Jōkōryū Takayuki

Jōkōryū Takayuki
常幸龍　貴之
Personal information
Born Takayuki Sakuma
(1988-08-07) August 7, 1988
Tokyo, Japan
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 159 kg (351 lb; 25.0 st)
Career
Stable Kitanoumi→Kise
University Nihon University
Current rank see below
Debut May, 2011
Highest rank Komusubi (Sep, 2014)
Championships 1 (Jūryō)
1 (Makushita)
1 (Sandanme)
1 (Jonokuchi)
Gold Stars 1 (Harumafuji)
* Up to date as of Apr 25, 2016.

Jōkōryū Takayuki (born August 7, 1988 as Takayuki Sakuma), formerly known as Sakumayama Takayuki, is a Japanese sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 2011 after a successful college career in sumo. He currently holds the record for the most consecutive wins since entering professional sumo, and for the fastest rise to the top makuuchi division from the lowest jonokuchi division. His highest rank has been komusubi.

Early life and sumo background

He participated in amateur sumo while in high school in Saitama prefecture, and in his third year there, won the junior sumo championship in the free weight category. He later entered Nihon University and in his second year, in 2008, he achieved the status of student yokozuna in the national student sumo tournament. This success would have allowed him to enter professional sumo at a higher rank (known as makushita tsukedashi) but he chose to give priority to graduating, and passed up this chance.

Career

Upon graduating he joined Kitanoumi stable, adopting the shikona of Sakumayama to distinguish himself from an active wrestler who already had the name Sakuma. Before even entering the ring he was making a name for himself because of his diligence, skill, and strength in practice. He was allowed to practice regularly with higher ranked wrestlers almost from the beginning because of this. He won his first tournament championship or yūshō in the jonokuchi division with a perfect record and a playoff win against stablemate and fellow rising star Sasanoyama. In the following September tournament he won all his regular matches, but lost a playoff match for the jonidan championship. Playoffs are not calculated in professional sumo records, therefore his consecutive record was left intact. He continued his streak in the November tournament, with a perfect record and a playoff win. In the first tournament of 2012, he continued undefeated and on the 11th day of the tournament, reached 27 consecutive wins from his entry into sumo, surpassing the previous record set by former komusubi Itai in 1979.[1] In his next match, on the 13th day, he finally lost to an overarm throw, by Senshō. Nevertheless on the final day of the tournament he came through a four-way playoff to win the championship. This was his fourth consecutive playoff, a record. His calmness in the ring, and unaffected humbleness about his success at this stage was noted by commentators.

Though he logged two losses for the first time in his first upper makushita tournament in March 2012, his five wins was enough to earn him promotion to jūryō in the following May tournament. The six tournaments it took him to reach sekitori status from maezumo is level with Itai and Tosayutaka for the fastest ever. On the occasion of his promotion, he changed his ring name to Jōkōryū. It was also announced that he would be moving to the re–established Kise stable, which was founded by the former Higonoumi but forced to merge with Kitanoumi stable in 2010.

Jōkōryū's first tournament as a sekitori was a success, with him securing his kachi-koshi or majority of wins on the final day with a win over Oiwato. After a 10–5 score in July, he won promotion to the makuuchi division by clinching the jūryō championship in September with a playoff win over Ikioi. His makuuchi debut in November 2012 was just nine tournaments after his professional debut, beating the previous record of eleven held by Kotoōshū and Aran. He found the going more tough in the top division and recorded his first ever make-koshi, finishing on 6–9 and suffering immediate demotion back to jūryō. However he made a quick return to makuuchi after finishing runner–up in January to Takanoiwa on 11–4. He has since largely alternated between winning and losing tournaments, and fell to jūryō again in January 2013. For the remainder of 2013 he managed to stay in the top division, but was again relegated to the second division in January of the following year, but bounced back in one tournament just as he had in the previous year. In the following two tournaments of March and May 2014 he logged two consecutive winning tournaments in the top division, a feat he couldn't accomplish in the previous year. In the July 2014 tournament he had his best finish in the top division at 10-5, which earned him promotion to the sanyaku ranks for the first time at komusubi for September. He could manage only four wins in his san'yaku debut and dropped back to the maegashira ranks. In January 2015 he picked up his first kinboshi or gold star for the defeat of a yokozuna, upsetting Harumafuji on Day 7 despite clearly carrying an injury. Jōkōryū dedicated the win to his son, as it was his birthday.[2] However, he missed the end of the January tournament through injury and with only five wins against ten losses in each of his next two tournaments, he was relegated back to jūryō. His 8-7 record in September was his first majority of wins at any tournament in 2015, and although he returned to the top division in January 2016 his stay was short-lived as he was forced to withdraw through injury with only two wins.

Fighting style

Jōkōryū's favoured kimarite or techniques are migi yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi), yorikiri (force out) and uwatenage (overarm throw).

Career record

Jōkōryū Takayuki[3]
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
2011 x x (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #5
7–0–P
Champion
 		 West Jonidan #12
7–0–P
 		 East Sandanme #21
7–0–P
Champion
 
2012 East Makushita #15
6–1–PPP
Champion
 		 East Makushita #4
5–2
 		 West Jūryō #12
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #9
10–5
 		 West Jūryō #3
11–4–P
Champion
 		 East Maegashira #14
6–9
 
2013 East Jūryō #1
11–4
 		 West Maegashira #11
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #7
4–11
 		 West Maegashira #13
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #14
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #12
3–12
 
2014 East Jūryō #3
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #13
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #12
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #7
10–5
 		 East Komusubi #1
4–11
 		 West Maegashira #6
8–7
 
2015 West Maegashira #4
5–7–3
★		 West Maegashira #9
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #15
5–10
 		 East Jūryō #3
7–8
 		 East Jūryō #4
8–7
 		 East Jūryō #3
9–6
 
2016 East Maegashira #14
2–4–9
 		 West Jūryō #6
5–10
 		 West Jūryō #11
–
 		 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

References

  1. ↑ "Sakumayama sets record". Daily Yomiuri Online. 19 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  2. ↑ "SUMO/ Harumafuji tumbles to first loss, Hakuho takes lead at New Year's Sumo on Day 7". Asahi Shimbun. 17 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Jokoryu Takayuki Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2012-01-20.

External links

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