Kagamio Nanji

Kagamio Nanji - 鏡桜南二 (born February 9, 1988) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Övörkhangai. He made his debut in July 2003 and last wrestled for Isenoumi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2014. His highest rank was maegashira 9 and he retired in March 2023.

Early Life[]

Batkhuu Nanjid was born on February 9, 1988, in Övörkhangai Province in Central Mongolia. In his younger years he took part in basketball and Mongolian wrestling. When Nanjid was 13 he asked his basketball coach what had become of the former skilled basketball player Mönkhbat Davaajargal (who would later become the yokozuna Hakuho). When he heard Davaajargal had moved to Japan to try his hand at sumo, Nanjid himself began to seriously think about doing the same thing himself.^[1]

In 2003 at the invitation of the then active Kyokushuzan he came to Japan along with Tokusegawa. He soon joined Kagamiyama stable and first entered the ring in maezumo in July 2003. He took the shikona Kagamio Nanji (鏡桜南二), the surname taken from part of his stable's name and the given name because it sounds similar to his real given name of Nanjid.^[1]

Career[]

Early Career[]

His name appeared on the banzuke in September 2003. During the tournament, he lost to Tokusegawa with whom he had come to Japan. Though he did manage to get a majority of wins in his first tournament, his continuing low weight of around 90 kilograms was one factor holding him back and he struggled in the jonidan division for close to two years.^[2]

Kagamio makushita — Kagamio during his time in makushita (c. 2012)

Kagamiyama stable had not had new entrants for quite some time, with the only other wrestler in the stable being Ryusei, the son of the stablemaster, former sekiwake Tagaryu. This was not a satisfactory situation for training, so Kagamio would often commute to the now defunct Nakamura stable to get adequate practice with other wrestlers.^[3]

He finally reached the sandanme division in May 2005, but it was not until the September tournament that he secured his first winning record there. Progress remained slow, as he spent about three more years trying to advance. In May 2008, he posted his best record to date, a 6–1, earning promotion to the makushita division in July. A few setbacks sent him back to sandanme twice, and it would take him another four years to push through, finally reaching the brink of the salaried ranks in November 2012. There, a solid 4–3 performance at makushita 4 earned him promotion to the juryo division for the January 2013 tournament.^[2]

Juryo Career[]

Upon promotion to juryo, he would have been allowed his own private room in his stable, but he chose to continue using the communal room he shared because it would be a "hassle" to have to move back out again if he was demoted. He also continued to do his share of stable chores that would have normally been done by a lower ranked wrestler once he became a sekitori.^[4]

KagamioKotoyuki — Kagamio throws and defeats Kotoyuki (c. 2013)

In contrast to his performance in previous divisions, his first trip up the ranks of juryo was quite quick and in only a year he had risen to the top flight makuuchi division. During his rise through juryo he was in contention for the championship. In September 2013, future ozeki and fellow Mongolian Terunofuji beat him on the final day to force a subsequent playoff between them. Terunofuji also won the following playoff bout to take the championship. If Kagamio had won the yusho he would have received the certificate of merit for the championship from his own coach, who was the head of the judging team for that tournament. He also said in later interviews that he had hoped to use his championship interview as a chance to make an entreaty for aspiring wrestlers to join his small stable. However, this was not to be.^[5] Regardless of this, one more solid performance at 10–5 in the juryo 1 rank would garner him promotion to the top flight makuuchi division for the January 2014 tournament. He entered the top division at the same time as fellow Mongolian Takanoiwa, who was also promoted from juryo 1.^[2]

Makuuchi Career[]

Kagamio was the first wrestler from Kagamiyama stable to make the top division since his coach took control of it seventeen years previously. At the time he was also the second longest to reach makuuchi among foreign born wrestlers, at 62 tournament from his professional debut.^[6] In an interview about his promotion, talking about his lengthy rise, he happily joked, "for me it felt quite quick, I thought it was going to take me 15 years." During the interview he also announced his engagement to his Mongolian girlfriend.^[7]

KagamioPrepares2016 — Kagamio prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2014)

However, his makuuchi performance was lackluster. In one of his relegation trips back to juryo in May 2015, he was involved in yet another championship playoff round. In it, he won a preliminary playoff bout against Mongolian Seiro only to lose the following final playoff bout to another Mongolian, the up and comer and future sekiwake Ichinojo, who he had previously defeated on the 9th day of the tournament. Despite his championship playoff loss, his regular tournament record of 11–4 at the rank of juryo 1 was still enough for him to achieve makuuchi re-promotion for the July 2014 tournament, though two consecutive losing tournaments would put him right back in juryo In this, his third relegation to juryo, in March 2015, he only managed a 4–11 at juryo 1. However, in the following May tournament, at juryo 9 he posted an impressive 12–3 record, beating Hidenoumi on the last day to avoid a playoff, and finally taking the championship on his third chance. His record and championship earned him his fourth promotion to the top division for the July tournament in Nagoya. There he finally achieved a majority of wins or kachi-koshi in the top division, but he only managed four wins in the following tournament in September 2015 and was demoted back to juryo for the fourth time.^[2]

Later Career[]

In May 2016 he was injured in a match with Tenkaiho and had to withdraw from the tournament, falling to makushita as a result. In September 2017 he won the makushita division championship with a perfect 7–0 record. Following more injury problems he fell to the sandanme division in July 2018, but he won the championship there with an undefeated 7–0 score. In October it was announced that he was changing his shikona given name from Nanji to Hideoki. Continuing injury problems saw him pull out of five successive tournaments between July 2020 and March 2021 and fall from makushita to the jonidan division. He transferred to the Isenoumi stable following Kagamiyama stable's closure after the July 2021 tournament, but his continued absence from competition meant he fell off the banzuke completely in September 2021.^[8]

Retirement from Sumo[]

Kagamio's retirement was confirmed by the Sumo Association at the end of March 2023.^[9] His retirement ceremony took place on June 10, 2023, in a reception room at the Ryogoku Kokugikan and about 270 people took part in the hair-cutting ceremony.^[10]

After his retirement, Kagamio became a businessman, making various investments in different fields such as catering and building renovation.^[11] It is also said that he runs a restaurant specializing in Genghis Khan (jingisukan) hot pot in the Shinkoiwa neighborhood of Katsushika, Tokyo.^[12]

Personal Life[]

In an interview about his promotion, Kagamio announced his engagement to his Mongolian girlfriend, whom he met while she was studying abroad in Japan. Their first child was born on January, 2014.^[7]
Kagamio was born in Övörkhangai Province, however, he initially used Ulaanbaatar as his shusshin, or birthplace, when joining sumo. Midway into his career, he switched his shusshin to his official birthplace of Övörkhangai Province.^[2]
Kagamio acquired Japanese citizenship in March 2023 and used his shikona "Kagamio Hideoki" as his official Japanese name.^[8]
In the March 2014 tournament, Kagamio served as Kakuryu's dew sweeper, or tsuyuharai.^[13]
Kagamio's hobbies include watching soccer.^[1]

Fighting Style[]

Kagamio is a yotsu-sumo wrestler who favors grappling techniques as opposed to pushing and slapping his opponent. His preferred grip on his opponent's mawashi is migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position.^[14] He regularly uses his left hand outside grip to win by uwatenage, or overarm throw. However his most common winning kimarite is yorikiri, a straightforward force out.^[15]