Kaisei Ichiro

Kaisei Ichiro - 魁聖一郎 (born December 18, 1986) is a former Brazilian professional sumo wrestler from Sao Paulo. He made his debut in September 2006 and last wrestled for Oshima stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 2011 and has 3 special prizes. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in September 2022.

Early Life[]

Ricardo Sugano is a third-generation Japanese-Brazilian (sansei), born to a Japanese-Brazilian father and a German-Italian mother.^[1] He was raised in São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil. In his childhood, Sugano had no interest at all in football, as all his friends did and did not even bother to watch games on TV. He was more interested in grappling sports, such as judo, which he practiced for a time.^[2]^[3]

Screen Shot 2020-10-31 at 2.00.15 PM — Sugano at the 2004 Junior World Sumo Championships

When Sugano was sixteen a friend of his father's suggested that his already large size would be very suitable for sumo. Sugano used to train in many sumo clubs in São Paulo, where he ended up meeting the retired rikishi Wakaazuma Yoshinobu, who is also Brazilian. Yoshinobu would strictly train him, knowing that as Sugano wanted to become a professional sumo wrestler, he should be severe on Ricardo's training. Despite the difficulties, he continued to go on the trainings and commented about his dream of becoming a rikishi, as he was not able to see another career path he could take in Brazil.^[4]

He began pursuing sumo and went on to win the All Brazil amateur sumo championship in the free weight category. At this time he believed that, at least in Brazilian amateur sumo, all one needed was size and power to win, and decided to travel to Japan to try out sumo. He was introduced to Tomozuna stable by Wakaazuma and joined the stable in 2006.^[5] The stable was already home to another Brazilian wrestler, Kaishin. He was given the shikona or ring name of Kaisei Ichiro. Ichiro was the name of Kaisei's late grandfather, who was Japanese.^[6]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Kaisei made his official debut in the September 2006 tournament. He moved through the lower divisions rather quickly, only spending one tournament in the jonidan and jonokuchi divisions. He gradually rose through the sandanme division, however after a three tournament slump, he fell back to the lower end of sandanme by January 2008. He bounced back with two strong tournaments in sandanme and earned a promotion to the makushita division for the May 2008 tournament.^[7]

Screen Shot 2020-10-31 at 2.03.44 PM — Kaisei during his time in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2009)

In September 2009, Kaisei finished with a perfect 7-0 record, but missed out on the makushita yusho after losing to Georgian Gagamaru in a playoff. Nevertheless, he was promoted to the rank of makushita 6 for the November 2009 tournament. In the May 2010 tournament, while ranked at makushita 2, Kaisei finished with a 5-2 record, which includes wins over juryo-ranked Kirinowaka and Wakatenro, and was promoted to juryo for the July 2010 tournament.^[7]

Juryo Career[]

He was the fourth Brazilian to make the juryo division after Ryudo, Kuniazuma and Wakaazuma, but Kaisei was to surpass all of them by winning promotion to the top makuuchi division. After winning the juryo division yusho in November 2010 with an 11–4 record (he won this in a playoff against two wrestlers: Tochinowaka and Toyohibiki), he followed up with an 8–7 at juryo 1 in January 2011, which saw him reach maegashira 16 in the May Technical Examination tournament.^[7]

Makuuchi Career[]

Kaisei won his first six bouts in his makuuchi debut, the first makuuchi debutant to do so since Takanonami in 1991. He went on to 8–0, the first to achieve that since Sadanoumi in 1980, and 9–0, running neck and neck with yokozuna Hakuho, before suffering his first defeat to Tochinoshin on Day 10.^[8] He thus failed to emulate the great Taiho, who reached 11–0 in 1960. Nevertheless, his final score of 10–5 saw him win the Fighting Spirit Award. He was also given the honor of serving as Hakuho's tsuyuharai, or dew sweeper, during the yokozuna's ring entering ceremony.^[6]

Screen Shot 2021-07-18 at 5.02.48 PM — Kaisei serves as Hakuho's flag bearer after posting as strong 11-4 record in his makuuchi debut (c. 2011)

He was promoted to maegashira 5 for the July tournament, where he recovered from 1–4 to go to 6–4, but then lost his last five matches to finish on 6–9. With the intai-zumo (retirement from sumo) of ozeki Kaio during the same tournament Kaisei became the heyagashira (the highest ranked wrestler) at Tomozuna stable. Disappointing scores of 4–11 and 6–9 in September and November 2011 saw him fall to the bottom of the division. A 5–10 record in the January 2012 tournament meant he suffered demotion to juryo in March, but he produced a 10–5 record in Osaka, ensuring a return to makuuchi. In July 2012 he scored eleven wins, picking up his second Fighting Spirit Award and earning promotion to maegashira 1. In September he just fell short with a 7–8 record, losing to Homasho on the final day. Following this, Kaisei had largely alternated winning and losing tournaments.^[7]

Kaisei made his san'yaku debut in the May 2016 tournament, having been promoted to komusubi on the back of an 11–4 record from the rank of maegashira 7. He is the second wrestler from Tomozuna stable to reach komusubi since the present stablemaster took over in 1989 and the first since Kaio in 1994.^[9] After coming through with an 8–7 record he earned immediate promotion to sekiwake for the following July tournament. In the last three tournaments of 2016 he posted losing records and dropped to maegashira 9 before recording an 8–7 in January 2017.^[7]

He injured his knee training with Hakuho shortly before the March 2017 tournament and had to withdraw from a honbasho for the first time in his career, bringing to an end his run of 739 consecutive matches from debut, the most among active top division wrestlers. He was demoted to the juryo division for the first time since 2012 after the May 2017 tournament, but made an immediate return to makuuchi after scoring 10–5 at the rank of juryo 1 in July. In the September 2017 tournament, at West Maegashira 13, he managed to get a record of 9–6. Being promoted to East Maegashira 10 for the November 2017 tournament, Kaisei finished with a record of 8–7. In January 2018, at West Maegashira 8, Kaisei finished 8–7. The March 2018 Tournament saw Kaisei promoted to East Maegashira 6 where he won his first 9 matches, only to lose to Ichinojo on day 10. On day 13 Kaisei was brought up to face yokozuna Kakuryu where he lost. Kaisei finished off the tournament with a 12–3 record, being a runner-up to Kakuryu, with fellow runner-up Takayasu. This marks the second time that Kaisei was runner-up. Kaisei also got the Fighting Spirit Prize, his third time claiming that prize.^[7]

EKnGP4fU4AAgpiF — Kaisei prepares for his match (c. 2018)

In November 2018 Kaisei returned to the sanyaku ranks at komusubi for the first time in 13 tournaments. However, he was restricted by a left calf injury suffered in training shortly before the tournament, missing the first two days and then withdrawing on Day 14 with only three wins, after aggravating the injury.^[10] He was also forced to withdraw from the May 2019 tournament after injuring his right bicep tendon against Ryuden on Day 7. Fighting at maegashira 15 in July, he injured his right arm and eventually withdrew on Day 11 with only one win, resulting in his demotion to juryo.^[11] He returned to the top division after an 11–4 record in November 2019. Kaisei was forced to sit out of the January 2021 after a wrestler in his stable tested positive for COVID-19.^[12]

Retirement from Sumo[]

In July 2022, while ranked at the bottom of the second division, Kaisei finished the tournament with a 5-10 record, which demoted him back to the unsalaried third division after more than 12 years in the salaried top two divisions. Kaisei ultimately retired in late August 2022. Kaisei obtained Japanese citizenship in November 2014, which allowed him to acquire an elder-stock when retiring; he now uses the name Tomozuna oyakata. He originally worked as a coach at his stable, now re-named Oshima stable, until May 2023 when he transferred to Asakayama stable.^[13]^[14]

Kaisei's danpatsu-shiki (retirement ceremony) was held on 1 October 2023 at the Ryogoku Kokugikan before invited guests. About 340 people took turns in the ceremonial snipping of Kaisei's oichomage. The final cut was made by former ozeki Kaio, the master of the stable Kaisei transferred to after his retirement. Kaisei's mother Rosana, younger brother Renato and sister Natalia made the approximately 30-hour trip from Brazil to Japan to attend the ceremony.^[15]

Personal Life[]

Kaisei announced in July 2020 that he had got married the previous month to a woman in her 20s after a five year relationship.^[16]
Kaisei's favorite drink is coca-cola and he drinks three bottles everyday.^[17] His hobbies are games and watching anime.^[18] His favorite foods are yakiniku, hamburgers, and the previously mentioned coca-cola.^[19]
Kaisei became a smoker after the influence of his original stablemaster, Tomozuna Oyakata.^[20]
Kaisei does not like cold weather, and prefers warmer weather during the summer.^[20]
Unlike many foreign recruits, Kaisei had no trouble adapting to Japanese culture, especially with the food, because his grandmother, who was Japanese, would serve him Japanese food during his time in Brazil.^[21]
Kaisei served as Hakuho's tsuyuharai, or dew sweeper, during the yokozuna's ring entering ceremony and would also sometimes serve as Hakuho's flag bearer during his championship parade.^[6]
Kaisei obtained Japanese citizenship in November 2014 which allowed him to remain in the sumo world after retiring.^[22]

Fighting Style[]

Kaisei'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), yori (forcing) and oshi (pushing).^[23] His most common winning kimarite are straightforward: yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out).^[24]