Baruto Kaito - 把瑠都 凱斗 (born November 5, 1984) is a former Estonian professional sumo wrestler from Väike-Maarja, Lääne-Viru County. He made his debut in May 2004 and wrestled for Onoe stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 2006 and has 7 special prizes and 1 top division championship. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in September 2013.
Early Life[]
A young Baruto competes in a sumo tournament.
Höövelson was born in Väike-Maarja, but grew up in the nearby Rohu village in current Laekvere Parish. His family owned a cattle farm and he became accustomed to hard physical labour as a child. His father died when Höövelson was sixteen years old and he worked as a nightclub bouncer to earn a living. He was also bullied as a kid due to his tender personality and weight.
Prior to sumo, he played basketball as a teenager and also won a national judo championship in Estonia. He was introduced to amateur sumo when he was a little boy. Through his judo coach Riho Rannikmaa, and an official from the Kagoshima Prefecture Sumo Association, Kazuo Kurazono, encouraged him to join the professional sport. Due to the restrictions on foreigners entering sumo, the only stable with a place available was Mihogaseki. He came to Japan with a friend from Estonia, Ott Juurikas, who entered Irumagawa stable and fought under the name of Kitaoji but quit after only one tournament.
Career[]
Early Career[]
Baruto rests during a training session (c. 2005)
Höövelson was given the shikona or fighting name of Baruto, a reference to the Japanese name of the Baltic sea, and made his professional debut in May 2004. He moved very quickly up the rankings, and won both jonokuchi and jonidan divisions. He stays in sandanme for only two tournaments and makushita in three. He reached the juryo division after only 8 tournaments (tied for the third-fastest rise to sekitori status since 1958 when the current six-tournament-a-year format was adopted) and compiling a record of 41–8 on the way.
Juryo Career[]
In his juryo debut, he produced an outstanding 12-3 record Baruto, but pulled out on the first day in the very next tournament. He suffered from appendicitis and was demoted back down to the unsalaried makushita division. He then won the makushita championship and was promoted back to the salaried juryo division. He won the juryo division March 2006 honbasho tournament with a perfect 15–0 result. This was only the fourth time ever that a juryo wrestler has won the championship with such a record. He was the first to achieve this since Kitanofuji, who ultimately reached the top yokozuna rank, in 1963. As a result of this performance he was promoted to makuuchi, the highest division, for the first time in his career in May 2006.
Makuuchi Career[]
In his first tournament in the top division Baruto scored a strong 11–4 record and won the kanto-sho (or Fighting Spirit Prize). After a second winning record in July and another promotion, Baruto's quick ascent through the ranks halted at maegashira 1. He withdrew from the September tournament with an injury, which lowered his standing to maegashira 6 in the November tournament. The result of 10–5 there took him up to maegashira 3, but he was again injured in the January 2007 tournament. He suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He was unable to compete in the March tournament as well and his ranking suffered, resulting in a return to the juryo ranks. In May he won the juryo championship with a 14–1 record, resulting in an immediate return to makuuchi in July to the position of maegashira 14 East. However, he re-injured his knee on the opening day and decided to withdraw from the tournament. It was the third time he had injured the knee, each time in a different place. He opted against surgery, which would have required a lengthy lay-off.
Baruto defeats Yokozuna Hakuho (c. 2010)
In September 2007, despite being clearly still troubled by his knee, he took his third juryo division championship with a 13–2 record. This was enough to earn promotion back to the top division for November. He was in contention for the championship until the final days of the tournament when he was defeated by ozeki Chiyotaikai and komusubi Ama. He finished with an 11–4 record and was awarded his second Fighting Spirit Prize.
In the January 2008 tournament Baruto produced a 7–8 score, the first time in his career that he has completed a tournament and finished with more losses than wins. He performed much better in March, finishing as joint runner-up with 12 wins and being awarded another Fighting Spirit Prize. In the May 2008 tournament he was unable to defeat any of the top rankers and could only manage five wins. In the July 2008 tournament, Baruto finished with a 10–5 score, assuring a komusubi debut in September.
In his first appearance as komusubi in the September tournament, Baruto managed an 8–7 score, while having a less than perfect start to the tournament. He was just 2–7 after 9 bouts where he competed with only the titled ranks of san'yaku wrestlers. His last six matches were against wrestlers from the maegashira ranks and there Baruto managed to hold his ground. He was promoted to sekiwake rank for the Kyushu Basho in November, as the west sekiwake Toyonoshima could not hold his position after a 6–9 finish in the Aki Basho, thus leaving an opening for the position. He came through with a winning record in his sekiwake debut.
Baruto lifts out Ama (c. 2009)
Baruto had an excellent start to the January 2009 tournament, winning his first six matches. However, he began losing in the second week and finished on 9–6. By contrast, he struggled during the first week of the March tournament in facing the top ranked wrestlers and stood at 3–6 after nine days, but he maintained his rank with a kachi-koshi victory on the final day. He is the first sekiwake to hold his rank for four straight tournaments since his debut since Asashoryu in 2002. He lost the rank in May 2009, but fighting from the maegashira 3 position in July he produced a strong 11–4 record and returned to the komusubi rank for the September tournament. There he became the first non-yokozuna since Hoshi in 1986 to defeat five ozeki in one tournament. He finished with a fine 12–3 record, guaranteeing his return to sekiwake, and was awarded his fourth Fighting Spirit prize. He scored nine wins in the next tournament.
Ozeki Career[]
On the seventh day of the January 2010 tournament he finally managed to defeat a yokozuna, Hakuho, by sukuinage, or beltless arm throw, his first win over a yokozuna in nineteen attempts. This earned him his first Outstanding Performance award, and he finished on 12–3. He became only the third wrestler to compile 33 wins over three tournaments in a san'yaku rank and not be promoted to ozeki, following Kotogahama in 1957 and Miyabiyama (twice) in 2006. At the March tournament in Osaka it was indicated by Sumo Association official Tomozuna Oyakata that he would need to win at least 13 bouts and be in contention for the yusho to earn ozeki promotion. Baruto was nursing an injury to his left thumb throughout the basho, which he picked up in a training session with Aran. However, he produced his best score in the top division to date of 14–1, and lost only to Hakuho on Day 11. He was in contention for the championship until the final bout of the tournament, which Hakuho won over Harumafuji to complete an undefeated 15–0 performance. Baruto was rewarded with special prizes for Fighting Spirit and Technique, the first time since Kotomitsuki in July 2007 that one wrestler has received two prizes in the same tournament.
Baruto after winning his first makuuchi championship (c. 2012)
Baruto's promotion was officially confirmed by the Sumo Association on March 31. Speaking to reporters at his Onoe stable, he said, "I want to be cheerful and be an ozeki that can live up to the expectations of the fans." He also made clear his determination to win the yusho, as "unless I win a championship I can't move up to yokozuna." However, for a significant period he was not able to challenge for the championship as an ozeki, his best score never being higher than 11–4. This changed in January 2012, when after he recorded 13 straight wins and his nearest challenger yokozuna Hakuho suffered three losses in four bouts, he took the championship with two days left to spare. This made him the ninth foreigner, and the second from Europe after Kotooshu, to win a top division championship. He finished on 14–1, denied a perfect record by Hakuho on the final day. He was told he had to win the next tournament or be in contention until the final day to earn a shot at yokozuna promotion, but Baruto told reporters the day after celebrating his victory, "If I can wrestle at the spring basho like I did at the New Year meet, results will follow. Once you win one tournament, you want to win a second, a third, a 10th and a 30th." At the Osaka tournament in March he stood at 9–1 after ten days, but lost four of his last five matches to finish on a disappointing 10–5, putting any hopes for yokozuna promotion back to square one. Baruto had been suffering from a fever during the tournament and said afterwards that talk of yokozuna was just "journalistic chatter... that wasn't my goal in this tournament."
Later Career[]
Baruto was kadoban, or in danger of demotion from ozeki, after he pulled out of the Aki basho in September 2012 on the 4th day after injuring the big toe on his right foot before the tournament.Needing at least eight wins to preserve his rank in the Kyushu tournament in November, he instead had to withdraw once again on Day 3 after injuring a thigh muscle, and was demoted back to sekiwake. Needing ten wins in the January 2013 tournament, he lost his chance of an immediate return to ozeki on Day 13 when he fell to his sixth defeat. He would have had to win 32 or 33 bouts in three consecutive tournaments in makuuchi to earn promotion to ozeki again. Because he sat out the summer tournament 2013 due to injury, he was demoted to the juryo division in September 2013 and chose to retire on September the 11th.
Retirement from Sumo[]
After retirement Baruto became involved in several different business ventures, involving holiday accommodation, cattle breeding, vehicle repair and maintenance, beverage sale, and tourism. He is also involved in several charities, including ADHD awareness.
MMA Career[]
Baruto vs Kazuyuki Fujita at Rizin (c. 2016)
In October 2015 he announced that he would become a mixed martial arts fighter, joining the Rizin Fighting Federation. He told a press conference that he had lost 25 kg (55 lb; 3.9 st) in weight and that he wanted to be ″the strongest fighter in the world.″ On December 31, 2015 he had his first match, defeating Peter Aerts at the Saitama Super Arena. On September 25, 2016 he defeated, by a unanimous decision, 45-year-old veteran Kazuyuki Fujita, who announced his retirement afterwards. After four fights, Baruto had three wins against one loss, and said that he "wanted to fix sumo's reputation in the MMA world" after the lack of success of some other ex-sumo professionals who switched to MMA.
Baruto has also taken part in amateur sumo competitions, winning the open weight category at the Estonian national championships in 2018, and he is planning to compete in the European Sumo Championships in Tallinn in April 2019.
Acting Career[]
In December 2017, NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, announced that it would air a three-episode series based on author Gengoroh Tagame's manga series "My Brother's Husband". The series tells the story of a man named Yaichi, who is struggling to deal with the death of his gay twin brother, Ryoji. Yaichi and his young daughter Kana's lives become disrupted when they meet Ryoji's Canadian husband, Mike Flanagan. Actor Ryuta Sato was cast to play Yaichi and Baruto Kaito was cast for the role of Mike Flanagan. The series premiered in March 2018 on NHK’s BS Premium.
Political Career[]
Baruto as a politician (c. 2018)
On September 7, 2018, Höövelson announced that he had joined the Estonian Center Party and had applied for the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election. He ran for election in Harju and Rapla counties, and received 642 votes. Höövelson was elected to the Riigikogu after candidate Vladimir Arhipov declined his seat. One of his goals as an MP is to promote economic relations between Estonia and Japan.
Personal Life[]
- Baruto hobbies consist of coin collecting, pachinko, fighting, listening to music, watching movies and using his computer.
- In February 2009 Baruto married Elena Tregubova, a 26-year-old Russian from Vladivostok. They had met four years earlier. The couple was married in Japan. In January 2017 a son was born in their family. Baruto is also a fan of reading and during his active days he would order Estonian books online and read them.
- Baruto is close friends with Martin Järveoja who is Estonian rally co-driver, who won the 2019 World Rally Championship with Ott Tänak
- Baruto's natural hair color is blond, and towards the end of his career, the hairdresser would bleach his hair to a darker color.
- Baruto received the Order of the White Star, 3rd Class in 2012. The Order of the White Star is bestowed on Estonian citizens and foreigners to give recognition for services rendered to the Estonian state. The medal was presented to Baruto by the Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
Fighting Style[]
Baruto defeats Yoshikaze by tsuridashi (lift out)
Baruto had a solid and straightforward yotsu-sumo style, concentrating on techniques which involved grabbing the opponent's mawashi or belt. He preferred a migi-yotsu grip, with his right hand inside and left hand outside his opponent's arms. His most common winning kimarite or technique was overwhelmingly yori-kiri, or force out. Due to his great strength he was known for using tsuri-dashi, or lift out, a technique which has declined in recent years because of the increasing weight of wrestlers. Baruto used this technique three times in the July 2009 tournament alone. His great height meant he could reach over his shorter opponents' back to do this, but this unorthodox way of lifting placed a strain on his joints and eventually led to knee problems. He also frequently used uwatenage, or overarm throw. He was forced to change his yotsu style in his successful ozeki promotion basho of March 2010, as his thumb injury meant he was less effective on the mawashi, and he used a more aggressive slapping and thrusting attack instead.
At 188 kilograms (414 pounds; 29.6 stone), Baruto was the second-heaviest man in the top division at the time, after Gagamaru. He was popular among other wrestlers due to his friendly character and was known for always smiling, win or lose. His stablemaster Onoe Oyakata commented, "All wrestlers have their unique personalities. Baruto is friendly and gentle and he shouldn't change that. He has to win to get promoted but outside the ring I don't want him to forget to smile." Baruto was also known for taking great care not to injure his opponents.
Record[]
Division Results[]
- Total: 431-213-102/637 (55 basho)
- Makuuchi: 330-197-88/521 (41 basho)
- Juryo: 54-7-14/60 (5 basho)
- Makushita: 22-6/28 (4 basho)
- Sandanme: 11-3/14 (2 basho)
- Jonidan: 7-0/7 (1 basho)
- Jonokuchi: 7-0/7 (1 basho)
Championships[]
- 1 Makuuchi Championship (January 2012)
- 3 Juryo Championships
- 1st (March 2006)
- 2nd (May 2007)
- 3rd (September 2007)
- 1 Makushita Championship (January 2006)
- 1 Jonidan Championship (September 2004)
- 1 Jonokuchi Championship (July 2004)
Achievements[]
- Special Prizes: Fighting Spirit Prize (5), Outstanding Performance Prize (1), Technique Prize (1)
- Record: Tied for 8th: Fastest progress to top division (12)
- Tied for 1st Estonian to join professional sumo
- 1st Estonian promoted to Juryo
- 1st Estonian promoted to Makuuchi
- 1st Estonian promoted to San'yaku
- 1st Estonian promoted to Ozeki
Shikona History[]
- Baruto Kaito (2004.05 - 2013.09)
Gallery[]
JSA Profile Pictures and Tegata[]
Career Overview[]
