Orora Satoshi

Orora Satoshi
Personal Information
Real name	Anatoliy Valeryevich Mihahanov (Анатолий Валерьевич Михаханов)
Born	April 26, 1983 (age 42) Zaigrayevo, Buryat ASSR, Soviet Union
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	645 Ib (292.6 kg)
Career
Stable	Kitanoumi ➔ Yamahibiki
Highest rank	Makushita 43 (Nov. 2011)
Debut	March 2000
Retired	September 2018

Orora Satoshi - 大露羅 敏 (born April 26, 1983) is a former Russian professional sumo wrestler from Zaigrayevo, Buryatia. He made his debut in March 2000 and wrestled for Yamahibiki stable. His highest rank was makushita 43 and he retired in September 2018.

Early Life

Anatoliy Valeryevich Mihahanov was born on April 26, 1983, in the small town of Zaigrayevo, Zaigrayevsky District, Buryatia in the Soviet Union. He is of Buryat descent, a Mongolic ethnic group indigenous to Siberia. He had been extraordinarily large since childhood, and after seeing sumo on television for the first time at the age of eight he was inspired to become a sumo wrestler. In 1999 at the age of 16 he moved with his family to St. Petersburg so he could study sumo. There he was scouted by the 55th yokozuna Kitanoumi, joining Kitanoumi stable in March 2000. He was the first Russian to enter professional sumo. He made his debut alongside Ryuo, Hochiyama and Hitenryu. He was given the shikona of "Orora" (大露羅), a reference to the Aurora.

Career

Orora spent most of his career in the fourth-highest sandanme division, which he first reached in May 2002. He had nine tournaments ranked in the third-highest makushita division, which he first reached in January 2008, peaking at Makushita 43 East in November 2011. His last appearance in the division was in January 2014. He served as a tsukebito or personal attendant to Kitanoumi for fourteen years until his stablemaster's death in November 2015, upon which his stable was renamed Yamahibiki with the former maegashira Ganyu becoming his stablemaster. His career record was 376 wins against 382 losses, with 12 absences due to injury, over 111 tournaments.

Weight

Orora struggles to climb the dohyo (c. 2018)

Orora already weighed 190 kilograms (420 lb) on his debut in March 2000, and in 2010 reached 262 kg (578 lb), surpassing Yamamotoyama to be the second-heaviest sumo wrestler recorded. He recalled on one occasion ordering 50 servings of yakiniku, plus six bowls of ramen noodles. After reaching 283 kg (624 lb) in the January 2017 health check-up he tried changing his diet, eating only once a day and taking more exercise by walking around his heya. However, he did not check his weight on a scale until the next health check-up on 22 August 2017, and in the seven months since he had, in fact, increased his weight by another five kilograms to reach 288 kg (635 lb), surpassing former ozeki Konishiki's 285 kg (628 lb) set in 1996 to become the heaviest wrestler ever in professional sumo. Orora remarked that he had not been aiming for the record but at least would now have a place in history. He joked that a rice ball eaten as a snack must have put him over. In a Twitter post on April 6, 2018, Orora stated that his weight had increased to 294 kilograms (648 lb). However, his peak weight officially recorded by the Sumo Association was 292.6 kilograms (645 lb), just before his retirement.

Retirement from Sumo

In September 2017 he was demoted to jonidan, a division in which he had not competed since 2003. In September 2018 he announced his retirement after winning his final match to give him a 1–6 record at the rank of jonidan 12. Speaking to reporters he paid tribute to his late stablemaster Kitanoumi, and said his most memorable match was his victory over a young Hakuho in September 2001.

Orora shows off his weight loss (c. 2019)

Although he had become nearly immobile toward the end of his career, he remained active out of loyalty to a promise he had made to his stablemaster, Kitanoumi—to continue competing until May 2018, which would have marked Kitanoumi’s retirement age had he lived. By the time of Kitanoumi’s passing, his body could no longer properly support his weight, but he remained active out of determination to honor that promise. He continued to serve as Kitanoumi’s personal attendant until his master’s final days in 2015, and even after his death, he kept his word and remained active until the September 2018 tournament. On September 21 of that year, after his final bout, he placed his hands together in prayer as he left the dohyo, a gesture of respect.

After a retirement ceremony at his stable, he returned to Russia on October 7, 2018, settling in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia. He was planning to find a job in sports events. Based once again in his hometown in Siberia, he has a large social media following. He announced on his Instagram account in April 2020 that since retiring he had lost 100kg. Speaking to the Asahi Shimbun in June 2020, said he had now switched to five small meals a day, does not eat after 7pm, walks 6 kilometers a day and goes to a gym. He said that it was difficult to stay healthy while living in a sumo stable as "you are the only person that can take care of you. Nobody in your sumo stable cares about you." While active he suffered from hypertension and fatigue, and would require an oxygen tank for taking short walks.

Personal Life

• In 2012, he boarded a flight to Russia to attend his younger brother’s wedding. However, due to his enormous size, he faced several inconveniences and embarrassments, such as a broken seatbelt and being unable to fit into the airplane bathroom. Upon returning to Japan, he tearfully said, “I never want to go through that again.”
• Orora was known for his strong tolerance for alcohol, with stories from his active days claiming he could drink “a case of beer (500ml × 24 bottles) in one night” and that he once “drank five sho (approximately 9 liters) of shochu together with Kitanoumi.

Fighting Style

Orora defeats Kirinishiki by oshidashi (push out)

Orora had a huge weight advantage over nearly all his opponents — his 190 kg (420 lb) advantage over the 83 kg (183 lb) wrestler Ohara in January 2012 was the largest disparity ever in a professional sumo bout, though in this bout he was beaten by the smaller wrestler when stepping out of the ring during a throw attempt. On the twelfth day of the September 2001 tournament he won with the extremely rare technique of tsukaminage or lifting throw, which can only be achieved against opponents much lighter than oneself and had not been seen in a tournament since Tokitsuyama won with it in November 1957. He also enjoyed employing the rare kimarite of kimedashi, or arm-barring force-out, and was credited with this technique 41 times as of July 2017, by far the most among his contemporaries. According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, he favored the hidari-yotsu, or left-hand inside grip. His most common winning technique was a straightforward force out or yorikiri. However, Orora was severely restricted by his lack of speed and agility, and only won around half his bouts. Many of his opponents simply circled him, waiting for him to tire.

Record

Division Results

• Total: 376-382-12/756 (111 basho)
• Makushita: 23-40/63 (9 basho)
• Sandanme: 271-270-12/540 (79 basho)
• Jonidan: 73-67/139 (20 basho)
• Jonokuchi: 9-5/14 (2 basho)

Achievements

• 1st Russian to join professional sumo
• Heaviest sumo wrestler (292.6 kg)

Shikona History

• Orora Mitsuru (2000.03 - 2009.09)
• Orora Satoshi (2009.11 - 2018.09)

Gallery

Orora commits to Kitanoumi stable (c. 1999)

Orora gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2000)

Orora awaits his upcoming match in maezumo (c. 2000)

Orora with fellow Russian rikishi, Roho and Hakurozan (c. 2002)

Orora gets thrown by Fujinohana
(c. 2015)

Orora transports his stable master Kitanoumi's body (c. 2015)

Orora battles the much smaller Shunjin (c. 2015)

Orora becomes the heaviest rikishi of all time (c. 2017)

Orora prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2018)

Orora wins his final match against Kiryu (c. 2018)

Orora after wrestling his final match (c. 2018)

Orora's retirement ceremony
(c. 2018)

See Also

• List of Heaviest Sumo Wrestlers
• List of Mongolian Sumo Wrestlers

External Links

• Orora Satoshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
• Orora Satoshi Rikishi Information
• Orora Satoshi JSA Profile Page