Yutakayama Ryōta

Yutakayama Ryota
豊山 亮太
Personal information
Born Oyanagi Ryota
(1993-09-22) 22 September 1993
Kita-ku, Niigata
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 182 kg (401 lb; 28.7 st)
Career
Stable Tokitsukaze
University Tokyo University of Agriculture
Debut March 2016
Highest rank Maegashira 2 (September 2018)
Championships
1 (Makushita)
1 (Sandanme)
Special Prizes 1 (Fighting Spirit)
* Up to date as of September 23, 2018.

Yutakayama Ryota (豊山 亮太, born 22 September 1993 as Oyanagi Ryota (小柳 亮太 Oyanagi Ryota)), is a sumo wrestler from Kita-ku, Niigata, Japan. His debut in the professional ranks at Sandanme tsukedashi which allowed him to skip the lower divisions was in March 2016, and his first makuuchi division honbasho was the Natsu tournament in May 2017. His highest rank has been maegashira 2.

Early life and sumo background

Oyanagi started doing sumo his first year of elementary school. He abandoned sumo in junior high school in favor of baseball and continued until entering high school. He started to feel he was reaching his limit in baseball and in high school because of his size he went back to participating in sumo. 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. He was later told by him that he should join professional sumo, which he accepted.

Career

Early career

Oyanagi won no major titles in his amateur career,[1] being somewhat prone to lapses in concentration and overconfidence against some of his key rivals.[2]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 jūryō in November 2016.

Top division career

Following three successful tournaments in jūryō he was promoted to the top makuuchi division in May 2017.[3] To mark the occasion 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 ōzeki 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. He managed a runner-up performance and was promoted back up the following 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, he withdrew from the tournament on Day 5 after sustaining an elbow injury in his Day 3 defeat to Kisenosato.[4]

Fighting style

Yutakayama is an oshi-sumo wrestler, who prefers thrusting and pushing at his opponents to fighting on the mawashi or belt.[1] His most common winning kimarite is oshi-dashi, or push out.

Career record

Yutakayama Ryota[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
2016 x Sandanme tsukedashi #100
7–0
Champion
 		 West Makushita #58
7–0
Champion
 		 West Makushita #7
6–1
 		 East Makushita #1
4–3
 		 West Jūryō #12
11–4
 
2017 East Jūryō #6
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #4
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #16
4–11
 		 East Jūryō #5
11–4
 		 West Maegashira #15
4–11
 		 West Jūryō #3
9–6
 
2018 West Maegashira #14
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #11
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #3
2–13
 		 West Maegashira #9
12–3
F		 East Maegashira #2
3–10–2
 		 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. 1 2 Shuji, Miki (11 August 2018). "SUMO ABC No. 83 / Can Yutakayama reproduce spirit displayed at Nagoya basho?". Japan News. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Gunning, John (6 September 2018). "Expect the unexpected in wide-open Autumn Basho". Japan Times. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  3. ↑ "Sumo: Kisenosato looks to stay on roll at summer tourney". Kyodo News. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  4. ↑ "豊山が休場　左肘内側側副じん帯損傷　稀勢の里戦で負傷" (in Japanese). Sponichi/Yahoo Japan. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "Yutakayama Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
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