Oshoryu Kenta

Oshoryu Kenta - 欧勝竜健汰 (born April 22, 1996) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Higashiosaka, Osaka. He made his debut in May 2019 and currently wrestles for Naruto stable. His highest rank as of 2025 is makushita 2.

Early Life[]

Kenji Motobayashi was born on April 22, 1996, in Higashiosaka, Osaka. At the age of three, he admired Yokozuna Takanohana and started sumo wrestling at a local dojo in Higashiosaka.^[1] During the fifth grade, he reached the top 16 at the National Wanpaku Sumo Championship and the All Japan Elementary School Sumo Tournament.^[2]

OshoryuCollege — Oshoryu with one of his many college titles (c. 2018)

Motobayashi than attended Wakae Junior High School where he finished top 16 at the National Prefectural Junior High School Sumo Tournament during his second year with the school. He than went on to attend Kinki University Senior High School where he achieved strong results on the national level.^[1]

After graduating, he received many offers from different sumo stables but he opted to continue his amateur career at the university level. Motobayashi enrolled at Kinki University's Department of Business Administration and was also teammates with Midorifuji and Nishikifuji.^[3]

During his time in college, Motobayashi won a total of nine titles, however, he failed to qualify for special dispensation after a subpar fourth year.^[1] Nevertheless, he opted to go pro after graduating and joined Naruto stable because he had been in contact with Naruto Oyakata (former ozeki Kotooshu) ever since his time in elementary school.^[1]

Career[]

Motobayashi had an extremely impressive start, winning the jonokuchi, jonidan, and sandanme championships with perfect 7-0 records. He reached the rank of makushita 14 by just his fifth professional tournament in January 2020. On the seventh day of the January 2020 tournament, Motobayashi lost to Kotodaigo which ended his consecutive wins streak from entry into sumo at 24 wins, the 5th best as of 2025.^[4] In the following March 2020 tournament he was given the shikona "Oshoryu" (欧勝竜) and was promoted to a career-best makushita 7 in January 2021. However, on the seventh day of the January 2021 tournament, Oshoryu learned that his Kinki University Sumo Club mentor, Katsuhito Ito, had died suddenly.^[5] Subsequently, Oshoryu's sumo progression has since stalled.^[6]

Prior to the November 2022 tournament, Oshoryu ruptured a tendon in his supraspinatus muscle and had to undergo surgery.^[7] He subsequently missed the next three tournaments, and by the time he returned in May 2023, he had dropped to the second-lowest jonidan division. In his return in May 2023, Oshoryu won all seven of his matches, but missed out on the jonidan yusho after losing to Satorufuji in a playoff. Nevertheless, he eventually returned to the makushita division in September 2023.^[6]

In March 2025, Oshoryu won all seven of his matches to claim the makushita yusho. He was promoted to the rank of makushita 2 for the May 2025 tournament. During the May 2025 tournament, Oshoryu was unable to capitalize on a juryo promotion, losing his first four matches and finishing with a 2-5 record.^[6]

Fighting Style[]

Oshoryu is an oshi-sumo wrestler who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi. His most common kimarite used is a straightforward oshidashi, or push out.^[8]