Chiyotaikai Ryuji

Chiyotaikai Ryuji - 千代大海龍二 (born April 29, 1976) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Oita City, Oita. He made his debut in November 1992 and wrestled for Kokonoe stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1997 and has 5 special prizes, 1 kinboshi and 3 top division championships. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in January 2010.

Early Life[]

After his father's death, Chiyotaikai's family moved to Oita, which is considered his hometown and listed as such on the banzuke ranking sheets. When he was eleven, his mother remarried, to a local businessman. (In May 2009, Chiyotaikai finally adopted his mother's remarried surname of Sudo as his own.) He was an enthusiastic player of baseball and soccer as well as martial arts. He excelled at karate, and in judo he came third in the All-Japan Middle School Judo Championships. However, he also got into fights and petty crime as a member of a gang of youths. After graduating junior high school, he worked as a construction worker before he decided on his mother's prompting to apprentice himself to Kokonoe-oyakata, the former Chiyonofuji, the 58th Yokozuna and one of the strongest wrestlers in sumo history, who managed the Kokonoe stable. Kokonoe initially refused the new wrestler because of his bleached hair and obliged him to get a haircut before allowing him to join.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Chiyotaikai was given his shikona (wrestler name) in honour of his stablemaster and joined professional sumo in November 1992. In his first tournament he won the jonokuchi yusho with a perfect 7-0 record. In January 1994 he won the sandanme yusho with a perfect 7-0 record and was promoted to the upper levels of makushita. There, he still showed strong results and was promoted to juryo in July 1995 at the age of 19.

Juryo Career[]

Chiyotaikai initially struggled to put up strong results and stayed in juryo for two years. After a disastrous 2-13 record in January 1997, he bounced back with an 11-4 record which won him the juryo yusho. Two tournaments later he won his second juryo yusho and was promoted to makuuchi in September 1997.

Makuuchi Career[]

In May 1998, Chiyotaikai was made komusubi and never left the san'yaku ranks after that. He won the prestigious Technique Prize three times that year. In January 1999, he won his first top division championship, defeating yokozuna Takanohana and Wakanohana on the last two days, and Wakanohana once again in a play-off. He had compiled a three tournament record of 32–13, and he was promoted to ozeki after the tournament, the first newcomer to the rank since Musashimaru and Takanonami five years earlier.

Ozeki Career[]

Even though he had to bow out from his very first tournament that he fought as an ozeki in March 1999 after breaking his nose, he retained his rank until November 2009. In July 2007 he broke Takanohana Kenshi's record of fifty tournaments at ozeki rank, which had stood for over 25 years, and extended his record to 65 consecutive tournaments.

Imgad659656zikezj — Chiyotaikai in action (c. 2009)

The reverse side of his longevity as an ozeki was his inability to achieve promotion to yokozuna. After his first tournament win he performed at a rather mediocre level for some time; his next big success being the near-winner in the January tournament of 2002, where he lost a playoff to fellow ozeki Tochiazuma having led going into the final day. After finishing as runner-up in May 2002 he then won his second championship in the next tournament in Nagoya. His first title since becoming an ozeki was achieved losing just one match, his best ever result. However, he was able to win only ten bouts in the next tournament, and following injury problems it took him until March 2003 to achieve his third and final tournament victory. After finishing as a runner-up in July 2003, September 2003 and March 2004, he struggled again until the November 2005 tournament where he was runner-up for the sixth time. After another lean couple of years, in November 2007 he was the tournament co-leader until the 14th day when he lost to Hakuho. He injured his elbow during this match and had to default on the final day. He was still troubled by the injury in the January 2008 tournament and withdrew after losing his first seven bouts. He was never again to produce a winning score in double figures.

Later Career[]

Chiyotaikai's 2–13 score in March 2009 was the worst record ever compiled by an ozeki, and meant he was kadoban (in danger of demotion from ozeki status) for a record thirteenth time in May. After bringing a 7–7 record into the final day's competition, he managed to win his last match and thereby return to full ozeki status. He had been restricted by a left side ache and high blood sugar levels, and sat out the regional tour in April due to a fractured rib.

Retirement from Sumo[]

In September 2009 Chiyotaikai withdrew from the tournament after suffering eight defeats in the first ten days. He had an injury to his left knee in addition to his elbow problem, and commented, "I have no power to fight once I get in the ring." Kadoban for the fourteenth time in the Kyushu tournament in November, he won his first two bouts but then lost eight in a row, his demotion from ozeki being confirmed on Day 10 when he was lifted out by Asashoryu. He withdrew from the tournament after this defeat, but announced that he would return at sekiwake rank in January to try to win necessary 10 bouts designated by the JSA that would allow him to regain his ozeki status. He stated he would retire if he failed to achieve this.

After three straight losses in the January 2010 tournament, Chiyotaikai announced his retirement from sumo. His final match was against his longtime ozeki rival Kaio (who also broke the record for most makuuchi wins in this bout.) "I gave myself an ultimatum, so I don't have any regrets. I just don't have the power to continue wrestling my brand of sumo anymore," said Chiyotaikai. He remained as a coach at his stable under the toshiyori name of Sanoyama-oyakata. He had his danpatsu-shiki, or formal retirement ceremony, at the Ryogoku Kokugikan on October 2, 2010.Shortly after the death of Chiyonofuji on July 31, 2016, Chiyotaikai was confirmed as the new head coach of Kokonoe stable, changing his name from Sanoyama to Kokonoe-oyakata.

In January 2021 he and several of his wrestlers tested positive for COVID-19. The whole of the Kokonoe stable sat out the New Year tournament.

Personal Life[]

From 2003 until 2005 Chiyotaikai had a relationship with television personality Hikaru Kawamura. His stablemaster reportedly refused to countenance any wedding until he had reached the yokozuna rank. However, in a TV appearance with Kazuko Hosoki in 2007 Chiyotaikai indicated that he was seriously looking for a bride.

Fighting Style[]

Chiyotaikai was somewhat above average in size (1.81 m/158 kg), but was nonetheless a very agile fighter who preferred quick decisions by oshi-sumo. He was known mostly for his explosive charge at the beginning of his matches (the tachi-ai) and his trademark barrage of forward thrusting hand-slaps (tsuppari). Indeed, he was so famous for them that he was sometimes criticized by sumo fans for being a "one-trick pony." If Chiyotaikai's opponents managed to grab hold of his mawashi, he usually lost the match. His most common winning kimarite was oshidashi, which accounted for roughly a third of his wins. He also regularly used hatakikomi, the slap down, and tsukidashi, the thrust out. Only around five percent of his victories were achieved by yorikiri, the most common overall technique in sumo.

Record[]

Division Results[]

Total: 771-528-115/1288 (104 basho)
Makuuchi: 597-402-115/988 (75 basho)
Juryo: 104-91/195 (13 basho)
Makushita: 33-23/56 (8 basho)
Sandanme: 17-4/21 (3 basho)
Jonidan: 13-8/21 (3 basho)
Jonokuchi: 7-0/7 (1 basho)

Championships[]

3 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (January 1999)
- 2nd (July 2002)
- 3rd (March 2003)
2 Juryo Championships
- 1st (March 1997)
- 2nd (July 1997)
1 Sandanme Championship (January 1994)
1 Jonokuchi Championship (January 1993)

Achievements[]

Special Prizes: Technique Prize (3), Fighting Spirit Prize (1), Outstanding Performance Prize (1)
Kinboshi: (1) Takanohana
Record: Most tournaments ranked at ozeki (65 tournaments)