Chiyozakura Ukyo

Chiyozakura Ukyo - 千代桜右京 (born September 17, 1987) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Setagaya, Tokyo. He made his debut in March 2010 and wrestled for Kokonoe stable. He reached the juryo division in September 2011. His highest rank was juryo 11 and he retired in July 2012.

Early Life[]

After attending Tachikawa Shiritsu Daiyon Elementary School and Tachikawa Daiichi Junior High School, Tateno enrolled at Meitoku Gijuku High School which had a strong sumo program. He won the 2005 World Junior Sumo Championship's open-weight class. After graduating high school, he entered the Department of Physical Education at Nippon Sport Science University. He was also a member of the school's sumo club and served as the team captain. After finishing college, he entered Kokonoe stable in March 2010.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Tateno breezed through the unsalaried divisions. In his first tournament, he produced a strong 6-1 record and was immediately promoted to jonidan. In his jonidan debut, he won all seven matches and defeated Ryuonami during the playoff to win the jonidan yusho. In the following tournament he replicated his performance and defeated Myogiryu in a playoff to win the sandanme yusho. As a result he was promoted to makushita in November 2010 and he changed his shikona from his family name to "Chiyozakura" (千代桜). Even though he produced a 3-4 in his first makushita tournament, he bounced back with three winning records which earned him a slot in juryo for the September 2011 tournament.

Juryo Career[]

He was promoted to juryo alongside stablemate Chiyoarashi and it only took him eight professional tournaments to reach elite sekitori status, so his hair was not long enough for a proper oichomage. In his first tournament, Chiyozakura struggled and could only produce six wins. Luckily, since he was ranked at juryo 11 he could still maintain his sekitori status as he fell down to the rank of juryo 14. In November 2011, Chiyozakura had to withdraw from the tournament on the tenth day due to a serious cervical spine injury which he suffered on the third day. As a result he finished with only two wins and was demoted back down to makushita.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Due to his cervical spine injury, Chiyozakura did not return to the dohyo and continued to sit out of tournaments. After falling back down to sandanme, he handed in his retirement papers to the Japan Sumo Association on May 30th, 2012. His stablemaster (the 58th yokozuna Chiyonofuji) said that Chiyozakura's injury did not affect his everyday life, however, he felt uncomfortable on returning to the dohyo. He was the first sekitori to never fight with an oichomage since Oyamato in 1994.

Fighting Style[]

Chiyozakura's favored techniques are listed at the Sumo Association as migi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponent's mawashi) and yori (forcing). His most common winning kimarite are yorikiri (force out) and sukuinage (belt-less arm throw).