Nishikigi Tetsuya

Nishikigi Tetsuya - 錦木徹也 (born August 25, 1990) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Morioka, Iwate. He made his debut in March 2006 and currently wrestles for Isenoumi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 2016 and has 2 special prizes as well as 2 kinboshi. His highest rank as of 2025 is komusubi.

Early Life[]

Kumagai's father was an amateur sumo wrestler and competed in three national tournaments.^[1] This led him to have an interest in sumo, however, he did not participate in sumo during elementary and junior high school. He began playing baseball in elementary school and was the catcher.^[2] He later attended Moriokashiritsu Yonai Junior High School, however, the school did not have a baseball club, so he instead joined the table tennis club.^[3] Having met the former owner of the Isenoumi stable, ex-sekiwake Fujinokawa, he heard about Yotsuguruma, a sumo wrestler before him who is also from Iwate prefecture and it inspired him to join professional sumo himself.^[4] He subsequently joined Isenoumi stable after graduating from junior high school.

Career[]

Early Career[]

He first stepped onto the dohyo in March 2006. He joined sumo the same time as future top division wrestlers Tochinoshin, Sakaizawa, and Shohozan. He worked his way slowly up the ranks, earning sandanme division promotion in July 2008 and makushita in January 2010. However, he struggled in the third division and soon fell back to sandanme. Though he was soon back in makushita he languished at this level. He managed to contend for the makushita' championship in November 2010, where he lost in a multiple wrestler playoff, and won the championship in this division outright with a 6–1 record in November 2012. However, continuing mediocre performances kept him in the third division for four and a half years. During these struggling years, he took the ring name of Nishikigi. He was the first wrestler in 144 years to take this name.^[5] However, starting in September 2014, four consecutive 5-2 records propelled him to the salaried ranks of juryo for the May 2015 tournament.^[6]

Juryo Career[]

Nishikigi scored a 9-6 in his juryo debut and was promoted up to juryo 9 for the following tournament. However, he suffered a 5-10 record and was regulated back to the bottom of the division. Nishikigi would redeem himself by alternating between 8-7 and 10-5 records in the next four tournaments which earned him a promotion to the top makuuchi division for the May 2016 tournament.^[6]

Makuuchi Career[]

In the top division, Nishikigi initially made little impact but nine wins in July followed by eight in September saw him promoted to a career high of maegashira 6. He then began to struggle and after three consecutive losing records he was demoted back to juryo after the March tournament.^[6]

Nisikigi66 — Nishikigi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2018)

Wrestling at juryo 4 in May he lost his first two matches but in an unusually open division he entered the penultimate day on 8-5 in a seven-way tie for the lead. After beating Homarefuji he clinched the yusho or championship on the final day with a victory over the veteran Aminishiki. He was promoted back to makuuchi for the July 2017 tournament where he secured his majority of wins against losses on the last day with a defeat of Tokushoryu.^[6]

He remained near the bottom of the makuuchi division for the next year, just barely avoiding demotion to juryo before a 10–5 result in September 2018, coupled with a collapse in the form of higher-ranked wrestlers, saw him promoted to maegashira 3. Despite fears that he would be badly exposed at the rank and starting with four straight defeats he rallied to end with an 8–7 result and was promoted to a new career high of maegashira 2 for the January 2019 tournament. He won his first three matches in January, defeating ozeki Goeido and Tochinoshin and earning his first kinboshi or yokozuna upset with a win over Kakuryu. He then had a default win over the retiring Kisenosato to stand undefeated on 4–0, but he lost seven in a row after that and finished with a 7–8 record.^[6]

Nishikigi did not manage a winning record in any tournament in 2019, and was demoted to the juryo division after the November 2019 tournament. He secured 11 wins and 4 losses in the January 2020 tournament, enough for immediate promotion back to the makuuchi division. However, he then embarked on another run of losing records, and fell to near the bottom of the juryo division by May 2021.^[6]

Three winning records from September 2021 to January 2022 saw him return to the top division for the March 2022 tournament. Having already achieved a majority of wins in the July 2022 tournament, he was forced to withdraw on Day 13 due to a COVID-19 outbreak at his stable. This was the first time since his debut in 2006 that he had withdrawn from a tournament, but his run of over 1000 consecutive career appearances will be allowed to continue as the Sumo Association do not regard a withdrawal due to COVID protocols through no fault of the wrestler as breaking a streak.^[7]

NishikigiTerunofuji — Nishikigi throws Yokozuna Terunofuji (c. 2023)

On the second day of the July 2023 tournament, Nishikigi, then ranked as maegashira 1, defeated yokozuna Terunofuji by sukuinage, thus winning his second kinboshi, the first in four years, and continuing his run of 10 wins in a row. Nishikigi would go on to defeat most of the wrestlers ranked above him in the first week. On the ninth day of the tournament, Nishikigi claimed an eighth victory in his match against former ozeki Mitakeumi and maintained his position as one of the tournament leaders with only one defeat. With this victory, Nishikigi strengthened his case for promotion to san'yaku status, which would be the first of his career.^[6]

After claiming his tenth victory over Endo, Nishikigi received positive feedback from JSA chairman Hakkaku, who praised his style which was compared to that of a yokozuna or an ozeki, as well as his mental strength.^[8] Despite leading the tournament, Nishikigi nevertheless suffered crucial defeats in the final days of the tournament, particularly against makuuchi-newcomers Shonannoumi (Day 12) and Hakuoho (Day 13). On Day 14, he recorded a third defeat in a row to Ryuden, which took him out of the title race.^[6]

Nishikigi was rewarded with a promotion to the sanyaku rank of komusubi for the September 2023 tournament. Nishikigi took 103 tournaments to reach sanyaku–the third-slowest in sumo history behind Kumegawa (former Kotoinazuma), who needed 106 tournaments, and former Tamaryu, who needed 107. After the September banzuke was released Nishikigi was happy to see his name listed under the new rank, telling reporters that he wanted to say "I did my best" rather than say "I was late." His stablemaster Isenoumi said that the promotion was the result of Nishikigi's own training. He also said that while Nishikigi may be a veteran at 33 years of age, he feels young, joking that he finally learned to sumo when he was 31 or 32.^[9]

At the September live makuuchi training session on September 2, however, Nishikigi injured his right calf after a butsukari training session with former ozeki Shodai. Commenting on the state of his calf, he ruled out withdrawal from the September tournament, which begins on 10 September.^[10] During the March 2024 tournament, Nishikigi, who had once again been promoted to the rank of komusubi, bounced back and again defeated Yokozuna Terunofuji on the first day of the tournament.^[6]

Personal Life[]

Nishikigi has extremely poor vision and always wears glasses when not practicing or competing, even wearing them for post-bout interviews. He has stated he is unable to see any fans in the crowd during tournaments which helps keep him from getting nervous.^[11]
Nishikigi was married in September 2018, with the reception being held in February 2020. He has a daughter born in November 2019.^[12]
Nishikigi stated that the hard part about doing sumo is learning how to do the splits. He claimed that even now he still cannot properly do the splits correctly.^[1]
Nishikigi served as the dew sweeper, or tsuyuharai, for yokozuna Kisenosato during his dohyo-iri.^[13]
On December 17, 2019, it was announced that Nishikigi would be a torch bearer representing Iwate Prefecture for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.^[14]
Nishikigi's hobbies are darts, baseball,^[15] and mobile games.^[16] His favorite food is meat^[16] and his favorite liquor is sweet potato shochu (芋焼酎).^[15] His favorite artists are Yuzu and Dreams Come True and his favorite TV shows are quiz shows.^[16]

Fighting Style[]

Nishikigi was initially an oshi-sumo specialist who preferred pushing and thrusting at his opponents to fighting on the mawashi or belt, but has developed his yotsu-sumo technique to become a more balanced competitor, his favorite grip being hidari-yotsu (left arm inside, right arm outside).^[16] His most common kimarite is yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out).^[17]