Yutakayama Ryota

Yutakayama Ryota - 豊山亮太 (born September 22, 1993) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Niigata City, Niigata. He made his debut in March 2016 and wrestled for Tokitsukaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 2017 and has 1 special prize. His highest rank was maegashira 1 and he retired in November 2022.

Early Life[]

Oyanagi was born on September 22, 1993, in Niigata City's Kita Ward. He started sumo wrestling in his first year at Kuzuzuka Elementary School, attending the local Toyosaka Sumo Club for training. In his fourth year of elementary school, he achieved third place at the National Wanpaku Sumo Tournament. Oyanagi later switched to baseball in his fifth year. At Kosei Junior High School, which did not have a sumo club, he joined the baseball team and participated in prefectural tournaments.

Oyanagi with his college titles — Oyanagi celebrates after winning the East Japan Student Championship (c. 2015)

Feeling that he had reached his limit in baseball, he gave it up after junior high school and entered Kanazawa Gakuin University High School where he started. sumo wrestling again. During his time in high school, Oyanagi achieved notable results, such as reaching the top eight in the National High School Championship during his third year.

After a fairly successful high school career he chose to continue doing sumo at Tokyo University of Agriculture where he majored in forestry in the Faculty of Regional Environmental Science. Each spring in Osaka the members of the Tokyo University of Agriculture sumo club would have joint training with the members of Tokitsukaze stable. This is where he was introduced to Tokitsukaze Oyakata who was also a Tokyo University of Agriculture graduate. During his fourth year, Oyanagi lost in the quarter finals of the All Japan Sumo Championship to Baasansuren Turbold who went on to win the tournament. Nevertheless, having achieved top 8, this qualified Oyanagi for the newly established sandanme tsukedashi system.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Oyanagi won no major titles in his amateur career, being somewhat prone to lapses in concentration and overconfidence against some of his key rivals. However, having finished in the top eight at the All-Japan Sumo Championship he was granted sandanme tsukedashi which allowed him to skip the lower divisions and start at sandanme 100.

He won his debut basho with a 7–0 championship, he matched this performance the following tournament to win the makushita division. After two more winning tournaments he made his sekitori debut by being promoted to juryo in November 2016.

Juryo Career[]

Oyanagi produced an exceptional 11-4 record in his juryo debut and followed the record with a decent 8-7 record. In the next tournament, Oyanagi continued his kachi-koshi streak with a 9-6 record and a promotion to makuuchi for the May 2017 tournament.

Makuuchi Career[]

To mark his makuuchi promotion he changed his shikona or fighting name from his own surname of Oyanagi to Yutakayama, a prestigious name at Tokitsukaze stable that had previously been used by the former ozeki and head of the Japan Sumo Association Yutakayama Katsuo and former komusubi Yutakayama Hiromitsu. He could only manage four wins at the rank and was demoted back down to the second division for the next tournament.

YutakayamaTakekaze — Yutakayama defeats Takekaze (c. 2018)

He managed a runner-up performance in July 2017 and was promoted back up to makuuchi for the following September 2017 tournament only to match his record for May 2017. After coming back to the makuuchi division for the third time he was finally able to get a winning record of 9–6 at maegashira 14 and followed that performance with a 10–5 at maegashira 11, which saw him promoted to the upper maegashira ranks for the first time, at maegashira 3. Fighting all the top ranked wrestlers for the first time he could manage only a 2–13 record, but in the following July tournament he produced his best performance to date, with a 12–3 runner up performance including a final day victory over the tournament winner Mitakeumi. He was awarded his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. Promoted to his highest rank to date of maegashira 2 in September 2018, he withdrew from the tournament on Day 5 after sustaining an elbow injury in his Day 3 defeat to Kisenosato. He returned to the tournament on Day 9 and won three bouts out of his remaining seven matches for a 3–10–2 record. Three more losing records saw him demoted from makuuchi after the March 2019 tournament. He returned to the top division in September 2019 and four straight winning records saw him climb to maegashira 1 for the July 2020 tournament. However, he then had five straight losing records and was demoted back to juryo for the May 2021 tournament.

Retirement from Sumo[]

After the July 2021 tournament, Yutakayama reentered the top makuuchi division for the September 2021 tournament. However he quickly dropped in the rankings after a barely achieved winning score in September. For 2022, Yutakayama only achieved a winning record on the July tournament. In September, his 4-11 score sent him back to the juryo division. After finishing the November tournament with a losing record, he announced his retirement from professional sumo.

Yutakayama's danpatsu-shiki (retirement ceremony) was held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on 25 June 2023, shortly before his former stablemates at Tokitsukaze stable departed for the sumo tournament in Nagoya. Approximately 430 individuals participated in the ceremonial cutting of Yutakayama's topknot.

Yutakayama did not remain with the Sumo Association upon his retirement, and became a personal trainer in Tokyo. His gym, Personal Gym OYG, officially opened its doors in Akihabara, Tokyo at the end of June.

On October 16, 2023, Yutakayama competed in the Legacy Tokyo half marathon after physical preparation in which he lost 60 kg (130 lb), now weighing 110 kg (240 lb). He finished the race with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Inspired by Yuki Kawauchi, he also announced his goal of reaching a weight of 90 kg (200 lb) and competing in the Tokyo Marathon in March 2024.

Personal Life[]

Yutakayama considers Asanoyama to be his main rival and they have competed against each other multiple times in college. They were both also the very first sumo wrestlers to be given sandanme tsukedashi status.
Yutakayama is a big fan of NGT48 and Nogizaka46 which are all Japanese music groups. Yutakayama is also a big fan of liquor. Yutakayama's favorite food is yakiniku.
Yutakayama announced his marriage on August 26th, 2019, with a woman who was in the fashion industry. Their wedding reception was held on February 1st, 2020, and over 400 guests appeared.

Fighting Style[]

Yutakayama is an oshi-sumo wrestler, who prefers thrusting and pushing at his opponents to fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite is oshidashi, or push out.