Shirononami Nobuhiro

Shirononami Nobuhiro - 白乃波寿洋 (born July 16, 1981) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Uto, Kumamoto. He made his debut in March 2004 and last wrestled for Onoe stable. He reached the juryo division in September 2005. His highest rank was juryo 4 and he retired in May 2011.

Early Life[]

Shiraishi started sumo wrestling from an early page and played an active role in elementary, junior high, and high school national competitions. During his third year at Buntoku Gakuen Gymnasium, he won the first World Junior Sumo Championship tournament in the 100 kg plus weight class. After high school he joined Nihon University's sumo club and was teammates with Satoyama and Homasho. He could not obtain the makushita tsukedashi license due to injuries, but still played active roles in national competitions. After graduation he joined Mihohaseki stable with college teammate Satoyama.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Shiraishi produced a decent 5-2 record in his jonokuchi debut. He followed with a perfect 7-0 record which won him the jonidan yusho. In the following tournament he produced another 7-0 record, but lost the playoff to Onishi for the sandanme yusho. Nevertheless, he was promoted to makushita where he produced yet another 7-0 record and won the makushita yusho. Four tournaments later, Shiraishi was promoted to juryo in September 2005. It had only took him nine tournaments.

Juryo Career[]

Shiraishi produced a solid 8-7 record in his juryo debut. However, prior to the November tournament, Shiraishi injured his neck and knee during a training session with Asashoryu. Because of this, he got into a bad start and could only win one of his first eight matches. To make matters worse, he injured his right ankle in a match against Daishodai and subsequently had to withdraw from the tournament. As a result he fell back down to makushita.

Screen Shot 2021-03-20 at 2.33.02 PM — Shirononami (c. 2009)

Shiraishi continued to sit out and missed the January 2006 tournament. He fell all the way down to the lower tier of makushita. He returned and in July 2006 he won his second makushita yusho. Three tournaments later he was promoted back to juryo.

Upon his return to juryo, he changed his shikona from his family name to "Shirononami" (白乃波). He produced two winning records in his return and was promoted to a career-best juryo 4 for the July 2007 tournament. Shirononami was able to establish himself in juryo, but he could not produce any meaningful results. At best he could only manage a 9-6 which he produced on three separate occasions, but he was able to stay in juryo for 19 straight tournaments. In July 2009 he suffered an injury and had to pull out. In March 2010, he produced a disastrous 2-12-1 record at the rank of juryo 12 which guaranteed him a demotion back down to makushita.

Retirement from Sumo[]

In April 2011, along with 18 other wrestlers, he was ordered to retire by the Japan Sumo Association (JSA) after an investigation into allegations of bout-rigging. On April 5th he visited the Ryogoku Kokugikan to hand in his retirement papers, alongside stablemates Sakaizawa and Yamamotoyama who were also found guilty. He had a retirement ceremony at the Tokyo Prince Hotel in September 2011, alongside Sakaizawa and Yamamotoyama.

After retirement, he has been engaged with elder-care in Tokyo.

Personal Life[]

Shirononami got married on October 3rd, 2014, and his stablemaster Onoe Oyakata and many of his stablemates showed up to the wedding.
Shirononami has a close friendship with mixed martial artist Akira Shoji.

Fighting Style[]

According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, Shirononami's favored techniques are yori (forcing) and hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most common winning kimarite is a straightforward yorikiri or force out.