Chiyonokuni Toshiki

Chiyonokuni Toshiki - 千代の国憲輝 (born July 10, 1990) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Iga, Mie. He made his debut in May 2006, and wrestled for Kokonoe stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2012, and has 2 special prizes as well as 1 kinboshi. His highest rank was maegashira 1 and he retired in July 2023.

Early Life[]

Toshiki Sawada was born in Iga, Mie Prefecture to a Buddhist temple head priest. From a very young age he had great interest in combat sports such as karate. He has said he was in the fourth grade when he first foretold he would be a professional sumo wrestler in the future.^[1]

Sawada attended Nabari City Kita Junior High School and was part of their judo club. He was also the club's captain. As a member of his judo team in junior high school he advanced to the best sixteen in a national tournament. After graduation he joined Kokonoe stable.^[1]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Sawada made his professional debut in May 2006 and achieved a strong 6-1 record in his first official tournament. However, Sawada was prone to dislocating both his shoulders which hindered his progression up the banzuke.^[2]

6642 — Chiyonokuni during his time in makushita (c. 2010)

Upon promotion to the sandanme in the March 2008 tournament, he was given the shikona "Chiyonokuni" (千代の国). He still struggled with injuries and had to miss the November 2008 and January 2009 tournaments which relegated him back to jonidan. Nevertheless, in March 2009, Chiyonokuni captured the jonidan yusho with a perfect 7-0 record and was promoted back to sandanme for the May 2009 tournament. Shortly after, he was promoted to makushita in September 2009.^[3]

Upon promotion to makushita, Chiyonokuni began to frequently put up winning records and progress up the banzuke in a consistent manner. In November 2010, Chiyonokuni finished with a 6-1 record and was placed in a six-man playoff for the makushita yusho, however, he lost in the first round to Tochitsubasa.^[3]

During this time, however the ramifications of the match-fixing scandal that would rock the sumo world were becoming apparent. Due to this, Chiyonokuni, along with many other upper makushita wrestlers was promoted to salaried ranks of juryo for the July 2011 though his actual performance so far would not have not merited promotion. The expelled rikishi included his elder stablemate Chiyohakuho.^[4]

Juryo Career[]

Chiyonokuni was reported to have very mixed feelings about the scandal and admitted it felt surreal to be promoted to juryo under such strange circumstances.^[4] He did however exceed expectations and about recorded three strong winning tournaments in a row to earn promotion to the top makuuchi division in January 2012.^[3]

Makuuchi Career[]

Screen Shot 2021-07-18 at 5.34.42 PM — Chiyonokuni does the splits while throwing Aoiyama, suffering an injury as a result (c. 2013)

Although he recorded a winning record in the January 2012 tournament he had to withdraw due to a dislocated shoulder. In the following tournament in March he injured his shoulder again in a bout with Takanoyama on Day 11, which caused him to miss the May 2012 basho and drop down to the juryo division. He won the juryo championship on his comeback in July and returned to the top division in November. After scoring only 5–10 he was demoted to juryo again, but a 9–6 record at Juryo 2 in January 2013 ensured him of another top division return. Though he only managed 7–8 in March 2013 he managed to avoid relegation. He performed creditably in the May 2013 tournament, scoring 9–6, but was injured in the following tournament and withdrew with only two wins, resulting in another demotion to juryo.^[3]

After four tournaments in the second division, he was again promoted to the top division, but another serious injury on only the second day in May 2014 would force him to sit out the rest of the tournament and guarantee his demotion to juryo.^[5] Ranked at the bottom of the juryo division in September 2014, he withdrew on Day 8 and did not return to competition until March 2015, by which time he had fallen to the fourth sandanme division. He began his comeback by winning the sandanme championship with a perfect 7–0 record, and in January 2016 he returned to sekitori status at juryo 13 after four straight winning records in the makushita division. He marked ten years as a professional sumo wrestler by winning his second juryo division championship in May 2016 with a 12–3 record, ensuring his return to the top division for the first time in two years. He achieved eight wins in the July 2016 tournament, his first kachi-koshi or winning record in makuuchi since 2013, although he withdrew because of injury on Day 13 meaning he had only completed three of his nine tournaments ranked in makuuchi.^[3]

He attained his highest rank to date of maegashira 1 in the May 2017 tournament, and on Day 2 defeated yokozuna Kakuryu to earn his first gold star or kinboshi. However he was only able to win one other bout and dropped back to maegashira 11 for the July 2017 tournament, where he secured his majority of wins. In May 2018 he earned his first sansho award, for Fighting Spirit, after a career best 12–3 performance. In July he benefited from two yokozuna withdrawals, getting a default win over Hakuho on Day 4 and Kakuryu on Day 6. However, he was himself injured in a match against Tamawashi on Day 12 and withdrew from the tournament on the following day.^[3]

D 10190154 — Chiyonokuni defeats yokozuna Kakuryu for his first career kinboshi (c. 2017)

In January 2019 he was on the tournament leader-board with just one loss up to Day 9 but damaged his left knee ligaments in losing to Ikioi on Day 10 and had to withdraw from the tournament. He underwent surgery on January 28 and did not enter the following tournament in March.^[6] He was demoted to juryo for the May 2019 tournament, which he also missed. For the July Tournament, he was ranked East Makushita 6 but again withdrew from the tournament following surgery to his knee in January. He eventually returned in September and won the makushita division championship with a perfect 7–0 score, clinching the title with a victory over Terunofuji in his final match. He won his second makushita championship in July 2020 with a 7–0 score from Makushita 12, which guarantees a return to the juryo division. In September he won his third juryo championship with a 14–1 record. This gave him a total of seven championships in divisions below the top makuuchi division, which is a record.^[7]

He was promoted back to makuuchi for the November 2020 tournament, making him only the third wrestler to twice return to the top division after falling to makushita or below, after Wakanoyama and Tamaasuka.^[8] He produced an exceptional 10-5 record upon his return and received his second Fighting Spirit Prize. He was forced to sit out the following tournament in January 2021 after several members of the Kokonoe stable tested positive for COVID-19.^[9] He returned in March with his previous rank preserved, and secured a majority of wins before withdrawing from the tournament because of a thumb injury and fractured rib.^[10] He withdrew on Day 4 of the May 2021 tournament with a left knee injury. He also had to withdraw during the March 2022 tournament due to a deltoid muscle injury),^[11] although he later returned. His series of injuries continued as he had to withdraw from the 2023 summer tournament from Day 10 after suffering meniscus injuries in both knees and suffering from osteoarthritis in his left knee.^[12] The absence was the 25th time Chiyonokuni had announced he was kyujo and the third time his injuries had seen him drop from makuuchi to makushita. On the first day of the following tournament in July, it was announced that Chiyonokuni would also be absent for at least the first few days.^[13]

Retirement from Sumo[]

In July 2023 he finally announced his retirement after an injury riddled career. He decided to continue his career with the Japan Sumo Association by becoming an elder in his stable, under the name Sanoyama, succeeding former maegashira Tenkaiho.^[14] His retirement ceremony, or danpatsu-shiki, was held on 8 June 2024 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.^[15]

Personal Life[]

Chiyonokuni was married in April 2017 to 26 year-old Ai Hayashi from Sakai, with the reception planned for February 2018. The couple met in 2010 when Chiyonokuni was still ranked in the makushita division.^[16]
His older brother Kensho Sawada was also a professional sumo wrestler under the shikona of Chiyonoshin and was a member of Kokonoe stable from 2002 until 2012, and fought one tournament in the makushita division. It was Chiyonoshin who introduced Chiyonokuni to sumo.^[17] In 2018 he opened a restaurant in their home town of Iga, named Dining Makuni (after their shikona).^[18]
His favorite flower is a sunflower.^[19]
Chiyonokuni has a big interest in acupuncture and osteopathic manipulative treatment as it has benefited him a lot after suffering many continual injuries.^[20]
Chiyonokuni's favorite artist is Eikichi Yazawa, his favorite foods are meat and eel, and his hobby is health management.^[21]

Fighting Style[]

Chiyonokuni is an oshi-sumo specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite are hatakikomi, the slap down, and oshidashi, the push out.^[22] However, due to his judo background, Chiyonokuni can also fight on the mawashi and in September 2012, Chiyonokuni employed the rare nichonage (body drop throw) on Tanzo.^[23]

Record[]

Division Results[]

Total: 539-452-180/978 (102 basho)
Makuuchi: 199-216-95/405 (34 basho)
Juryo: 180-151-29/328 (24 basho)
Makushita: 74-45-28/119 (21 basho)
Sandanme: 42-21-14/63 (11 basho)
Jonidan: 33-16-14/49 (9 basho)
Jonokuchi: 11-3/14 (2 basho)

Championships[]

3 Juryo Championships
- 1st (July 2012)
- 2nd (May 2016)
- 3rd (September 2020)
2 Makushita Championships
- 1st (September 2019)
- 2nd (July 2020)
1 Sandanme Championship (March 2015)
1 Jonidan Championship (March 2009)