Shimazuumi Sora

Shimazuumi Sora - 島津海空 (born May 18, 1996) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nishinoomote, Kagoshima. He made his debut in March 2012 and currently wrestles for Hanaregoma stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2024. His highest rank as of 2025 is maegashira 12.

Early Life[]

Nakazono Sora was born in Nishinoomote, Kagoshima, which is an area where sumo is immensely popular. However, Nakazono played basketball in elementary and junior high school, although he did appear in some local regional tournaments. His father was acquittances with Matsugane Oyakata (former ozeki Wakashimazu) and Nakazono was invited to watch sumo live during his third year of junior high school. Nakazono was impressed and subsequently joined Matsugane stable (later renamed Hanaregoma stable) even though he had no proper sumo experience.^[1]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Nakazono made his professional debut in March 2012 alongside Osunaarashi, Daikiho, and Gokushindo. He was promoted to sandanme in January 2013 and makushita in July 2016. In March 2017, Nakazono won his first six matches, but missed out on the sandanme yusho after losing to Tamakongo on the last day. After missing out on the championship, Nakazono began training more intently and rose up to makushita 11 two tournaments in July 2017. However, he injured his right knee prior to the tournament and sat out of the entire tournament.^[2] He re-injured his right knee in 2019 which forced him to miss two consecutive tournaments, causing him to fall down to the rank of sandanme 65 in May 2019.^[3] Upon returning, he quickly returned to makushita in September 2019 and rose as high as makushita 4 in January 2021. He was finally given a proper shikona of "Shimazuumi" (島津海) in May 2021 after wrestling under his surname for over nine years. In January 2022, while ranked at makushita 2, he finished with a 4-3 record and was promoted to juryo in March 2022.^[4]

Juryo Career[]

Shimazuumi finished with an 8-7 record in his first tournament as a sekitori and was promoted to a career-best juryo 10 for the May 2022 tournament. Shimazuumi and his stable were forced to withdraw on Day 9 of the July 2022 tournament in Nagoya after stablemaster Hanaregoma tested positive for COVID-19.^[5] After returning for the September 2022 tournament, Shimazuumi continued to climb the juryo division, at one point posting four consecutive winning records. In November 2023 at a career high of juryo 2 he would finish 9-6 achieving makuuchi promotion, becoming the first wrestler to reach makuuchi since the ex-Tamanoshima became stablemaster.^[4]

Makuuchi Career[]

Shimazuumi was promoted to the makuuchi division for the first time at the first tournament in 2024. During this tournament, he won five consecutive matches between days 9 and 13. He was listed as a potential recipient of the Fighting Spirit prize if he were to claim a tenth victory on the final day, but lost his bout to Meisei and did not receive the award.^[6]

Shimazuumi was promoted to the rank of maegashira 12 for the March 2024 tournament, but on Day 4 he withdrew after being diagnosed with a tear in his left gastrocnemius muscle, a part of the calf, which reportedly occurred during his match against Churanoumi the previous day. His medical certificate indicated a period of three weeks for recovery.^[7]

Personal Life[]

While in the unsalaried ranks, Shimazuumi served as yokozuna Kisenosato's attendant.^[8]
Shimazuumi's favorite food is white rice, his hobby is training, his favorite TV show is Supernatural.^[9]

Fighting Style[]

Shimazuumi's favored techniques are listed at the Sumo Association as morozashi (a double hand inside grip on the opponent's mawashi) and yori (forcing).^[10] His most common winning kimarite is yorikiri (force out).^[11]