Chiyomaru Kazuki
| 千代丸 一樹 Chiyomaru Kazuki | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal information | |
| Born |
Kazuki Kinoshita April 17, 1991 Shibushi, Kagoshima, Japan |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 180 kg (400 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Kokonoe |
| Current rank | see below |
| Debut | May, 2007 |
| Highest rank | Maegashira 11 (September, 2014) |
| Championships | 1 (Jūryō) |
| * Up to date as of Apr 25, 2016. | |
Chiyomaru Kazuki (千代丸 一樹, born April, 17, 1991 as Kazuki Kinoshita) is a professional sumo wrestler from Shibushi, Kagoshima, Japan. He made his professional debut in May 2007. He took the second division jūryō championship in his third tournament in the division in January 2014 and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in the following tournament. His highest rank has been maegashira 11. He is the older brother of fellow professional sumo wrestler Chiyoōtori, and has served as his younger brother's attendant or tsukebito.
Early life and sumo background
The future Chiyomaru was born in what is now Shibushi city in Kagoshima prefecture. During his primary and middle school years he practiced judo rather than sumo. Upon graduating from a junior high school in Shibushi, he joined Kokonoe stable. His year and a half younger brother, Yūki, would follow him into this stable a year later.
Career
He first entered the professional sumo ring in July 2007. He slowly worked his way up the ranks, and after two years and two months in the ring his shikona (or ring name) was changed to Chiyomaru following the Kokonoe stable custom of giving wrestlers a ring name that starts with Chiyo upon promotion to the sandanme division. It would take him over four years rising slowly through the lower divisions before reaching the professional ranks of jūryō.[1] During this time, in 2011 he and his brother's family home was lost in a fire and they agreed building their parents a new house could be motivation for them to achieve more success in sumo.[2] Chiyomaru's coach, the former Chiyonofuji remarked that before his brother overtook him he lacked motivation and disliked training, and in many ways it was being passed up by his own brother that spurred him on to improve his sumo. To add insult to injury, when Chiyomaru's younger brother became a sekitori (a salaried wrestler) and in need of an attendant, his coach chose Chiyomaru in hopes of motivating him to try harder to make the professional ranks and divest himself of this role. Chiyomaru admits that the indignation of being his own brother's attendant did motivate him and he might not have achieved promotion if this hadn't happened.[3]
In July 2013 with a 4-3 record at makushita 1, he finally achieved promotion to jūryō for the following tournament. When he made his jūryō debut in September 2013 his brother, Chiyoōtori was already in the division, marking the 17th time in history that two brothers were in the professional ranks at the same time.[4] He only managed a 7-8 losing record in his jūryō debut, but followed this with an impressive November tournament, winning 8 of his first 9 bouts and ending with an 11-4 record. In the January 2014 tournament, his success continued, and from the rank of jūryō 6 he logged in a 13-2 record and the championship. Coincidentally, this was the tournament immediately after his younger brother also won the jūryō division with a 13-2 record. This was the first time in history two brothers had achieved consecutive championships.[5]
Chiyomaru's promotion to the top makuuchi division in March 2014 followed his brother's ascension by one tournament and marked the tenth time in history two brothers had been in the highest division at the same time.[6] At an event celebrating his promotion he expressed his incredulity at this turn of events and surmised that perhaps even the two brothers sharing the rank of ōzeki in the future was not out of the range of possibility. In his debut at this level, he defeated several makuuchi veterans and accumulated an 8-4 record on the 12th day before losing his last three bouts to end at 8-7. In the following May tournament he was promoted to maegashira 11, his highest rank to date. He struggled however, losing to a number of wrestlers he had beaten in the previous tournament and logged in only a 5-10 record. This was still enough for him to remain in the top division for the July 2014 tournament. Though he won his first five matches he started to struggle somewhat afterwards, still managing to end the tournament with an 8-7 winning record.[1] Chiyomaru has so far been unable to climb out of the lower maegashira ranks and after the May 2015 fell back to the jūryō after scoring only three wins against twelve losses.
Fighting style
Chiyomaru relies heavily on pushing and thrusting techniques, or oshi-sumo. His most common winning kimarite are oshi-dashi (push out), hiki-otoshi (pull down) and hataki-komi (slap down).[7] He is at a disadvantage if his opponents mange to grab his mawashi or belt.
Career record
| Year in sumo | January Hatsu basho, Tokyo |
March Haru basho, Osaka |
May Natsu basho, Tokyo |
July Nagoya basho, Nagoya |
September Aki basho, Tokyo |
November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | x | x | (Maezumo) | East Jonokuchi #36
4–3 | East Jonidan #127
0–1–6 | East Jonokuchi #32
4–2–1 |
| 2008 | West Jonidan #114
3–4 | West Jonidan #117
5–2 | West Jonidan #67
3–4 | West Jonidan #86
3–4 | East Jonidan #110
5–2 | East Jonidan #52
5–2 |
| 2009 | East Jonidan #15
5–2 | West Sandanme #81
4–3 | West Sandanme #61
3–4 | East Sandanme #80
5–2 | East Sandanme #51
5–2 | East Sandanme #26
2–5 |
| 2010 | East Sandanme #54
5–2 | East Sandanme #26
4–3 | West Sandanme #14
3–4 | West Sandanme #30
4–3 | West Sandanme #15
5–2 | East Makushita #54
3–4 |
| 2011 | West Sandanme #7
4–3 |
Tournament Cancelled 0–0–0 | East Makushita #57
5–2 | East Makushita #28
4–3 | East Makushita #21
5–2 | East Makushita #13
2–5 |
| 2012 | East Makushita #24
5–2 | East Makushita #14
4–3 | East Makushita #10
4–3 | East Makushita #8
0–1–6 | West Makushita #48
6–1 | West Makushita #21
6–1 |
| 2013 | West Makushita #8
5–2 |
West Makushita #2
3–4 |
East Makushita #5
5–2 |
East Makushita #1
4–3 |
East Jūryō #13
7–8 |
East Jūryō #13
11–4 |
| 2014 | East Jūryō #6
13–2 Champion |
East Maegashira #12
8–7 |
West Maegashira #11
5–10 |
West Maegashira #16
8–7 |
East Maegashira #11
4–11 |
West Maegashira #16
8–7 |
| 2015 | West Maegashira #14
7–8 |
West Maegashira #16
8–7 |
West Maegashira #13
3–12 |
West Jūryō #5
9–6 |
West Jūryō #1
1–8–6 |
East Jūryō #14
9–6 |
| 2016 | West Jūryō #7
5–6–4 |
West Jūryō #11
7–8 |
East Jūryō #12
– |
x | x | x |
| Record given as win-loss-absent Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s) | ||||||
See also
- List of sumo tournament second division champions
- Glossary of sumo terms
- List of active sumo wrestlers
References
- 1 2 3 "Chiyomaru Kazuki Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ↑ 相撲 [Sumo] (in Japanese). February 2014: 68.
- ↑ "千代丸 史上初の兄弟連続十両優勝！弟の付け人で発奮 Two brothers get consecutive jūryō championships. Being younger brother's attendant was inspiration". Sponichi. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ↑ "千代丸、照ノ富士が新十7両 Chiyomaru and Terunofuji promoted to jūryō". Nikkan Sports. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ↑ >"千代丸が十両初優勝！弟・千代鳳に続いた 初の兄弟連続 Chiyomaru is jūryō champion! Follows older brother. The first time brothers have succeeded each other". Sponichi. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
- ↑ "千代丸が十両初優勝！弟・千代鳳に続いた 初の兄弟連続 Chiyomaru is jūryō champion! Follows older brother. The first time brothers have succeeded each other". jiji.com. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ↑ "Chiyomaru bouts by kimarite". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
External links
- Chiyomaru Kazuki's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage