Higonoumi Naoya (born 23 September 1969 as Naoto Sakamoto) is a former

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler from

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. After his retirement he opened up Kise stable.

Career

A former amateur champion at

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

, he turned professional in 1992, joining

Mihogaseki stable The was a Heya (sumo), stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Dewanoumi stable, Dewanoumi Glossary of sumo terms#ichimon, ichimon or group of stables. Its last head coach, former ''Makuuchi#Ōzeki, ōzeki'' Masuiyama Daishirō II who took charge i ...

and making his debut in the ''

makushita Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' division as a ''

makushita tsukedashi The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

'' entrant. Initially fighting under the ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Muromachi period and established itself during the Edo period, where they were used as a means to hide the identities of the . Given by the master to his di ...

'' of Sakamotoyama, he lost only two bouts in his first three tournaments, reaching the ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' division in July 1992 and the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of Professional sumo divisions, the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous ...

'' division in February 1993. He was ranked in the top division for 53 consecutive tournaments, every one as a ''

maegashira , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

''. This remains a record for a wrestler that never reached the ''

san'yaku The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

'' ranks, although Kyokushūzan later had more consecutive tournaments as a ''maegashira'' after his single tournament as a ''

komusubi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

''. He earned two ''

kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part oth ...

'' for defeating ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' - Akebono in May 1995 and Takanohana in March 1999. He fell back to the ''jūryō'' division at the end of 2001 and retired a year later in November 2002 at the age of 33.

Retirement from sumo

He remained in sumo as a coach under the elder name of Kise, and opened up his own training

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

, also called Kise, in December 2003. He produced the top division wrestlers Kiyoseumi in 2008 and

Gagamaru ), lead=yes is a Georgian former professional sumo wrestler from Tbilisi. The third Georgian national after Kokkai and Tochinoshin to make the top ''makuuchi'' division, he made his professional debut in November 2005, reaching the ''jūryō'' d ...

in 2010. In May 2010 Kise was demoted two ranks by the

Sumo Association The , officially the ; sometimes abbreviated JSA or NSK, and more usually called Sumo Kyōkai, is the governing body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling, called , in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Ed ...

after he was found to have made arrangements for the distribution of tickets to the previous July's Nagoya

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

that ended up in the hands of around 50 high-profile

yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

affiliated to the

Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan's largest ''yakuza'' organization. It is named after its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi. Its origins can be traced back to a loose labor union for longshoreman, dockworkers in Kobe before World War II. It is one of the largest organized cr ...

crime syndicate The Crime Syndicate or Crime Syndicate of America (CSA, with America sometimes spelled Amerika) is a team of supervillains featured in DC Comics. The team is composed of evil Multiverse (DC Comics), parallel-universe counterparts of the Justice Le ...

. As a result, Kise stable closed down and Kise and all his wrestlers moved to

Kitanoumi stable is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Dewanoumi ''ichimon'' or group of stables. It was set up in 1985 as Kitanoumi stable by former ''yokozuna'' Kitanoumi, who branched off from Mihogaseki stable. It absorbed in 2006, following the dea ...

, where Higonoumi worked as an assistant coach. He has admitted that until around 2007 he had ties with a yakuza member. He was allowed to re–open Kise stable in April 2012, and in September of that year his wrestler Jōkōryū earned promotion to ''makuuchi'' in a record nine tournaments from ''

jonokuchi Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

''. He has since produced a number of other ''

sekitori A ''sekitori'' (関取) is a '' rikishi'' (力士, sumo wrestler) who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: '' makuuchi'' and '' jūryō''. The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fr ...

'' including Hidenoumi, Tokushōryū and Ura.

Fighting style

Higonoumi's most common winning ''

kimarite is the technique used in sumo by a (wrestler) to win a match. It is officially decided or announced by the (referee) at the end of the match, though judge (sumo), judges can modify this decision. The records of are then kept for statistical ...

'' or techniques were basic and straightforward ones: ''yorikiri'', a force out, and ''oshidashi'', push out. He also regularly used ''hatakikomi'' (slap down), ''okuridashi'' (push out from behind), ''tsukiotoshi'' (thrust over) and ''uwatedashinage'' (pulling overarm throw).

Career record

References

External links