Ikioi Shota

Ikioi Shota - 勢翔太 (born October 11, 1986) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Katano, Osaka. He made his debut in March 2005 and wrestled for Isenoumi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 2012 and has 4 special prizes as well as 5 kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in July 2021.

Early Life[]

Shota Toguchi was born on October 11, 1986, in Katano, Osaka. He grew up around a lot of adults an elders and was especially loved by them. In the first grade, his parents opened up a sushi restaurant in Katano. He grew up watching his parents operate the restaurant and would start to help them out.^[1]

Ikioi sumo trophies — Toguchi presents his many sumo trophies.

From his preschool years he was enrolled at a local sumo dojo, coincidentally the future Goeido was also enrolled there at this time. He practiced sumo four hours a day four times a week and he would also participate in other sports including baseball. In 1996, he participated in the national elementary school sumo tournaments and finished as the runner-up. He met his future stablemaster, Isenoumi Oyakata (former sekiwake Fujinokawa), at a sushi restaurant in his fifth year of primary school. After junior high school, he attempted to enter Hotoku Gakuen high school which had a strong sumo team, but when he failed he decided to take a break from sumo and worked at his parents' sushi restaurant for three years while continuing to stay in shape.^[1]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Acceding to his mother's wishes, at eighteen he joined Isenoumi stable and first entered the ring in March 2005. He took the shikona or ring name of Ikioi from his first pro tournament. In his second tournament in July 2005 in the jonidan division he achieved a perfect record, but lost his second bout in a three-way playoff for the championship to the future Daido. He rose through sandanme in only four tournaments, and only suffered one losing record, or make-koshi, along the way. He was promoted to makushita in May 2006.^[2]

Screen Shot 2020-11-27 at 2.41.31 PM — Ikioi during his time in makushita (c. 2010)

In September 2006 while competing in the makushita division he was punched in the face in the dressing room after a bout with forty-year-old Kotokanyu, who apparently objected to being slapped around the face (a legitimate tactic known as harite) by someone over twenty years his junior. Kotokanyu was immediately told to retire after the incident.^[3]

Ikioi remained in makushita for another five years and struggled to reach juryo. After a 6-1 record in September 2010, Ikioi was promoted to makushita 2 for the November 2010 tournament. He was on the verge of promotion to juryo and was 3-3 on the final day, but lost to juryo wrestler Chiyohakuho on the final day to finish with a 3-4 record. In September 2011, at the rank of makushita 3, Ikioi defeated juryo wrestler Chiyozakura on the last day to finish with a 5-2 record. This earned him promotion to juryo for the November 2011 tournament.^[2]

Juryo Career[]

Ikioi made his juryo debut in November 2011 and he performed exceptionally well. He was 12-1, by the thirteenth day and his only loss came from a disqualification. He lost his last two bouts, but still took the juryo yusho with an outstanding 12-3 record. The following tournament, Ikioi won his first two bouts, but then lost the next four. He went on to win the next eight matches and finished with a 10-5 record, which guaranteed him a promotion to makuuchi for the March 2012 tournament.^[2]

Makuuchi Career[]

Ikioi5 — Ikioi with his first special prize (c. 2013)

Ikioi was the first wrestler to have only one Chinese character in his ring name to enter the top division since Yokozuna Akebono twenty-two years before.^[4] He posted only posted a 5–10 record in his makuuchi debut in March and was immediately relegated back to juryo. He repeated the same pattern in the following two tournaments, posting a strong winning record in upper juryo to again enter makuuchi only to get a 7–8 losing record to again be relegated to the lower division. His September 2012 division effort at juryo 1 was where he managed to turn things around, achieving an 11–4 record and a chance at the championship which he lost to Jokoryu in a playoff. This performance saw him promoted to maegashira 10. He achieved his first kachi-koshi or winning record in the top division at the third attempt in November 2012, and was promoted to maegashira 5 for the January 2013 tournament. In this basho he defeated his first ever san'yaku opponent, Tochiozan, and came through with another winning record.^[2]

Now a makuuchi regular, and in the May 2014 tournament recorded an 11–4 at maegashira 5 and received his second special prize for Fighting Spirit. In September his bout against Ichinojo was stopped by the referee after he suffered a heavy nosebleed from striking Ichinojo's shoulder, a rare occurrence, but he still went on to win.^[5] He made his sanyaku debut at komusubi rank in the November 2014 tournament. However, he scored only six wins, and struggled badly when facing the top ranked wrestlers again, scoring only 1–14 at maegashira 2 in January and 2–13 at maegashira 3 in July. When dropped to maegashira 12 in September he returned to form, and after eleven days he was in second place with a 10–1 record. He then lost his next three but recovered to beat Amuru on the final day to end with an 11–4 record and a Fighting Spirit prize. In November he produced his best performance in the top division, winning twelve matches and finishing in a three-way tie for second place. He also earned his fourth Fighting Spirit prize.^[2]

Ikioi2016 — Ikioi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2016)

In January 2016 Ikioi was ranked at komusubi again but recorded only five wins and was relegated to maegashira 4. He performed much better in March, posting a 10–5 record: only a loss to Kotoyuki on the final day prevented him from taking his fifth Fighting Spirit prize. With both komusubi and both sekiwake having losing records in that tournament, Ikioi was promoted to sekiwake for the first time for the following May 2016 basho. He became the first sekiwake from Isenoumi stable since Tosanoumi was promoted in 1997.^[6] He lost the rank after scoring only 4–11, but he earned a first kinboshi for a yokozuna upset in the July tournament in Nagoya, defeating Hakuho on the ninth day. In November 2016 he faced Kagayaki, a match which saw two wrestlers with single-kanji fighting names meet in the top division for the first time since the introduction of the yusho system in 1909.^[4]

He earned his second kinboshi in defeating Kakuryu in January 2017, and his third in beating Hakuho again in the following tournament in March. In March 2018 he finished with an 11–4 record, but a defeat on the final day meant he missed out on a share of the Fighting Spirit Prize. Ikioi has not missed a bout since his professional debut, and he fought his 500th consecutive makuuchi match in May 2018. In March 2019 he was suffering from cellulitis and a fever but did not pull out of the tournament, not wanting to disappoint the fans in his native Osaka Prefecture, and won just two bouts. He was demoted to the juryo division for the May 2019 tournament, bringing to an end his streak of 585 consecutive top division matches since November 2012.^[2]

He returned to the top division in January 2020 following an 11–4 playoff defeat the previous November, but was once again demoted to juryo after the July 2020 tournament. Fighting from the rank of juryo 12 in January 2021 he recorded only a 6–9 score, forfeiting his final match against Tsurugisho due to a hand injury, the first absence of his career.^[7] This brought to an end his run of 1090 consecutive bouts from his career debut, the third highest among active wrestlers. He sat out both the following March and May tournaments,^[8] and had two surgeries, but they failed to fix the problem.^[4]

Retirement from Sumo[]

Ikioi announced his retirement from sumo in June 2021, on the day of the release of the banzuke for the July 2021 tournament where he had fallen to sandanme 21. He became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association, having acquired the Kasugayama elder stock, and will work as a coach at Isenoumi stable.^[9]

Ikioi's danpatsu-shiki (retirement ceremony) was held on 4 June 2023 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. About 250 people took turns to cut the oichomage bun, with Isenoumi stablemaster (former maegashira Kitakachidoki) making the final cut. Since Ikioi was a wrestler particularly known for his singing skills, the ceremony also featured a duet by Ikioi with popular enka singer Joji Yamamoto.^[10] Ayaka Hirahara, a friend of 15 years, also gave a two-song concert.^[11]

Personal Life[]

In June 2018 his engagement to professional golfer Mamiko Higa was announced. The couple met at a sumo event in 2015. They had intended to marry on their mutual birthdays on October 11, 2018,^[12] but this did not go ahead.^[13] The engagement has reportedly been broken off.^[9]
Ikioi is a fan of Enka and is not familiar with western music. When Paul McCartney visited the Ryogoku Kokugikan, Ikioi was asked about his music and Ikioi commented, "I only know Japanese, so I'll go with Enka!".^[14] Ikioi also participated in an orchestra during an event at the Tokyo University of the Arts.^[15]
Ikioi served as Kakuryu's tachimochi, or sword carrier.^[16]
Ikioi, along with Aran, holds the record for most disqualifications as a sekitori with four.^[17]
Ikioi is close friends with former maegashira wrestler Oiwato, and they would often train with each other, even though they are from stables.^[18]
Ikioi's hobbies include singing and golfing. His favorite foods include sushi and yakiniku. His favorite ingredients for sushi are shellfish, squid and sea urchin.^[19]

Fighting Style[]

Ikioi favors a migi-yotsu (right hand inside, left hand outside grip on his opponent′s mawashi).^[20] His favorite winning kimarite is a straightforward yorikiri, or force out. He also regularly employs oshidashi, or push out, and sukuinage, or scoop throw.^[21]