Hokutofuji Daiki

Hokutofuji Daiki - 北勝富士大輝 (born July 15, 1992) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tokorozawa, Saitama. He made his debut in March 2015 and wrestled for Hakkaku stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 2016 and has 3 special prizes as well as 7 kinboshi. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in May 2025.

Early Life[]

Daiki Nakamura was born on July 15, 1992, in the city of Tokorozawa in Saitama Prefecture. Nakamura was involved in many sports before sumo such as soccer, swimming and skiing. He was particularly good at skiing and was already skiing on advanced courses since he was three years old.^[1] Nakamura attended Tokorozawa City Minami Elementary School and started sumo his fourth year there. He also attended a local sumo dojo: Iruma Shonen Sumo Club. He described himself as weak when he first got there, but by the end of his fifth year he was the strongest in Saitama Prefecture.^[1]

Hokutofuji young — Nakamura wins a local sumo tournament in his younger years.

He attended Tokorozawa City Nanryo Junior High School and belonged in both their sumo and judo clubs. He was also good at judo and won the city tournament, however both club's schedules started to overlap which caused him to miss several judo and sumo tournaments. He won three prefectural sumo tournaments. After that, He attended Saitama Sakae High School and was a high school yokozuna there.^[2]

He enrolled in the College of Physical Education Department at Nippon Sport Science University. In his second year he won his first individual title at the East Japan Student Sumo Individual Weight Championship. At the same year he won the National Student Sumo Championship. These titles granted him makushita tsukedashi status, but his parents wanted him to complete his education.^[3] Since the makushita tsukedashi status only lasts for one year, Nakamura was unable to use it in time when he decided to join professional sumo two years later.^[4]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Daiki champion — Daiki receives the jonidan yusho certificate (c. 2015)

He made his debut in March 2015 at the maezumo level. He was unable to compete under his family name of Nakamura as that was already taken by Nakamura Oyakata (former sekiwake Kotonishiki), so instead he used his given name, Daiki. He rose very quickly through the lower divisions and took the jonidan and sandanme yusho. He achieved three consecutive 5-2 records and one 4-3 record in makushita, and this would earn him a promotion to juryo for the July 2016 tournament.^[5]

Juryo Career[]

Daiki made his juryo debut in July 2016 and scored a 10-5 record. The following tournament he won the juryo championship in September with a 12–3 record, which saw him promoted to the top makuuchi division for the November 2016 tournament. His rise to the top division in ten tournaments was the second fastest of modern times behind that of Jokoryu who achieved the feat in nine tournaments in 2012. At this point he changed his shikona from Daiki to Hokutofuji, which was derived from the shikona of his stablemaster, former yokozuna Hokutoumi, and Hokutoumi's own stablemaster, former yokozuna Kitanofuji.^[6]

Makuuchi Career[]

Hokutofuji came through with a solid 9–6 record in his top division debut and recorded nine wins again in January 2017. In March he recorded the first make-koshi (losing record) of his career, but a 10–5 result in May saw him move up the rankings. In the July 2017 tournament he earned a kinboshi or gold star in his first ever match against a yokozuna, defeating Kakuryu, and finished with eight wins. On Day 4 of the September tournament he beat yokozuna Harumafuji to claim his second kinboshi. He was a runner-up to Hakuho in the November 2017 tournament with an 11–4 record, and was awarded his first special prize, for Technique. He also defeated yokozuna Kisenosato in this tournament, earning his third kinboshi in his last three tournaments.^[5]

Hokutofuji12 — Hokutofuji defeats Yokozuna Hakuho (c. 2018)

In January 2018 he won a fourth straight kinboshi by defeating Hakuho on Day 3, but he finished the tournament with only four wins against eleven losses. In the May 2018 tournament he suffered a concussion during a false start at the tachi-ai in his match against Ryuden on Day 10.^[7] He withdrew from the rest of the tournament. Returning in July ranked at the bottom of the division at maegashira 16, he secured a winning record.^[5]

In March 2019 he made his sanyaku debut at komusubi rank. He was the third komusubi from Saitama Prefecture after Wakabayama in September 1951 and Wakachichibu in March 1959. He is also the fourth komusubi from Hakkaku stable following Kaiho, Hokutoriki and Okinoumi. In September 2019 he picked up his sixth kinboshi by defeating Hakuho on the opening day. Following this victory he lost his next 6 matches to fall to 1-6 but made an impressive recovery by winning his final 8 matches to finish the tournament at 9-6. He returned to the komusubi rank in November, one of four komusubi in that tournament, but fell just short of a majority of wins with a 7–8 record. Back in the maegashira ranks in January 2020 he earned his seventh kinboshi by defeating Kakuryu on Day 3. He also beat both ozeki, and finished the tournament with eleven wins and his second Technique Prize. He returned to the komusubi rank in March, and defeated Kakuryu again on Day 2, but finished the tournament with a 4–11 record. He has remained in the maegashira ranks since July 2020, and has alternated between winning and losing records for 16 straight tournaments as of May 2022. He had to withdraw from Day 15 of the July 2022 tournament after a COVID outbreak at Hakkaku stable. In September he was the tournament leader after winning his first nine matches, but he lost five of his last six matches to finish with a 10–5 record.^[5]

HokutofujiYuhoPlayoff — Hokutofuji loses the Yusho playoff to Hoshoryu (c. 2023)

In July 2023, Hokutofuji had a solid tournament, winning his twelfth match against ozeki-promotion seekers, Hoshoryu. He also topped the rankings after the thirteenth day of the tournament, following a victory over maegashira Endo. Commenting on his performance, he expressed his desire to break his record for makuuchi wins with a twelfth victory over one of the other wrestlers competing for the title, the newly promoted Hakuoho.^[8] Hokutofuji's victory over Nishikigi on the final day secured him a spot in the playoff for the makuuchi yusho, but he ultimately lost to Hoshoryu. In September, Hokutofuji revealed he injured his right calf during a training session prior to the sixth day of the tournament.^[9]

During the September tournament, Hokutofuji put in a remarkable performance on the first three days. At the rank of maegashira 1, he faced the three ozeki of the time (Takakeisho, Kirishima and Hoshoryu) and won each of these matches. In an editorial for Sports Nippon, Tamanoi-oyakata praised Hokutofuji and his "veteran skills" and for overcoming his neck and knee injuries.^[10] This performance marks only the fifth time since the beginning of the Showa era that a wrestler not ranked in san'yaku has won three consecutive victories over ozeki-ranked wrestlers.^[11] He was promoted to komusubi for the fourth time in November 2023, but won just 5 out of 15 matches and was demoted back to the maegashira ranks.^[5]

On Day 8 of the January 2024 tournament, Hokutofuji landed awkwardly at the end of his match against Hoshoryu. After he was helped up by attendants, Hokutofuji was taken to the Kokugikan's medical clinic in a wheelchair. He withdrew from the tournament the next day, with his medical certificate noting a right knee contusion requiring about two weeks of treatment.^[12]

At the start of the January 2025 tournament it was announced that Hokutofuji underwent knee surgery and had also developed a herniated disc, resulting in his withdrawal. The health issues were expected to take until the end of that month to heal, ensuring demotion to the juryo division, where he had not been ranked in since September 2016.^[13]

Retirement from Sumo[]

He returned to the ring on March 2025 at the rank of juryo 8, but was only able to win 3 matches out of 14, pulling out at the end of the tournament, finishing with a 3-12 record, which could seal demotion to the unsalaried divisions.

For May 2025, Hokutofuji's demotion to makushita was confirmed in the banzuke, ranking him in that division for the first time in exactly 9 years. Due to movements in Association elder name stocks vacating the Oyama name before May, it was rumored hokutofuji would be retiring. Rumours which were confirmed on day 5 of the tournament, where Hokutofuji held a press conference announcing his retirement and uptake of the Oyama name to work as a coach in his Hakkaku stable.^[14]

Personal Life[]

Hokutofuji announced his engagement to Mami Nakayama, an office employee from Hirakata, Osaka. He plans to marry her in January 2020 and the wedding will be held on June 2020.^[15] Hokutofuji and his wife were initially unable to hold a formal wedding reception due the COVID-19 pandemic. The wedding reception was officially held on 17 February 2024 at a hotel in Tokyo with about 600 attendees, including his stablemaster and Sumo Association president Hakkaku.^[15]
Hokutofuji's main sumo rival is Mitakeumi and they have been wrestling against each other since junior high school. Hokutofuji said that one of his happiest moments was when he defeats Mitakeumi in a best eight prefectural tournament in his third year of junior high school.^[16]
Hokutofuji is close friends with Abi and Daieisho, because they are all from Saitama Prefecture and are around the same age.^[17]
Hokutofuji admires Myogiryu, because they both attended the same university and Myogiryu's fighting styles similar to Hokutofuji's.^[18]
Around 2017, Hokutofuji met former baseball player Mac Suzuki in a supporter's association party. Since then they have shared a deep friendship.^[19]
Hokutofuji's hobbies include darts, watching YouTube, consuming alcohol, singing karaoke and listening to music.^[16] Other interests include watching theatrical productions at Shiki Theatre Company, visiting the sauna. His favorite artist is Kobukuro and favorite manga is One Piece.^[20]
Hokutofuji's favorite foods are sushi, especially fatty tuna (toro)^[20], steak and stewed beef tendon^[21]. He strongly dislikes umeboshi (dried salted Japanese plum) and spicy food.^[22]
Hokutofuji is the first makuuchi wrestler from Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.^[23]

Fighting Style[]

Hokutofuji's performances to date suggest that he is an oshi-sumo specialist who favors pushing techniques to fighting on the mawashi or belt. He wins roughly half his bouts with a straightforward oshidashi, or push out.^[24]