Tobizaru Masaya

Tobizaru Masaya - 翔猿正也 (born April 24, 1992) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Edogawa, Tokyo. He made his debut in January 2015 and currently wrestles for Oitekaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 2020 and has 2 special prizes as well as 3 kinboshi. His highest rank as of 2025 is komusubi.

Early Life[]

Masaya Iwasaki was born on April 14, 1992, in Edogawa, Tokyo. Iwasaki followed his elder brother Takuya into sumo, joining the same sumo club in his first year of elementary school.^[1] He was also interested in baseball, and had thoughts of becoming a professional baseball player, but gave up the game for sumo when he started junior high school. He attended Saitama Sakae High School where he was a member of the school's well-known sumo club. The future Hokutofuji was a contemporary of his at high school.^[2]

He studied economics at Nihon University and was a member of their sumo team, but weighing only around 110 kg and having to sit out a year with an ankle injury he did not manage to win any major amateur titles.^[2] Deciding to turn professional, he opted not to join his brother who was already a sekitori at Kise stable, preferring the challenge of making his way on his own. Instead he joined Oitekaze stable, also home to Endo who was two years his senior at university.^[3]

Career[]

Early Career[]

He made his debut in January 2015, competing under his family name of Iwasaki. He breezed through the bottom four divisions and produced four consecutive 6-1 records to earn promotion to the makushita division in November 2015. Upon reaching makushita, Iwasaki continued to impress and produced ten straight winning records from his professional debut all the way to the rank of makushita 3. This was the first tournament where Iwasaki began to struggle a little more as he lost his last four matches and finished with a 2-5 record. Three tournaments later, Iwasaki produced three more winning records and earned promotion to the juryo division.^[4]

Juryo Career[]

Tobizaru2018 — Tobizaru prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2018)

Upon reaching the juryo division after the May 2017 tournament he changed his shikona to Tobizaru (literally "Flying Monkey") as he was born in the year of the monkey and he considers his darting movement in the sumo ring similar to a monkey.^[1]^[3] Tobizaru recorded only six wins and nine losses in his juryo debut in July and was demoted to makushita in September 2017. His 5–2 record at Makushita 2 in the September 2017 tournament would normally have been good enough for an immediate re-promotion, but there were only two openings and priority went to Takagenji and Takanosho.^[4]

Tobizaru earned promotion back to juryo after three tournaments in the makushita division and would remain in juryo for around two years. In those two years, Tobizaru remained mainly in the lower-end of juryo and it was not until the end of 2019, Tobizaru started his strong run. In January 2020, Tobizaru was ranked at juryo 6 and he produced a 9-6 record which relegated him up to the rank of juryo 4. At this rank, Tobizaru produced a 10-5 record and this would usually lead to a promotion to the top makuuchi division, however, due to the limited available slots, Tobizaru was put in the rank of juryo 2 for the July 2020 tournament. In this tournament he continued his dominance and produced a 9-6 record which earned him a position in the top makuuchi division for the September 2020 tournament.^[4]

Makuuchi Career[]

He and Hidenoumi became the 11th pair of brothers to both have reached makuuchi. Tobizaru said he hoped his brother would be able to earn promotion back to makuuchi. Tobizaru said he hoped his brother would be able to earn promotion back to makuuchi. He was also the tenth member of Oitekaze stable to reach makuuchi since its founding, the last being Tsurugisho in September 2019.^[5] In his makuuchi debut he came close to becoming the first wrestler since Ryogoku Kajinosuke II in 1914 to win the championship in his first top division tournament, needing to beat Shodai on the final day to force a playoff, but he was defeated and finished with a 11–4 record. He was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize.^[6]

Tobizaru earned the first kinboshi of his career when he defeated yokozuna Terunofuji on the second day of the September 2022 tournament. Due to his strong showing in the September 2022 tournament, finishing with ten wins, Tobizaru was promoted to komusubi for November, his debut in the junior san'yaku ranks. At the November tournament he finished with a losing 7–8 record.^[4]

Tobizaru14 — Tobizaru defeats Chiyoshoma (c. 2023)

In January 2023 rankings Tobizaru was demoted from komusubi and started the New Year tournament as maegashira 1. In the January tournament he secured a winning record on the 15th day with a win over Kotoeko. In the March rankings he was again promoted to komusubi. Following a further demotion, Tobizaru continued to fight in the upper ranks of maegashira. At the July 2023 tournament, he won his second kinboshi against yokozuna Terunofuji. Commenting on this latest upset victory, he thanked sekiwake Daieisho for training him before the tournament.^[7]

Combining his victory over the yokozuna with a good score of 9–6, Tobizaru was promoted to komusubi for the third time for the September 2023 tournament. On this occasion he wished to establish himself as san'yaku for several tournaments in a row after losing this status with each previous promotion.^[8] Eventually, Tobizaru had a good tournament, winning in the first half of the tournament against two of the then three ozeki, defeating Hoshoryu and Takakeisho on days three and eight respectively. Tobizaru however suffered an eighth defeat, when he lost his fourteenth match against former ozeki Takayasu, effectively relegating him for the November tournament.^[4]

During the 2024 March tournament, Tobizaru stood out by defeating ozeki Hoshoryu (on Day 6) and Kirishima (on Day 8). On Day 10, he withdrew from the competition due to symptoms of enteritis, though his stablemaster Oitekaze told the press that he should return to competition the following day.^[9]

During the first tournament of 2025, Tobizaru stood out by inflicting defeat on two of the then three ozeki, beating Onosato on the first day and inflicting defeat on yokozuna-promotion seeker Kotozakura on the third day. On the fourth day, he won the third kinboshi of his career by defeating yokozuna Terunofuji. In February of the same year, rumors began to circulate that Tobizaru was abusing and harassing several of his tsukebito (assistants). When questioned by the Sumo Association's investigation unit, Tobizaru denied the accusations and announced his intention to sue the tabloids that had spread the rumors for defamation.^[10]

Personal Life[]

He is the brother of active wrestler Hidenoumi, who is a former top division wrestler for Kise stable; they became the 18th pair of sekitori brothers in sumo history. Despite the fact that they are in different stables, Tobizaru will not face him in competition as Japan Sumo Association rules prevent close relatives from being matched against each other outside of playoff bouts.^[11]
Tobizaru's hobby is taking photos, his favorite food is gratin, and his favorite artist is Koji Tamaki.^[12]

Fighting Style[]

Tobizaru is below the average size for an elite sumo wrestler, being the second lightest sekitori when he reached juryo in 2017, and he stands just 173 cm (5 ft 8 in) tall. He is an oshi-sumo specialist, preferring to push his opponents rather than grab the mawashi or belt. He likes to pull his opponents down at the edge of the ring, with a high percentage of his victories being by hatakikomi (slap down) and hikiotoshi (pull down).^[13] He is also good at kicks and leg sweeps. Having become the smallest wrestler in the makuuchi division in August 2023, Tobizaru also studied lively sumo styles in order to defeat opponents much taller than him, drawing inspiration in particular from Ura's style.^[14]

Tobizaru style is fast-paced, and he regularly sidestepped at the initial charge when in juryo, but in his makuuchi debut made a conscious effort to fight more on the offensive.^[1] Referring to this change in sumo style, sports commentators often refer to Tobizaru's style as "gorilla" when he uses a more offensive and serious style,^[15] as opposed to a style associated to his flying monkey shikona, when Tobizaru uses a more trickery-based style, which has also been referred to as "circus sumo" by a member of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council,^[16] and sees him described as a "knave" (くせ者) by the press.^[17]