Kaisei Ichirō

is a retired third generation Japanese Brazilian professional sumo wrestler (''rikishi'') from São Paulo, Brazil. Making his debut in September 2006, he reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in May 2011. His highest rank was ''sekiwake''. He was runner-up twice, once in the July 2013 tournament and another in the March 2018 tournament. He received three Fighting Spirit prizes.

Early life and sumo background

In his childhood, unlike his friends Sugano had no interest at all in football, not even watching games on TV. He was more interested in grappling sports, such as judo, which he practiced for a time. When he was sixteen a friend of his father's suggested that his already large size would be very suitable for sumo. Sugano used to train in many sumo clubs in São Paulo, where he ended up meeting the retired ''rikishi'' Wakaazuma Yoshinobu, who is also Brazilian. Yoshinobu would strictly train him, knowing that as Sugano wanted to become a professional sumo wrestler, he should be severe on Ricardo's training. Despite the difficulties, he continued to go on the trainings and commented about his dream of becoming a ''rikishi'', as he was not able to see another career path he could take in Brazil. He began pursuing sumo and went on to win the All Brazil amateur sumo championship in the free weight category. At this time he believed that, at least in Brazilian amateur sumo, all one needed was size and power to win, and decided to travel to Japan to try out sumo. He was introduced to Tomozuna stable by Wakaazuma and joined the stable in 2006. The stable was already home to another Brazilian wrestler, Kaishin. He was given the ''shikona'' or ring name of Kaisei Ichirō. Ichirō was the name of Kaisei's late grandfather, who was Japanese.

Career

Kaisei moved through the lower divisions quickly, reaching the fourth highest ''sandanme'' division in March 2007. He was promoted to the third ''makushita'' division after the March 2008 tournament, but then his progress stalled somewhat. He came through the September 2009 tournament undefeated (although he lost a playoff for the ''yūshō'' to Gagamaru) and in July 2010 became a ''sekitori'' by earning promotion to ''jūryō''. He was the fourth Brazilian to make the ''jūryō'' division after Ryūkō, Kuniazuma and Wakaazuma, but Kaisei was to surpass all of them by winning promotion to the top ''makuuchi'' division. After winning the ''jūryō'' division ''yūshō'' in November 2010 with an 11–4 record, he followed up with an 8–7 at ''jūryō'' 1 in January 2011, which saw him reach ''maegashira'' 16 in the May Technical Examination tournament.

Kaisei won his first six bouts in his ''makuuchi'' debut, the first ''makuuchi'' debutant to do so since Takanonami in 1991. He went on to 8–0, the first to achieve that since Sadanoumi in 1980, and 9–0, running neck and neck with ''yokozuna'' Hakuhō, before suffering his first defeat to Tochinoshin on Day 10. He thus failed to emulate the great Taihō, who reached 11–0 in 1960. Nevertheless, his final score of 10–5 saw him win the Fighting Spirit Award. He was also given the honour of serving as Hakuhō's ''tsuyuharai'', or dew sweeper, during the ''yokozunas ring entering ceremony.

He was promoted to ''maegashira'' 5 for the July tournament, where he recovered from 1–4 to go to 6–4, but then lost his last five matches to finish on 6–9. With the ''intai-zumo'' (retirement from sumo) of '' ōzeki'' Kaiō during the same tournament Kaisei become the '' heyagashira'' (the highest ranked wrestler) at Tomozuna stable. Disappointing scores of 4–11 and 6–9 in September and November 2011 saw him fall to the bottom of the division. A 5–10 record in the January 2012 tournament meant he suffered demotion to ''jūryō'' in March, but he produced a 10–5 record in Osaka, ensuring a return to ''makuuchi''. In July 2012 he scored eleven wins, picking up his second Fighting Spirit Award and earning promotion to ''maegashira'' 1. In September he just fell short with a 7–8 record, losing to Hōmashō on the final day. Since then he has largely alternated winning and losing tournaments. Though he has proven his longevity in the top division, it remains to be seen whether he can achieve more consistent performances. He was not able to defeat a ''yokozuna'' even after 37 attempts.

Kaisei made his ''san'yaku'' debut in the May 2016 tournament, having been promoted to ''komusubi'' on the back of an 11–4 record from the rank of ''maegashira'' 7. He is the second wrestler from Tomozuna stable to reach ''komusubi'' since the present stablemaster took over in 1989 and the first since Kaiō in 1994. After coming through with an 8–7 record he earned immediate promotion to ''sekiwake'' for the following July tournament. In the last three tournaments of 2016 he posted losing records and dropped to ''maegashira'' 9 before recording an 8–7 in January 2017.

He injured his knee training with Hakuhō shortly before the March 2017 tournament and had to withdraw from a ''honbasho'' for the first time in his career, bringing to an end his run of 739 consecutive matches from debut, the most among active top division wrestlers. He was demoted to the ''jūryō'' division for the first time since 2012 after the May 2017 tournament, but made an immediate return to ''makuuchi'' after scoring 10–5 at the rank of ''jūryō'' 1 in July. In the September 2017 tournament, at West ''Maegashira'' #13, he managed to get a record of 9–6. Being promoted to East ''Maegashira'' #10 for the November 2017 tournament, Kaisei finished with a record of 8–7. In January 2018, at West ''Maegashira'' #8, Kaisei finished 8–7. The March 2018 Tournament saw Kaisei promoted to East ''Maegashira'' #6 where he won his first 9 matches, only to lose to Ichinojo on day 10. On day 13 Kaisei was brought up to face ''yokozuna'' Kakuryu where he lost. Kaisei finished off the tournament with a 12–3 record, being a runner-up to Kakuryu, with fellow runner-up Takayasu. This marks the second time that Kaisei was runner-up. Kaisei also got the Fighting Spirit Prize, his third time claiming that prize.

In November 2018 Kaisei returned to the ''sanyaku'' ranks at ''komusubi'' for the first time in 13 tournaments. However, he was restricted by a left calf injury suffered in training shortly before the tournament, missing the first two days and then withdrawing on Day 14 with only three wins, after aggravating the injury. He was also forced to withdraw from the May 2019 tournament after injuring his right bicep tendon against Ryūden on Day 7. Fighting at ''maegashira'' 15 in July, he injured his right arm and eventually withdrew on Day 11 with only one win, resulting in his demotion to ''jūryō''. He returned to the top division after an 11–4 record in November 2019. He was forced to sit out the January 2021 tournament after a wrestler at Tomozuna stable tested positive for COVID-19.

Retirement from sumo

In July 2022, while ranked at the bottom of the second division, Kaisei finished the tournament with a 5-10 record, which demoted him back to the unsalaried third division after more than 12 years in the salaried top two divisions. Kaisei ultimately retired in late August 2022. Kaisei obtained Japanese citizenship in November 2014, which allowed him to acquire an elder-stock when retiring; he now uses the name Tomozuna-oyakata. He will work as a coach at his stable, now re-named Ōshima.

Family

Kaisei announced in July 2020 that he had got married the previous month to a woman in her 20s after a five year relationship.

Fighting style

Kaisei's favoured techniques are listed at the Sumo Association as ''migi-yotsu'' (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponent's ''mawashi''), ''yori'' (forcing) and ''oshi'' (pushing). His most common winning ''kimarite'' are straightforward: ''yori-kiri'' (force out) and ''oshi dashi'' (push out).

Career record

See also

*List of sumo tournament top division runners-up
*List of sumo tournament second division champions
*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of heaviest sumo wrestlers
*List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers
*List of sekiwake

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaisei, Ichiro
1986 births
Living people
Brazilian emigrants to Japan
Brazilian people of Japanese descent
Brazilian sumo wrestlers
Naturalized citizens of Japan
Sportspeople from São Paulo
Sekiwake