Kitaharima Seiya

Kitaharima Seiya - 北磻磨聖也 (born July 28, 1986) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tatsuno, Hyogo. He made his debut in March 2002 and currently wrestles for Yamahibiki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in July 2016. His highest rank as of 2024 is maegashira 15.

Early Life[]

Screen Shot 2020-11-14 at 12.13.09 PM — Shimada (left) with his younger brother

Shimada was born in Tatsuno, Hyogo, where there is a shrine to the legendary founder of sumo, Nomi no Sukune.^[1] His family were engaged in the leather industry and Shimada participated in judo from nursery school to the fourth year of elementary school.^[2]

In his fourth year of elementary school, Shimada participated in a local sumo tournament and won the championship. Ever since then, Shimada participated in every local sumo tournament till the sixth grade of elementary school.^[2] After enrolling in Junior High School, Shimada participated in the National Prefectural Junior High School Sumo Championship during his second and third year. He had aspirations to go to high school, but was persuaded to join Kitanoumi stable, run by the former yokozuna Kitanoumi, upon graduation from junior high school.^[3]

Career[]

Early Career[]

He made his professional debut in March 2002, alongside future top division wrestlers such as Kisenosato and Katayama, and also his own stablemate Nionoumi. Shimada produced four consecutive 4-3 records from his debut, and reached the sandanme division in November 2003. Shimada stayed in sandanme for around a year and a half, producing mainly 4-3 records. He was promoted to the makushita division in July 2005.^[4]

Kitaharima2012 — Kitaharima prepares for his upcoming match in makushita (c. 2011)

Even though Shimada was gradually rising up the ranks, he was barley 100 kg (220 lb) and found it hard to make further progress. After a year in the lower levels of makushita and the upper levels sandanme, he had a strong showing in late 2006, where he produced three straight winning records in makushita and was promoted to makushita 21 for the January 2007 tournament. However this proved to only be a one time showing and he was demoted back down to sandanme just two tournaments later.^[4]

After producing his first 6-1 record on January 2008, Shimada adopted his present shikona in March 2008, formed from combination of his original stable name (Kitanoumi) and an old name for west Hyogo Prefecture (Harima Province). After his shikona change, Kitaharima became a permanent makushita fixture. Kitaharima remained in the mid-makushita levels for around two years and was promoted to makushita 7 for the November 2010 tournament. In this tournament, he produced a 5-2 record and was boosted to makushita 2 for the following January 2011 tournament. Kitaharima was on the verge of juryo promotion, but lost to former komusubi Kakizoe on the final day to finish with a 3-4 record. He would return to the same rank five tournaments later and a win over juryo-ranked wrestler Shironoryu secured him a promotion to the salaried juryo division for the January 2012 tournament.^[4]

Juryo Career[]

He was the first sekitori from Tatsuno since Banryuyama who had been a stablemate of Kitanoumi and was then a coach at the affiliated Mihogaseki stable. He spent all of 2012 in juryo but had only two winning records in that time and was demoted back to the makushita division in January 2013. After moving between juryo and makushita a number of times he re-established himself in juryo from the September 2014 tournament. In November 2015 after the death of his stablemaster Kitanoumi, who was also the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, the former maegashira Ganyu took over the running of the stable, which was re-named Yamahibiki stable.^[4]

Makuuchi Career[]

KitaharimaIchinojo — Kitaharima pushes out the much larger Ichinojo (c. 2016)

Following a record of nine wins against six losses at the rank of Juryo 4 in May 2016, Kitaharima made his top makuuchi division debut in the July 2016 tournament, the only wrestler in that tournament who was new to the top division. It had taken him 85 tournaments from his professional debut to reach the top division, which is the ninth slowest in sumo history.^[5] His promotion came 14 years after leaving junior high school. He told reporters that having been in sumo since he was 15, he was disappointed that his contemporaries who had instead gone to high school and university before entering the professional ranks had overtaken him. At 126 kilograms (278 lb) he was lightest man in the top division and some 30 kilograms (66 lb) lighter than the average for the division.^[5] Kitaharima's stablemaster stressed the importance of his predecessor Kitanoumi to Kitaharima's success, saying that Kitanoumi always called Kitaharima by his given name "Seiya," because "my disciples are the same as my own children."^[1]

Kitaharima won his first bout in the top division, defeating Nishikigi. However he finished the tournament with a losing record of six wins against nine losses and was demoted back to juryo after just one tournament. Restricted by neck pain, he had two poor performances of 5–10 and 4–11 in the following two tournaments and fell back to makushita in January 2017.^[6]

Later Career[]

After his neck problem cleared up he returned to juryo after a 5–2 record, but lasted only one tournament. After two consecutive winning records in makushita in May and July 2017 he returned to juryo again in September 2017. Both he and Kizenryu were being promoted to juryo for the seventh time in this tournament, the second highest ever at the time.^[7] However he lost seven of his first eight bouts, and with a 5–10 record at the end of the tournament was once again demoted. He remained in makushita for the next three years before finally getting his eighth promotion to juryo after the July 2020 tournament at the age of 34. He secured this result by defeating Takagenji on the final day for a 5–2 record at Makushita 3. He had been out of juryo for 17 tournaments. In the September 2020 tournament Kitaharima could manage only five wins against ten losses, losing his last four bouts. He narrowly failed to return to juryo in November and was ranked at Makushita 1 East in January 2021. He was forced to sit out the March 2021 tournament after a coach at his stable tested positive for COVID-19, but his ranking was protected.^[8] In January 2022 he had his poorest record for over a decade, a 1–6 at makushita 15, which sent him down to makushita 40 for March 2022. In May 2022, Kitaharima failed to win the makushita championship when he lost to Oshoma on the last day.^[4]

KitaharimaAkua2024 — Kitaharima defeats Akua to ensure promotion back to juryo (c. 2024)

Relegated to the sandanme division for the first time since 2008 at the September 2023 tournament, Kitaharima nonetheless won all his matches and claimed the division's championship. In doing so, he became, at the age of 37, the oldest wrestler ranked in the makushita division or below to win a tournament since Oiwato who won the makushita tournament in 2017 at the age of 36.^[9]

After his championship win, Kitaharima spent two tournaments in makushita before it was announced in January 2024 that he was promoted to the salaried juryo division for the ninth time in his career, hence being tied for the most promotion to the juryo division along former Kizenryu (re-promoted for the ninth time in July 2018).^[10] This latest re-promotion, at the age of 37 years, 6 months and 29 days, makes Kitaharima the second oldest wrestler to be re-promoted to sekitori status in modern sumo history, behind Oshio (re-promoted in May 1987 at the age of 39).^[11] On the occasion of this new promotion Kitaharima shared that his inspiration for remaining an active wrestler was his former stablemate Kitazakura, who, as the third-oldest re-promoted to juryo in modern sumo, continued his career even after his demotion to the makushita division.^[12] However, Kitaharima suffered an eighth defeat (make-koshi) in his match against Chiyoshoma on Day 11, making it uncertain whether he will remain in juryo. In the end, he won just 4 victories in the tournament, leaving little chance of staying in the sekitori ranks. However, he declared himself pleased with the public support he received, declaring "It was an experience that gave me goose bumps every day."^[13]

Personal Life[]

He is known for wanting to practice day or night, which led to his stablemaster warning against him over-training. Kitaharima has said he has no real hobbies and on his makuuchi promotion remarked that he was thinking only about sumo.^[14] At the age of 37, he confided on the occasion of his ninth re-promotion in the juryo division that he still had not changed his training habits, although he also admitted to having to rely more on alternative treatments such as massages or changing his diet on the advice of Takayasu.^[12]
His younger brother Tetsuya Shimada was also a wrestler at the same stable, he reached a highest rank of sandanme 78 and was known as Tatsunoumi.^[15] He retired in September 2022.
Kitaharima's hobby is walking, his favorite food is yakitori, his favorite artists is Ulfuls, and his favorite TV program are sports broadcasts of MLB games featuring Shohei Ohtani.^[16]

Fighting Style[]

Kitaharima is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite or technique is oshidashi or a straightforward push out.^[17]