Musashimaru Koyo - 武蔵丸 光洋 (born May 2, 1971) is a former American professional sumo wrestler from Waianae, Oahu, Hawaii. He made his debut in September 1989 and wrestled for Musashigawa stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 1991 and has 4 special prizes and 12 top division championships. He was the 67th yokozuna and he retired in November 2003.
Early Life[]
Fiamalu Penitani was born in American Samoa, the fourth son of a German Tongan father and a Portuguese Samoan mother. The family moved to Oahu, Hawaii when he was ten years old. While attending Waianae High School in Waianae he played American football and was offered a scholarship to Pasadena City College, but he also had success in Greco-Roman wrestling, and his wrestling coach encouraged him to give sumo a try.
Career[]
Early Career[]
He moved to Japan and joined former yokozuna Mienoumi's Musashigawa stable in June 1989, initially on a trial basis only. This proved to be successful and he formally made his professional debut that September, adopting the shikona or ring name of Musashimaru Koyo. He won the jonokuchi yusho in his first tournament and the sandanme yusho in his first tournament. After six tournaments in makushita he was promoted to juryo in July 1991.
Juryo Career[]
Musashimaru only spent two tournaments in juryo before rising to makuuchi. In his first tournament he won the juryo yusho with a strong 11-4 record and followed with a 10-5 performance which earned him a promotion to makuuchi in November 1991.
Makuuchi Career[]
Musashimaru (c. 1993)
He reached the top makuuchi division just two tournaments later in November 1991. He made komusubi in May 1992 and sekiwake in July. After a superb 13–2 record and runner-up honors in November 1993, and a 12–3 score the following January, he was promoted to ozeki alongside Takanonami.
Ozeki Career[]
Musashimaru was ranked as an ozeki for 32 tournaments. He showed great consistency, never missing any bouts through injury and always getting at least eight wins. However, he was unable to gain the successive championships needed to become a yokozuna. Musashimaru took his first top division championship (yusho) in July 1994 with a perfect 15–0 record, but in the following tournament he could manage only 11 wins and Takanohana overtook him to become yokozuna at the end of the year, joining Akebono who had become the first foreign born yokozuna in 1993. Musashimaru seemed content just to maintain his rank, not winning another title until November 1996. Takanohana was absent from this tournament and Musashimaru won it after a five way playoff with a score of 11–4, the lowest number of wins needed to take a top division title since 1972. His third championship came in January 1998.
Yokozuna Career[]
In 1999, with Akebono and Takanohana both struggling with injury and loss of form, Musashimaru suddenly came alive with two consecutive tournament wins in March and May 1999 to earn promotion to yokozuna. There was little of the controversy that surrounded previous promotion drives by foreign wrestlers such as Konishiki, and Musashimaru's record of never having missed a bout in his career was praised by the Yokozuna Deliberation Council. After a respectable 12–3 performance in his yokozuna debut, he won two further titles that year.
However, in January 2000 he had to pull out of the tournament with an injury on the fourth day, bringing to an end his record run of 55 consecutive tournaments with a majority of wins, dating from his 6–1 score in the makushita division in November 1990. This kachi-koshi run ended just one tournament short of Kitanoumi's top division record. Akebono returned to form in 2000, and Musashimaru was also sidelined with injury in May. He won just one title that year, in September, although it was one of his most impressive results as he won his first 14 matches, just failing on the last day to become the first wrestler in four years to win with a perfect record. In 2001, although he did not have the injury problems of the previous year, he lost two playoffs to Takanohana in January and May, and had a mere 9–6 record in September, giving away five kinboshi to maegashira ranked wrestlers, an all-time record for a single tournament. He had to wait until November 2001 for his ninth title. In 2002, with Takanohana sidelined through injury, Musashimaru was dominant. Although he missed most of the January 2002 tournament after injuring himself against Kyokushuzan on the third day, he won three tournaments that year, making 2002 his most successful year since 1999. His victory over the returning Takanohana in September 2002 was his twelfth and final championship and was also the last time either man would complete a tournament, making it the end of an era.
Retirement from Sumo[]
Musashigawa Oyakata trains his rikishi (c. 2013)
In November 2002 Musashimaru tore a tendon in his left wrist, an injury which proved to be career-ending. Forced to withdraw from that tournament, the chronic problem restricted him to just a handful of appearances in the whole of 2003. Overshadowed by new yokozuna Asashoryu, he entered the July tournament but pulled out after just six days. He did not compete again until November, when after suffering his fourth defeat on the seventh day, he announced his retirement. In an interview on November 16, 2003, he revealed that he had also injured his neck while playing American football in high school and had been unable to move his left shoulder properly. Musashimaru was the last Hawaiian wrestler in sumo, ending a dynasty that began with Takamiyama in 1964 and at one point in 1996 saw four from the islands ranked in the top division. During his career he had won a total of twelve top division championships, one more than Akebono, and also won over 700 top division bouts, one of only six wrestlers to have achieved that feat to date. He officially retired on October 2, 2004, when he had his danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Musashimaru has remained in the sumo world as an oyakata, or coach. He did not initially acquire a permanent elder (toshiyori) name, going instead under the name of Musashimaru Oyakata, which as a former yokozuna he was entitled to do for a period of five years after retirement. In October 2008 he began using the name Furiwake (振分), and he then switched to the Oshima (大島) elder name of former ozeki Asahikuni in August 2012. In December 2012 it was announced that he would inherit the prestigious Musashigawa (武蔵川) name upon his old stablemaster's retirement in February 2013, at which time he opened his own stable of wrestlers, Musashigawa. This is not to be confused with the stable he fought out of as an active wrestler, which has since been renamed Fujishima stable. His nephew joined the stable in May 2013 and adopted the shikona Musashikuni. He was the stable's highest ranked wrestler, but was unable to reach the elite sekitori ranks and retired in September 2019. Musashikuni's younger brother, Daniel, joined the stable in August 2023 and made his professional debut in November 2024 under the shikona Hikarumusashi.
Personal Life[]
- In April 2008 Musashimaru married a hula dance instructor from Tokyo and the wedding ceremony took place in August 2008 in Hawaii. The couple have one son. In April 2017 he fell ill while golfing in Nara and underwent a kidney transplant, with his wife as the donor.
- He appeared alongside Brad Pitt (who was playing his personal assistant) in two commercials for Softbank, a Japanese mobile phone company, in July 2009. They were directed by Spike Jonze.
- After retiring, Musashimaru weighed around 240 kg (529 Ib). With the help of his wife, he slimmed down to 150 kg (331 Ib). However, when he opened up his stable, he regained his weight in order to train his wrestlers.
- He acquired Japanese citizenship on January 22, 1996, and changed his legal name from Fiamalu Penitani to his shikona Musashimaru Koyo.
- His favorite food is meat and rice. His hobbies are playing games and listening to music.
Fighting Style[]
Musashimaru defeats Takanonami by oshidashi (push out)
In addition to his great size and strength, Musashimaru had a low center of gravity and excellent balance, which made him very difficult to beat. Earlier in his career he favored pushing and thrusting (tsuki/oshi) techniques, but he also began to fight more on the mawashi, simply wearing his smaller opponents out with his huge inertia. He usually used a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip. His most common winning technique or kimarite was oshidashi (push out), closely followed by yorikiri (force out). Together these two techniques accounted for about 60 percent of his career wins.
Record[]
Division Results[]
- Total: 779-294-115/1068 (86 basho)
- Makuuchi: 706-267-115/968 (73 basho)
- Juryo: 21-9/30 (2 basho)
- Makushita: 26-16/42 (6 basho)
- Sandanme: 13-1/14 (2 basho)
- Jonidan: 6-1/7 (1 basho)
- Jonokuchi: 7-0/7 (1 basho)
Championships[]
- 12 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (July 1994)
- 2nd (November 1996)
- 3rd (January 1998)
- 4th (March 1999)
- 5th (May 1999)
- 6th (September 1999)
- 7th (November 1999)
- 8th (September 2000)
- 9th (November 2001)
- 10th (March 2002)
- 11th (May 2002)
- 12th (September 2002)
- 1 Juryo Championship (July 1991)
- 1 Sandanme Championship (May 1990)
- 1 Jonokuchi Championship (November 1989)
Achievements[]
- Special Prizes: Technique Prize (2), Fighting Spirit Prize (1), Outstanding Performance Prize (1)
- Record: Tied for 8th most career championships (12 championships)
- Record: Tied for 4th most championship playoffs (7 playoffs)
- Record: 9th most top division wins (706 wins)
Shikona History[]
- Musashimaru Koyo (1989.09 - 2003.11)
Gallery[]
JSA Profile Pictures and Tegata[]
Career Overview[]
