Higonoumi Naoya

Higonoumi Naoya - 肥後ノ海直哉 (born December 23, 1969) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kumamoto City, Kumamoto. He made his debut in January 1992 and wrestled for Mihogaseki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 1993 and has 2 kinboshi. His highest rank was maegashira 1 and he retired in November 2002.

Early Life[]

Sakamoto was born in the town of Kawachi (currently part of Nishi-ku ward in Kumamoto City) in Kumamoto Prefecture. He started sumo wrestling in elementary school and continued his career all the way to the collegiate level at Nihon University. At Nihon University he won 7 titles and was a contemporary with future stablemate and komusubi Hamanoshima.

Career[]

Early Career[]

A former amateur champion at Nihon University, he turned professional in 1992, joining Mihogaseki stable and making his debut in the makushita division as a makushita tsukedashi entrant. Initially fighting under the shikona of Sakamotoyama, he lost only two bouts in his first three tournaments, reaching the juryo division in July 1992.

Juryo Career[]

Upon promotion to juryo he changed his shikona to "Higonoumi" (肥後ノ海). In juryo, he still posted consistent results and after four tournaments, where he produced all winning records, he was promoted to makuuchi in March 1993.

Makuuchi Career[]

He was ranked in the top division for 53 consecutive tournaments, every one as a maegashira. This remains a record for a wrestler that never reached the san'yaku ranks, although Kyokushuzan later had more consecutive tournaments as a maegashira after his single tournament as a komusubi. He earned two kinboshi for defeating yokozuna - Akebono in May 1995 and Takanohana in March 1999. He fell back to the juryo division at the end of 2001 and retired a year later in November 2002 at the age of 33.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Screen Shot 2021-04-03 at 12.13.49 AM — Kise Oyakata (c. 2010)

He remained in sumo as a coach under the elder name of Kise, and opened up his own training stable, also called Kise, in December 2003. He produced the top division wrestlers Kiyoseumi in 2008 and Gagamaru in 2010. In September 2012 his wrestler Jokoryu earned promotion to makuuchi in a record nine tournaments from jonokuchi. He has since produced a number of other sekitori including Hidenoumi, Tokushoryu and Ura, making Kise stable one of the biggest and strongest active stables.

Controversy[]

Yakuza Ties[]

In May 2010 Kise was demoted two ranks by the Sumo Association after he was found to have made arrangements for the distribution of tickets to the previous July's Nagoya tournament that ended up in the hands of around 50 high-profile yakuza affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate. As a result, Kise stable closed down and Kise and all his wrestlers moved to Kitanoumi stable, where Higonoumi worked as an assistant coach. He has admitted that until around 2007 he had ties with a yakuza member. He was allowed to re–open Kise stable in April 2012.

Fighting Style[]

Higonoumi's most common winning kimarite or techniques were basic and straightforward ones: yorikiri, a force out, and oshidashi, push out. He also regularly used hatakikomi (slap down), okuridashi (push out from behind), tsukiotoshi (thrust over) and uwatedashinage (pulling overarm throw).