Tohakuryu Masahito

Tohakuryu Masahito - 東白龍雅士 (born April 17, 1996) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Adachi, Tokyo. He made his debut in May 2019 and currently wrestles for Tamanoi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 2023. His highest rank as of 2025 is maegashira 15.

Early Life[]

Masahito Shiraishi was born on April 17, 1996, to a Japanese father and Taiwanese mother.^[1] He began sumo wrestling in the 4th grade of elementary school, going on to attend sumo classes at a dojo in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward.^[2] Shiraishi attended Katsushika City Daido Junior High School and was a member of the school's sumo club. He went on to attend Senshu University Matsudo Senior High School. At the school, he played an active role for the school's sumo club during the national competitions.^[3]

After high school, he attended Toyo University and in 2018 during his 4th year at the school, he won the individual division of the 97th All Japan Student Sumo Championship.^[4] Even though he was a skilled wrestler, he did not initially indicate interest in pursuing professional sumo,^[5] but he said that seeing the success of Takakeisho, whom he had wrestled with in elementary school, and Mitakeumi who had been his senior at Toyo University, encouraged him to join professional sumo. While still in school, he had been invited to a party at Tamanoi stable and as such, when he graduated from Toyo University in May 2019, he chose to join Tamanoi as a wrestler.^[6]

Career[]

Early Career[]

Due to his amateur accomplishments he was granted sandanme tsukedashi which means he will start at the bottom of the sandanme division. He initially wrestled under his family name of "Shiraishi" (白石). He made his debut in May 2019 and won the sandanme yusho after winning all seven matches. As a result, he was promoted to the makushita division for the following tournament.^[7]

Hope705-shiraishi — Shiraishi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2019)

In his makushita debut, he produced a 5-2 record and followed this performance with two more consecutive winning records which promoted him to the top quarter of the makushita division in January 2020. He struggled and produced a 2-5 record in this tournament, but bounced back with two 6-1 records and as a result was promoted to the highly competitive rank of makushita 2 for the September 2020 tournament. However, a week before the tournament, there was a COVID-19 outbreak in his stable (Tamanoi heya) so he was forced to sit out of the tournament.^[8] He returned to action in November 2020 without any loss of rank and scored a 4-3 record which earned him a promotion to the salaried juryo division for the January 2021 tournament.^[7]

Juryo Career[]

Upon promotion to juryo, he changed his shikona from his family name to "Tohakuryu" (東白龍). He made his juryo debut in January 2021 tournament alongside the highly popular Oho and he outperformed Oho by producing eight wins while Oho could only manage five wins. In May 2021, he posted a 10-5 record and was promoted to the rank of juryo 4 in July, but finished with a 5-10 record. He had to withdraw from Day 11 of the July 2022 tournament after another COVID outbreak at Tamanoi stable.^[9]

Makuuchi Career[]

After three consecutive losing records in juryo, Tohakuryu posted a strong 10-5 record in September 2023, gaining promotion to makuuchi for the November 2023 tournament. However, Tohakuryu could only manage five wins in his top division debut and was demoted back down to juryo.^[7]

Personal Life[]

Tohakuryu's mother is Taiwanese and was born in Kaohsiung. During his juryo promotion party, he was greeted by Frank Hsieh, the Representative of Taiwan to Japan, along with many overseas Chinese.^[1]
Tohakuryu's hobby is watching Netflix, his favorite foods are meat, sushi, and Chinese food,^[10] and his favorite manga are One Piece and Akagi.^[11]

Fighting Style[]

Tohakuryu is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite or technique is hatakikomi (slap down), followed closely by oshidashi (push out).^[12]