Chiyoshoma Fujio

Chiyoshoma Fujio - 千代翔馬富士雄 (born July 20, 1991) is a Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in May 2009 and currently wrestles for Kokonoe stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 2016. His highest rank as of 2025 is maegashira 2 and he has 1 kinboshi.

Early Life[]

Screen Shot 2020-11-26 at 10.44.28 PM — A young Chiyoshoma with Yokozuna Asashoryu

Ganbaatar Munkhsaihan was born on July 20, 1991, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. As a child, Munkhsaihan's father was the equivalent of ozeki in Mongolian wrestling. He was at his father's side most everywhere he went, and his father would take him to wrestling and judo practice often.^[1]

In addition, his father and Asashoryu's father were acquaintances. These circumstances naturally led to an interest in the sumo world. He met former yokozuna Chiyonofuji when the elder came to Munkhsaihan's region on a sumo tour and through Chiyonofuji's invitation, he transferred to Meitoku Gijuku High School, a school well-known for its sumo program. He left the school in his second year and joined Chiyonofuji's Kokonoe stable.^[1]

Career[]

Early Career[]

He joined at the same time as Aoiyama and the two attended sumo school at the same time and also graduated together. He weighed only a light 87 kilograms when he first stepped into the ring, and there was concerned whether or not he would succeed in the sport. However, thinking of his father, a popular figure of high ranking in Mongolian sumo, made him ashamed at the prospect of quitting early and he resolved to stick it out.^[1]

11785 — Chiyoshoma during his early career (c. 2010)

From his entry into sumo until he reached the sandanme division, he took the shikona "Shoma Fujio" (翔馬富士男). Upon reaching sandanme in July 2010, as is the custom at his stable, he took the 'Chiyo' part of legendary wrestlers from the stable such as Chiyonofuji and Chiyonoyama, and became Chiyoshoma Fujio.^[2]

After a little more than a year, in September 2011, he received promotion to the 3rd division known as makushita. Though he bounced back and forth between sandanme and makushita for a period after this, from November 2012 he was re-promoted to makushita with good enough results to become a makushita regular. Up until this point he had to serve stablemates Chiyomaru and Chiyoo who were the same age as him, so this was incentive for him to train hard and work his way up the ranks.^[1] For the next three years he would soldier on in the third division, moving slowly upward.^[2]

In September 2015 he had a commanding 6–1 record and took the yusho for the 3rd division. This put him at makushita 3 for the next tournament where he achieved another 6–1, guaranteeing his promotion to the salaried ranks of juryo. At the press conference for his promotion, he stated that six and a half years had been a long time, and he had hoped to reach the professional ranks in four years. He also said that he still had further to rise and he would do his best. A party to celebrate his promotion was held at a hotel in Tokyo at which his parents brought traditional Mongolian outfits for Chiyonofuji and his wife to try out.^[3]

Juryo Career[]

In his first two tournaments in juryo starting in January 2016, he attained two winning tournaments. In the following May tournament he only managed a 7–8, but bounced back to a 9–6 record for the July tournament at juryo 3, earning him promotion to the top flight makuuchi division for the September 2016 tournament.^[2]

Makuuchi Career[]

He made his top division debut in the Aki basho of September 2016, the first new makuuchi wrestler from Kokonoe stable since the death of his stablemaster Chiyonofuji on July 31 of that year. Following his entry into makuuchi Chiyoshoma had two consecutive winning tournaments and he is working his way towards the possibility of being a regular makuuchi wrestler. His first tournament fighting all the ozeki and yokozuna was in May 2017 from the rank of maegashira 2 where he fell short with a 5–10 record.^[2]

20180321-OHT1I50106-T — Chiyoshoma defeats Abi by thrust out (c. 2018)

He was reprimanded during the November 2017 tournament for causing three matta or false starts in his Day 9 match against Hokutofuji by not putting both fists to the ground, and for thrusting at Hokutofuji after the first matta was called.^[4] He would remain in the mid-low maegashira ranks and produced mixed results. His string of 498 consecutive matches from sumo entry was broken on the final day of the July 2018 tournament when he pulled out due to an injury. He was demoted from makuuchi in July 2019 after a 5-10 record as maegashira 17.^[2]

He would remain in juryo for the following year producing mixed results. After eight tournaments in juryo, Chiyoshoma returned to makuuchi for the November 2020 tournament and finished with an 8-7 record. On the day before the scheduled start of the January 2021 tournament, it was announced that Chiyoshoma had tested positive for COVID-19. He, and all of the other members of Kokonoe stable, subsequently withdrew from that tournament.^[5]

Chiyoshoma was demoted to juryo for the November 2023 tournament. In December 2023 he underwent surgery for his lower back. He returned to the top division for the July 2024 tournament, but he withdrew before the opening day matches were determined. It was later reported that he had surgery to repair a herniated disc at the end of June.^[6] It marked his first absence from the ring in his 15-year professional sumo career, excluding cancelled tournaments and COVID-related withdrawals. He told reporters after winning his return match on Day 6 that he got carried away with strength training after his surgery in December, which caused his back pain to return.^[7]

During the first half of the 2025 January tournament, Chiyoshoma established himself as one of the competition's leading wrestlers. On Day 10, he maintained himself among the trio of wrestlers still in positions to challenge Kinbozan (sole leading wrestler) for the title (with Oho and Takerufuji). Chiyoshoma nevertheless accumulated defeats, notably at the hands of ozeki Hoshoryu and Onosato, taking him out of the title race.^[2]

Personal Life[]

On 25th of December 2018 Chiyoshoma married a fellow Mongolian at the Mongolian embassy, a graduate of Mongolian State University she came to Japan for foreign language studies. They first met in August 2014 and have been in a relationship since January 2016.^[8]
On May 22nd 2024, it was announced that Chiyoshoma had acquired Japanese citizenship, making him eligible to remain in the JSA after retirement as an elder. His legal name is now Ishibashi Shoma.^[9]
Chiyoshoma's way of spending time at home, according to the Japan Sumo Association's official YouTube channel, was taking naps, playing mobile games, and reading books. Chiyoshoma is also a fan of playing other sports which include basketball, table tennis and billiards.^[10]

Fighting Style[]

Chiyoshoma's preferred grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt is hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position.^[11] He uses both pushing and grappling techniques. His most common winning kimarite are hatakikomi (slap down), yorikiri (force out) and uwatenage (overarm throw).^[12]