Asanowaka Itsuki

Asanowaka Itsuki - 朝乃若樹 (born June 22, 1995) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Sado, Niigata. He made his debut in March 2018 and currently wrestles for Takasago stable. He reached the juryo division in November 2021. His highest rank as of 2025 is juryo 4.

Early Life[]

Itsuki Terasawa was born on June 22, 1995, in Sado, Niigata. He was introduced to sumo by his grandfather and began sumo wrestling during his second year at Sado Shiritsu Kanai Elementary School.^[1]

For junior high school, he studied abroad at Kanazawa Shiritsu Naruwa Junior High School in Ishikawa prefecture. During his third year of junior high school, he and his school won the National Junior High School Championship in the group competition and he was the runner-up for the individual competition.^[1]

He went on to attend Kanazawa Municipal Technical High School and continued to wrestle at the national level. After graduating high school, he considered to directly enter professional sumo, but was not confident with his current skill level and opted to wrestle at the collegiate level.^[2] He enrolled at Toyo University and was a member of the school's sumo club. He did not achieve notable results until his fourth year where he was ranked at the top 16 for the National Student Sumo Championship and the All Japan Sumo Championship.^[1]

Career[]

Early Career[]

In his third year of college he was given an offer by Wakamatsu Oyakata (former maegashira Asanowaka) who is a coach at Takasago stable. After graduating college, Terasawa joined Takasago stable and made his debut in March 2018. Since he did not qualify for any special dispensation, he made his debut at the bottom of the banzuke.^[3]

TerasawaJuryo — Terasawa prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2020)

In his second tournament in May 2018, Terasawa suffered a herniated disc and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. He underwent surgery in June and sat out of three consecutive tournaments. As a result, he fell off the banzuke and had to redo maezumo (pre-sumo) in January 2019.^[4]

Upon returning, he won the jonokuchi yusho with a perfect 7-0 record and was promoted to jonidan for the following May 2019 tournament. In this tournament, he missed out on the jonidan yusho after losing to up-and-comer Tochikamiyama in his final match to finish with a 6-1 record. Nevertheless, he claimed the sandanme yusho in the following July 2019 tournament and was promoted to makushita in September 2019. Terasawa won the makushita yusho in September 2020 and was promoted to the rank of makushita 4 in November 2020. In this tournament, Terasawa missed out on a juryo promotion after losing to juryo-ranked Takagenji to finish with a 3-4 record. In September 2021, Terasawa posted a 5-2 record at the top of makushita and was promoted to juryo in November 2021.^[3]

Juryo Career[]

Upon reaching the elite sekitori status, Terasawa personally asked Wakamatsu Oyakata (former maegashira Asanowaka) for his shikona as he "Did good sumo with all his heart and had few injuries".^[5] He finished his juryo debut with a strong 10-5 record. Asanowaka remained in juryo for a year, reaching as high as juryo 4 in March 2022. Asanowaka caught COVID-19 on August 29, 2022, and had to miss the upcoming September 2022 tournament. As a result, he was demoted back down to makushita for the November 2022 tournament.^[6]

Later Career[]

After being demoted to makushita he posted mixed results, staying in middle to lower makushita, once falling to sandanme but immediately coming back to makushita with a 6-1 record. During the spring regional tour of 2024, between March and May, Asanowaka started performing the bow-twirling ceremony at several events. He conducted the ceremony for the first time in a basho on May 2, 2024, acting as a substitute for Satonofuji.^[7] By doing this he became the first ex-sekitori to perform the ceremony after falling to the unsalaried ranks since ex-juryo Hidenohana.^[8]

Personal Life[]

In July 2020, Asanowaka's training mawashi was stolen while it was drying outside his stable. To make matters worse, a talisman containing the ashes of his dead pet rabbit was hidden in the mawashi. The culprit was never found.^[9] Asanowaka went on to win the makushita yusho in the following September 2020 tournament.

Fighting Style[]

Asanowaka is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite or technique is oshidashi (push out), followed by tsukiotoshi (thrust down). He also regularly employs henka, or sidestepping at the initial charge.^[10]