Kitataiki Akeyoshi

Kitataiki Akeyoshi - 北太樹明義 (born October 5, 1982) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Machida, Tokyo. He made his debut in March 1998, and wrestled for Yamahibiki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 2008. His highest rank was maegashira 2, and he retired in January 2018.

Early Life[]

As a boy Sanuki participated in swimming, soccer and some judo as an elementary school student. His only experience with sumo during this time was one national children's sumo competition. He went on to play basketball in junior high school. However, starting from his elementary school days he made several visits to the stable of Kitanoumi, who was an acquaintance of his father. Deciding he wanted something different he chose to join Kitanoumi stable, later renamed to Yamahibiki stable after junior high school instead of going on to high school.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Sunaki made his professional debut under his family name in March 1998 at the age of 15. Only weighing 80 kg, Sunaki struggled to produce staggering results. Sunaki was stuck in jonidan for around two years and changed his shikona, or ring name to 'Kitataiki'.

Screen Shot 2020-11-03 at 10.55.34 AM — Kitataiki in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2006)

After the shikona change, Kitataiki produced a 6-1 record and was promoted to sandanme three tournaments later. Kitataiki struggled in sandanme at first and was demoted to jonidan multiple times. It wasn't until July 2001, where Kitataiki produced 5 straight kachi-koshi, or winning records, to earn promotion to the makushita division for the May 2002 tournament.

Kitataiki produced a 3-4 record in his makushita debut and wouldn't become a makushita fixture until 2004. Kitataiki produced three straight kachi-koshi starting from November 2003 which promoted him to makushita 15. Kitataiki would remain in the upper-makushita levels for around 3 years and was promoted up to makushita 5 for the May 2006 tournament.

A year later in makushita 3, Kitataiki produced a 5-2 record which included wins over juryo-ranked wrestlers, Chiyohakuho and Bushuyama. This result guaranteed him a promotion to the salaried division of juryo for the first time.

Juryo Career[]

Kitataiki made his juryo debut in July 2007 and he was the first wrestler from his stable in nine years (following Kitazakura) to achieve sekitori status. Kitataiki remained in juryo for around a year. He produced an 11-4 record in March 2008 and was promoted to the top of juryo. However, he produced an unsatisfactory 6-9 record and was demoted back down to juryo 4. Following this demotion, Kitataiki produced another 11-4 recede and was promoted to juryo for the September 2008 tournament.

Makuuchi Career[]

After a year in juryo he gained promotion to makuuchi in September 2008 where he lasted two tournaments before being relegated back to juryo, restricted by a serious injury to his left knee.

Rns-taiki02 — Kitataiki prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2008)

Another year in juryo, ending with his first career yusho or division championship after a three-way playoff with Koryu and Tokusegawa, put him back in makuuchi for the second time in January 2010. There he produced his first kachi-koshii n the top division, scoring 9-6 despite aggravating his knee injury. This saw him promoted to maegashira 10 in March and he produced another strong performance with a 10-5 score. For the May 2010 tournament he was in the upper maegashira ranks for the first time at #4. In this tournament he defeated ozeki Kotomitsuki but failed to secure a winning record; losing his last three matches to finish on 7-8. A 9-6 score in September saw him promoted to a new highest rank of maegashira 3 for the November tournament. He scored only 5-10 in that basho but returned to the maegashira 3 rank for the May 2011 Technical Examination Tournament. There he beat struggling ozeki Kotooshu but won only two other matches. He returned to maegashira 3 in January 2012, but was again out of his depth and scored just 2-13.

Kitataiki reached a new highest rank of maegashira 2 in May 2013, scoring 4-11. He generally maintained a consistent enough performance to remain in the mid-level top division ranks, but never won a special prize. January 2015 saw him back in the juryo division for the first time since 2009. He quickly bounced back and won his second juryo championship in January 2015 to earn re-promotion to the top division for the March 2015 tournament. However, a succession of losing scores saw him lose top division status again in March 2016 and fall to the bottom of the juryo division for the May 2016 tournament.

Later Career[]

Kitataiki remained in juryo for around a year and was dwindling in the lower ranks of juryo. After a 5-10 record in juryo 12, Kitataiki was demoted to the unsalaried makushita division for the first time in over a decade. He produced a 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 1 west, however unluckily was only promoted to makushita 1 east due to the competitiveness of the upper-makushita ranks. He produced a 3-4 record and would announce his retirement from sumo in the following tournament.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Just before the January 2018 tournament was due to begin, Kitataiki announced his retirement. Kitataiki revealed he was contemplating retirement for around 3-4 years. However he had no regrets in his sumo career and was grateful that he could wrestle till he was 35 years old. A hip joint injury at the end of his career prevented him from training which was detrimental to his success.

He has stayed in sumo as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and works as a coach under the name of Onogawa Oyakata.

Personal Life[]

His father came up with his current ring name, which he took after two years in sumo. This shikona combines the "kita" of Kitanoumi and "taiki" meaning large tree and symbolizing strength and growth. Kitataiki is married, and the couple have a son born in September 2015.
Kitataiki's hobbies include playing and watching soccer.
Starting from October 2019, Kitataiki runs a segment on the Japan Sumo Association's official YouTube channel where he shows behind the scene of the sumo world and interviews his fellow acquaintances.
Having not missed a bout since 2003, at the end of his career Kitataiki had the longest streak of consecutive career matches amongst active wrestlers, with 1082. He overtook the previous holder Yoshiazuma in the July 2017 tournament.

Fighting Style[]

Kitataiki was a yotsu-sumo specialist, preferring to grip his opponent's mawashi with a right hand outside, left hand inside position (hidari-yotsu). His most common winning kimarite was yori-kiri or force out, closely followed by oshi-dashi or push out.