Ikioi Shōta

Ikioi Shōta
勢 翔太
Personal information
Born	Shōta Toguchi October 11, 1986 Katano, Osaka, Japan
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	167 kg (368 lb; 26.3 st)
Career
Stable	Isenoumi
Current rank	see below
Debut	March, 2005
Highest rank	Sekiwake (May, 2016)
Championships	1 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes	4 (Fighting Spirit)
* Up to date as of Apr 25, 2016.

Ikioi Shōta (勢 翔太) (born 11 October 1986 as Shōta Toguchi) is a professional sumo wrestler from Katano, Osaka, Japan. He began his career in March 2005. He won the jūryō championship in November 2011 in his very first tournament in the division and just two tournaments later made his makuuchi division debut. He was runner up to Jōkōryū in the jūryō division in September 2012. His highest rank has been sekiwake.

Early life and sumo background

From his preschool years Toguchi was enrolled at a local sumo dōjō, coincidentally the future Gōeidō was also enrolled there at this time. In 1996 as a primary school fourth grader, he came in runner up at a national children's sumo tournament. After junior high school, he attempted to enter Hōtoku Gakuen high school which had a strong sumo team, but when he failed he decided to take a break from sumo and worked at his parents' sushi restaurant for three years while continuing to stay in shape.

Career

Acceding to his mother's wishes, at eighteen he joined Isenoumi stable and first entered the ring in March 2005. He took the ring name of Ikioi from his first pro tournament. His shikona was unusual for having only one Chinese character. In his second tournament in July 2005 in the jonidan division he achieved a perfect record, but lost his second playoff bout in that tournament to the future Daidō. In September 2006 while competing in the makushita division he was punched in the face in the dressing room after a bout with forty-year-old Kotokanyu, who apparently objected to being slapped around the face (a legitimate tactic known as harite) by someone over twenty years his junior.^[1] Kotokanyu was told to retire immediately afterwards. Over the next five years, Ikioi managed to slowly work his way up the ranks, posting mostly winning records, until he was finally awarded promotion to the salaried jūryō division after a 5-2 record at makushita 3 in September 2011. When Ikioi entered jūryō it was the first time a wrestler with only one character for his ring name had reached the salaried ranks since 1997. In contrast to his slow rise through the unsalaried ranks, Ikioi found unprecedented success in the jūryō second division. On his debut bout in November 2011, he had only one loss in the first thirteen days of the tournament, and even though he lost the last two days he still managed to win the tournament with the best record. His 10-5 record in the following January 2012 tournament earned him promotion to the makuuchi top division.

Ikioi was the first wrestler to have only one character in his ring name to enter the top division since Yokozuna Akebono twenty-two years before. In this March tournament however, he only posted a 5-10 record and was immediately relegated back to jūryō. He repeated the same pattern in the following two tournaments, posting a strong winning record in upper jūryō to again enter makuuchi only to get a 7-8 losing record to again be relegated to the lower division. His September 2012 division effort at jūryō 1 was where he managed to turn things around again when he achieved an 11-4 record and a chance at the championship which he lost to Jōkōryū in a playoff. This performance saw him promoted to maegashira 10. He achieved his first kachi-koshi or winning record in the top division at the third attempt in November 2012, and was promoted to his highest rank to date of maegashira 5 for the January 2013 tournament. In this basho he defeated his first ever san'yaku opponent, Tochiōzan, and came through with another winning record.

Ikioi is now a makuuchi regular, and in the May 2014 tournament recorded an 11-4 at maegashira 5 and received his second special prize for Fighting Spirit. He made his sanyaku debut at komusubi rank in the November 2014 tournament. However, he scored only six wins, and he has struggled badly when facing the top ranked wrestlers since then, scoring only 1-14 at maegashira 2 in January and 2-13 at maegashira 3 in July. When dropped to maegashira 12 in September he returned to form, and after eleven days he was in second place with a 10-1 record. He then lost his next three but recovered to beat Amuuru on the final day to end with an 11-4 record and a Fighting Spirit prize.^[2] In November he produced his best performance in the top division, winning twelve matches and finishing in a three-way tie for second place. He also earned his fourth Fighting Spirit prize.^[3]

In January 2016 Ikioi was ranked at komusubi again but recorded only five wins and was relegated to maegashira 4. He performed much better in March, posting a 10-5 record: only a loss to Kotoyuki on the final day prevented him from taking a fifth Fighting Spirit prize.^[4] With both komusubi and both sekiwake having losing records in that tournament, Ikioi was promoted to sekiwake for the first time for the following May 2016 basho.

Fighting style

Ikioi favours a migiyotsu (right hand inside, left hand outside grip on his opponent′s mawashi). His favourite winning kimarite is a straightforward yorikiri, or force out. He also regularly employs oshidashi, or push out, and sukuinage, or scoop throw.

Career record

Ikioi Shōta^[5]

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
2005	x	(Maezumo)	West Jonokuchi #22 4–3	East Jonidan #122 7–0–PP	West Sandanme #98 6–1	East Sandanme #37 5–2
2006	West Sandanme #9 3–4	West Sandanme #21 5–2	East Makushita #56 5–2	East Makushita #35 3–4	East Makushita #46 4–3	West Makushita #37 4–3
2007	East Makushita #29 3–4	East Makushita #40 4–3	East Makushita #36 4–3	West Makushita #28 3–4	East Makushita #37 3–4	East Makushita #49 3–4
2008	East Makushita #57 5–2	West Makushita #35 3–4	West Makushita #44 3–4	East Makushita #54 4–3	East Makushita #43 3–4	West Makushita #53 5–2
2009	West Makushita #37 4–3	West Makushita #30 4–3	West Makushita #23 4–3	East Makushita #18 3–4	East Makushita #25 2–5	East Makushita #41 4–3
2010	East Makushita #35 5–2	East Makushita #25 3–4	West Makushita #30 5–2	West Makushita #22 4–3	West Makushita #14 6–1	West Makushita #2 3–4
2011	East Makushita #5 3–4	West Makushita #8 Tournament Cancelled 0–0–0	West Makushita #8 3–4	West Makushita #8 4–3	East Makushita #3 5–2	East Jūryō #14 12–3 Champion
2012	East Jūryō #3 10–5	West Maegashira #14 5–10	East Jūryō #2 8–7	East Maegashira #16 7–8	East Jūryō #1 11–4–P	East Maegashira #10 9–6
2013	West Maegashira #5 8–7	West Maegashira #3 4–11	West Maegashira #9 9–6	East Maegashira #5 9–6	West Maegashira #1 5–10	West Maegashira #6 11–4 F
2014	West Maegashira #2 6–9	West Maegashira #4 7–8	West Maegashira #5 11–4 F	East Maegashira #1 5–10	West Maegashira #5 10–5	West Komusubi #1 6–9
2015	West Maegashira #2 1–14	East Maegashira #13 8–7	East Maegashira #10 10–5	East Maegashira #3 2–13	East Maegashira #12 11–4 F	East Maegashira #4 12–3 F
2016	East Komusubi #1 5–10	East Maegashira #4 10–5	West Sekiwake #1 –	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) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

1. "Wrestler quits after punching rival". Japan Times. 20 September 2006. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
2. staff (27 September 2015). "Kakuryu bounces back to grab elusive 2nd title". The Japan News by Yomiuri Shimbun.
3. "Harumafuji wins Kyushu title despite final-day defeat". Japan Today. 22 November 2015.
4. "Hakuho wins 36th career title". Japan Today. 27 March 2016.
5. "Ikioi Shōta Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2012-09-23.

External links

• Ikioi Shōta's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage