Nishikigi Tetsuya

Nishikigi Tetsuya
錦木 徹也
Personal information
Born Tetsuya Kumagai
(1990-08-25) August 25, 1990
Morioka, Iwate Prefecture
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 174 kg (384 lb)
Career
Stable Isenoumi
Current rank see below
Debut March, 2006
Highest rank Maegashira 6 (Nov, 2016)
Championships 1 Makushita
1 Jūryō
* Up to date as of September 23, 2018.

Nishikigi Tetsuya (錦木 徹也) is a professional sumo wrestler from the Iwate Prefecture. He made his debut in March 2006 and wrestles for Isenoumi stable. His highest rank has been Maegashira 6 and he has won championships at Jūryō and Makushita level.

Early life and sumo experience

Having met the former owner of the Isenoumi stable ex-sekiwake Fujinokawa, Kumagai heard about Yotsuguruma, a sumo wrestler before him who is also from Iwate prefecture and it inspired him to join sumo himself. He joined this stable after graduating from a local Morioka city junior high school.

Nishikigi has extremely poor vision and is always wearing glasses when not practicing or off the ring and even wears them for post bout interviews. He has stated he can't even see any fans during sumo which helps keep him from getting nervous.[1]

Career

He first stepped onto the dohyō in March 2006. He joined sumo the same time as future top division wrestlers Tochinoshin, Sakaizawa, and Shōhōzan. He worked his way slowly up the ranks, earning sandanme division promotion in July 2008 and makushita in January 2010. However, he struggled in the third division and soon fell back to sandanme.[2] Though he was soon back in makushita he languished at this level. Though he managed a to contend for the makushita' championship in November 2010, where he lost in a multiple wrestler playoff, and won the championship in this division outright with a 6-1 record in November 2012, continuing mediocre performances kept him in the third division for four and a half years. During these struggling years, he took the ring name of Nishikigi. He was the first wrestler in 144 years to take this name.[3] However, starting in September 2014, 4 consecutive 5-2 records propelled him to the salaried ranks of jūryō for the May 2015 tournament. Finding his stride, it took him a year to work his way up through jūryō and after recording ten wins in January 2016 he was promoted to the top division makuuchi for the first time.

In the top division, Nishikigi initially made little impact but nine wins in July followed by eight in September saw him promoted to a career high of maegashira 6. He then began to struggle and after three consecutive losing records he was demoted back to jūryō after the March tournament. Wrestling at jūryō 4 in May he lost his first two matches but in an unusually open division he entered the penultimate day on 8-5 in a seven-way tie for the lead. After beating Homarefuji he clinched the title on the final day with a victory over the veteran Aminishiki. He was promoted back to makuuchi for the July 2017 tournament where he secured his majority of wins against losses on the last day with a defeat of Tokushōryū. He remained near the bottom of the makuuchi division for the next year, just barely avoiding demotion to jūryō.

Fighting style

Nishikigi is an oshi-sumo specialist who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents to fighting on the mawashi or belt. His Japan Sumo Association profile shows that 75 percent of his victories over the last six tournaments have been by either yori-kiri (force out) or oshi-dashi (push out).[4]

Career record

Nishikigi Tetsuya[2]
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
2006 x (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #35
4–3
 		 East Jonidan #125
4–3
 		 East Jonidan #95
3–4
 		 West Jonidan #111
4–3
 
2007 West Jonidan #81
4–3
 		 West Jonidan #56
3–4
 		 West Jonidan #73
4–3
 		 East Jonidan #47
3–4
 		 East Jonidan #67
5–2
 		 East Jonidan #29
4–3
 
2008 West Jonidan #5
3–4
 		 East Jonidan #22
2–5
 		 West Jonidan #52
6–1
 		 West Sandanme #85
5–2
 		 East Sandanme #52
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #63
4–3
 
2009 West Sandanme #45
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #56
6–1
 		 East Sandanme #4
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #16
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #34
4–3
 		 East Sandanme #19
5–2
 
2010 East Makushita #58
4–3
 		 East Makushita #50
1–6
 		 East Sandanme #21
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #7
6–1
 		 West Makushita #31
3–4
 		 East Makushita #37
6–1–P
 
2011 West Makushita #14
3–4
 
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–15		 West Makushita #22
3–4
 		 West Makushita #22
2–5
 		 West Makushita #35
4–3
 		 East Makushita #31
3–4
 
2012 West Makushita #39
5–2
 		 East Makushita #23
4–3
 		 West Makushita #20
2–5
 		 West Makushita #33
6–1
 		 West Makushita #13
1–6
 		 East Makushita #35
7–0
Champion
 
2013 East Makushita #3
3–4
 		 East Makushita #6
2–5
 		 East Makushita #14
5–2
 		 West Makushita #8
3–4
 		 East Makushita #15
4–3
 		 East Makushita #10
3–4
 
2014 East Makushita #16
4–3
 		 West Makushita #10
2–5
 		 West Makushita #22
4–3
 		 West Makushita #18
3–4
 		 West Makushita #24
5–2
 		 West Makushita #15
5–2
 
2015 West Makushita #7
5–2
 		 West Makushita #2
5–2
 		 West Jūryō #13
9–6
 		 West Jūryō #9
5–10
 		 East Jūryō #14
8–7
 		 East Jūryō #11
10–5
 
2016 East Jūryō #6
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #2
10–5
 		 East Maegashira #14
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #14
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #9
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #6
4–11
 
2017 West Maegashira #11
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #16
5–10
 		 East Jūryō #4
10–5
Champion
 		 East Maegashira #15
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #13
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #15
7–8
 
2018 West Maegashira #15
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #14
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #17
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #10
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #12
10–5
 		 x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up 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. ↑ "Nishikigi after his first win says that he can't see anything without his glasses, so is never nervous". Nikkan sports. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Nishikigi Tetsuya". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  3. ↑ "2015 May sumo info". Baseball Magazine. p.53: Baseball Magazine. May 2015.
  4. ↑ "Rikishi Profile - Nishikigi Tetsuya". Japan Sumo Association. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
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