Chiyootori Yuki

Chiyootori Yuki - 千代鳳祐樹 (born October 11, 1992) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Shibushi, Kagoshima. He made his debut in May 2008 and wrestled for Kokonoe stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 2013. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in November 2021.

Early Life[]

Yuki Kinoshita was born on October 11, 1992, in Shibushi, Kagoshima. He began playing soccer in nursery school. He swam from the 1st grade to the 5th grade during his tenure at Shibushi City Elementary School. Before enrolling at Shibushi City Junior High School, he also practiced in judo and continued to do judo in junior high school. He holds a black belt in judo. When he was in 5th grade of elementary school he finished 3rd in the national competition and participated in national tournaments in junior high school.

However, he also participated in sumo less regularly, and in his sixth year of primary school he reached the best sixteen in a national children's amateur sumo tournament. He had visited a Kokonoe stable event in Kyushu in his primary school years, and his older brother Chiyomaru was already a wrestler with the stable, so upon his graduation from middle school an invitation was arranged through intermediaries and he joined his brother as a member of this stable.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Okinoshita2010 — Chiyootori during his time in sandanme (c. 2010)

Kinoshita joined Kokonoe stable in May 2008 and initially wrestled under the shikona "Okinoshita" (大木下). He did well from this period, recording all winning tournaments. However, in November of this year he suffered a anterior cruciate ligament rupture to his knee. This serious injury forced him to miss most of the next several tournaments, but he was back in full form by the July 2009 tournament. He was back to his winning ways and after a 6–1 in his first tournament back in the jonokuchi division, he took the championship in the following September 2009 tournament in jonidan with a perfect 7–0 record. It is a tradition that Kokonoe wrestlers adopt a ring name on their promotion to sandanme division. Kinoshita did this, and also following the additional Kokonoe tradition that its wrestler's ring names begin with Chiyo, he took the ring name of "Chiyootori" (千代鳳). He would struggle for a year and a half in sandanme but on his promotion to the third division makushita in January 2011 he found his stride, taking mostly winning tournaments.

In November 2011 in the tournament in his home prefecture of Kyushu, he had a 6–1 record and participated in a three-man playoff for the championship, losing only in the very last playoff match to rival Sensho. In the subsequent January 2012 tournament, he would repeat exactly the same feat, a 3-man makushita playoff, only losing the final bout to future top division wrestler Jokoryu, then known as Sakumayama. Though he lost both playoffs, these two tournament records and playoffs were more than enough to propel him into the salaried ranks of juryo for the March 2012 tournament. He was the first wrestler since the former Wakanoho in the November 2006 to achieve juryo promotion in his teens.

Juryo Career[]

He spent a little over a year in juryo, alternating winning and losing tournaments, including the November 2012 tournament where he had to drop out due to injury after logging 7 wins. He bounced back from injury and achieved two 10–5 records in the January and March tournaments of 2013.

Makuuchi Career[]

His first promotion to the top division makuuchi in May 2013 would be short lived, as he managed only a 6–9 record at maegashira 14 and was relegated back to juryo. He would soon find his footing again, and in his third tournament back in juryo in November 2013, he took the championship at the rank of juryo 2.

F 10867407 1 — Chiyootori defeats yokozuna Kakuryu (c. 2014)

Chiyootori was promoted to makuuchi for the second time in the subsequent January 2014 tournament. Coincidentally this was the same tournament that his older brother Chiyomaru would win the juryo championship. An impressive record of 10–5 at maegashira 12 would elevate him to the rank of maegashira 5 for following March 2014 tournament, the same tournament at which Chiyomaru would get his own first promotion to the top division. In this tournament Chiyootori received a 9–6 record guaranteeing promotion to a higher rank and Chiyomaru would receive an 8–7 in his debut. This was the first time that two brothers had both been in makuuchi at the same time since May 2008, and the first time brothers had both achieved winning records in makuuchi since May 2007. In the following tournament, Chiyootori made his san'yaku debut at the komusubi rank. He managed a 5–10 rank and though this would lead to a demotion, it is actually considered a decent record by many for a debut at such a challenging rank: komusubi are usually expected to be matched against all the higher ranked san'yaku wrestlers. He defeated newly promoted yokozuna Kakuryu on the seventh day, his first victory over a yokozuna, but did not get a kinboshi for the win as these are only awarded to maegashira ranked wrestlers.

Later Career[]

He was injured during the May 2015 tournament and had to withdraw, resulting in demotion to juryo. After a 9–6 record in July, he returned to the top division for the September 2015 tournament. He slowly moved up the rankings and had reached maegashira 4 by September 2016, but withdrew with a recurrence of an old knee injury on Day 11, having already lost nine of his first ten bouts. He was demoted to juryo after the January 2017 tournament. In the following March tournament in Osaka he dislocated his shoulder on the sixth day and withdrew from competition. After three consecutive scores of 7–8 he missed the November 2017 tournament with his medical certificate citing a right shoulder dislocation and an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his left knee.

Chiyootori2021 — Chiyootori prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2021)

The January 2018 tournament saw Chiyootori ranked in makushita for the first time in six years, and he withdrew from the tournament having failed to recover sufficiently from his injuries. In the March 2018 tournament he scored only 3–4 from makushita 49, his tenth consecutive make-koshi or losing score, meaning he fell from maegashira 4 to sandanme division in less than two years.However, he finally reversed course with two consecutive 5–2 records in the May and July 2018 tournaments followed by two more winning tournaments to close out 2018. He produced a 4–3 record at the rank of Makushita 1 West in November 2019, which returned him to the juryo division for the first time in two years. In March 2020 he achieved his first kachi-koshi as a sekitori since July 2016.

On the day before the scheduled start of the January 2021 tournament, it was announced that Chiyootori had tested positive for COVID-19. He, and all of the other members of Kokonoe stable, subsequently withdrew from that tournament. After going winless in the first eight matches of the May 2021 tournament, Chiyootori pulled out on the ninth day citing a left shoulder labrum injury.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Chiyootori announced his retirement in November 2021. He stayed in sumo as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and as a coach at his stable under the name of Sanoyama.

Chiyootori's retirement ceremony was held inside a hall at the Ryogoku Kokugikan on October 5, 2022. In an unusual twist made at Chiyootori's request, twenty members of the general public who each paid ¥30,000 for a seat to the ceremony were all allowed to take part in the snipping of Chiyootori's topknot.

In November 2022 he switched elder names, assuming the Oyama name vacated by the former Daihi who retired from the Sumo Association. In April 2025 he assumed the Nishikijima name, vacating the Oyama name.

Personal Life[]

In December 2021 he married a 21-year-old from Osaka, after a three-year relationship.
Chiyootori is a big fan of Miku Tanabe, who is a singer and member of the AKB48 music group.
On April 20, 2016, the Japan Sumo Association's Twitter page posted a picture of Chiyootori doing a handstand. The picture went viral as it was astonishing that his arms could hold his 175 kg body and he was not leaning against a wall.
One major motivator for Chiyootori to reach sekitori status was when his parent's house burnt down in 2011.
Chiyootori's hobbies include sleeping, watching Netflix and playing games. His favorite game is Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Before he started sumo, he also enjoyed fishing and playing soccer.
Chiyootori's favorite food is fried chicken. He has a strong dislike for tomatoes and pickled plums.
Chiyootori's older brother is also a sumo wrestler and also wrestles for Kokonoe stable: Chiyomaru.

Fighting Style[]

Like his brother, Chiyootori favors pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi) over those that involve grabbing the opponent's mawashi or belt. Yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out), the two most common kimarite in sumo, account for sixty percent of his career wins.