juryo 4 in a couple of tournaments.

Ryuuden Ms5e 6-1, Takadagawa-beya, Yamanashi, 31 years old, 3rd promotion, back after 3 basho, former komusubi. He made his professional debut in March 2006 and reached the top makuuchi division in January 2018. He was the youngest of three brothers and had a background in judo. However, he was persuaded by the former sekiwake Akinoshima, a coach at Takadagawa stable who was visiting his junior high school to scout a judo classmate, to give sumo a try. Ryuden gradually rose the ranks through the lower divisions and reached the makushita division in March 2008 at the young age of 17. He bounced back and forth between makushita and sandanme for a couple of months, before becoming a makushita regular beginning in November 2008. In July 2009, Ryuden produced a 6-1 record and was placed in an eight-man playoff for the makushita yusho, however, he lost to Sotairyu in the first round. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2018 and has two special prizes. His highest rank as of 2021 is komusubi.

My Introduction to Sumo

My introduction to sumo was twofold. When I was a kid in Honolulu, the Japanese superhero shows were super popular. Before the show started, if it was basho time, there would be sumo highlights. I wasn't interested but I had a glimmer of what it was about from KIKU TV, channel 13. Then in 1990, I left America to work in Japan. My homestay family helped me find a job. My flatmate introduced me to foreign friends, that circle of friends grew and I meet an American on a 1-year assignment, Andy. Andy was a sports freak, he wanted to see every sport live. He asked me about sumo. I had no clue. We started getting in line for tickets and kept failing. Finally, we got in line before the JR trains started running, and landed last row tickets. That first time sealed it, I was hooked. The atmosphere of a basho, the bouts, the people meeting and people watching. It turns out my neighborhood in Koto-Ku was near many stables. So we would write a letter, asking if we could visit morning practice. A couple of times we got a reply. It was a blast. Later on, I had lady friends who dated junior sumo wrestlers from Hawaii. That got me into the inner circle, all the Hawaiian wrestlers called me Kawika and I started to hang out with the lower-ranked Hawaiian wrestlers. That got me the opportunity to show Konishiki how to use the laptop he got for his birthday. I also went to Akihabara with Akebono's tsubeito and brought his first laptop. Later I took Yamato and his tsubeito to Akihabara to buy his first laptop. I was lucky to have been from Hawaii. I was lucky to have lived in Koto-ku. I was lucky that I had friends that wanted to go to sumo and would wait in line with me from 4:45 am to get tickets. As time went by, I would organize groups of 10-20 or more to see sumo. I learned to buy from the box office, if you buy more than 20 you get a discount, after filling out some paperwork, which I couldn't really read 100%, but they helped me fill out anyway. I was able to watch sumo practice at Musashigawa beya, and with his manager's help, get box seat tickets. I have attended the big stable party on senshuraku. Sumo is a big part of my life. Not to mention, in the late 90s, I decided that I could do the play-by-play on the foreign channel of NHK for sumo. I approached the writers of Sumo World for an introduction. I get one, but I became a columnist for Sumo World. I have a regular column that reviews the newly promote or returning rikishiki to sekitori. So that is a summary of my introduction to sumo. Please reach out to me with any feedback or questions. Mahalo, Kawika

Behind the Curtain - July 2021

 Good news!  The July basho will be held in Nagoya.  The rijicho said "We will hold the Nagoya basho and it will be a success. We will make sure that the sumo culture will not be forgotten around the country." It will be the first time in a year and four months that a local basho will be held. It was held in March 2020 in Osaka but with no spectators. It will be the first local basho with fans since November 2019. The number of spectators will be limited to 3800, half the capacity in Nagoya. "All Kyokai members will undergo PCR tests and only negative people will be allowed to travel to Nagoya. Stringent measures similar to the Kokugikan will be taken at the venue to prevent infection. As a general rule, going out from the lodgings will be strictly forbidden, " summed Hakkaku rijicho.

What does this mean?  The lucky rikishi stepping from behind the curtain will step on the Nagoya dohyo and not the dohyo in Kokugikan.  Who are these lucky rikishi?  We have one new face entering Juryo and 3 returnees to sekitori.

Kotoukuzan (ms 1e) racked up a 5 - 2 record to move upwards.  Koto is interesting since he from the Philippines.  His name is Jasper Kenneth.  His mother is Catherine and his father is Japanese.  His father was the one who encouraged Jasper to join sumo.  He lived in the Philippines until he was 12 years old.  He entered sumo at 15 years old.  He debuted in makushita at 20 years old.  He is a pusher-thruster who models himself after Mitakeumi and Chiyotaikai.  Interestingly his least favorite class in school was Japanese.  Also, his least favorite food is natto.  Thanks to his mom, who sometimes brings Filipino food to the heya, so he is not homesick for Filpino food.   

Abi (ms 7e ) scored 7 - 0 to take the makushita yusho and thereby putting on the silk mawashi back on.  Abi was stuck behind the curtain for 4 basho since his demotion.  You may recall that a year ago, Abi stepped out for a night out during the last basho, when there are strict orders not to do so, particularly with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.   This lead to his suspension, which ended with a demotion to makushita.

Yago (ms 4w) managed a 4 - 3 to step out from the curtain after wearing a cotton mawashi for the last 2 basho.  Yago was a college sumo champion who entered sumo at makushita tsukedashi 15.  He hails from Hokkaido.

Kaishou (ms 2w) notched a 6 - 1 to get his silk mawashi back after 18 months.

Behind the Curtain - May 2021

 The cherry blossom season is behind us, Golden Week has arrived and it is time for sumo at Kokugikan. Joining the rikishi with silk mawashi are two returnees for this basho, Oho Konosuke and Daishoho Kiyohiro are in the paid ranks once again.

Oho (Ms2e) posted a 4-3 record to secure his return to Juryo. Taihō's grandson continues to show us that he has sekitori DNA in his body. Oho won his 4 bouts primarily via his tsuki/oshi technique, which is pushing and thrusting. In general, Oho most common winning technique or kimarite is oshidashi, known as straightforward push out. His father, Takatoriki, was also a big oshidashi fighter.

The last time he was promoted to the paid ranks, his Oyakata changed his shikona from Naya to Oho (王鵬) which means King Peng (phoenix). 

Oho is the third of four sons and his father was the sekitori Takatoriki. And of course, his mother is the 48th yokozuna Taiho’s daughter. In his fourth year at Arima Elementary School, he was the runner-up in the national tournament.

Oho attended Saitama Sakae High School that has a strong sumo program. One of his classmates with the future Kotoshoho. In Oho’s third year at high school, he won both the group and individual championships on the national level. After high school, he joined Otake stable, which was founded by his grandfather. 

Fun fact. Oho is also the second third-generation sumo wrestler after Kotonowaka to become a sekitori.

Daishōhō (Ms2w) notched 5 wins and 2 losses to punch his return ticket to the paid ranks. Now where Oho is a pusher, Daishōhō is a traditional grappler, with his main technique yotsu sumo. Over his career, he has won mostly via tori-kiri or force out. He is also a right hand grip the mawashi kind of guy, migh-yotsu.

Daishōhō spent his childhood in Ulan-Bator and was a good student. He was sent to Japan to study after his fourth-grade year seeking a better education. He attended Kashiwa City Daini Elementary School and after 3 months he was able to speak basic Japanese.

Daishōhō attended Chiba Prefectural Nagareyama Minami High School. One of his classmates with future makuuchi wrestler Abi. In the New Year Chiba Prefecture sumo tournament, Daishōhō led his school to a team championship for the first time in 19 years. The next year the in the national competition he lost to sekiwake Ichinojo . Daishōhō would train with the Meiji University sumo club. Daishōhō graduated at the top of his class academically. It was in high school where he was introduced to Oitekaze Oyakata. Eventually, Daishōhō joined Oitekaze stable.

Fun fact. Daishōhō was the 25th Mongolian to be promoted to makuuchi.