Kitanowaka Daisuke

, born June 7, 2000, as is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Sakata, Yamagata Prefecture.

Early life and sumo background

Daisuke started sumo in a club in third grade at Miyanoura Elementary School. There, he won the Iwate prefectural tournament without any previous experience of sport. When he was still in primary school, his sumo club was invited to Hakkaku stable to be housed and trained there during a national '' wanpaku'' sumo tournament. Daisuke remembers having an excellent impression of the Hakkaku wrestlers, particularly , a wrestler who also comes from Yamagata.

He then continued to do sumo in junior high school and senior high school, leaving his native prefecture to join Saitama Sakae High School, a school with a renowned sumo club. There, he won his first national championship during his junior high school years and won five individual titles in total. In his third year of senior high school, he came out first at the heavyweight category during the World Junior Championship; and won both the team and individual championships at the National High School Tournament, hence becoming the 2018 high-school ''yokozuna''.

He considered to pursue an amateur career at the university level but decided instead to turn pro in February 2019. He attributed this decision to a meeting he had with former '' yokozuna'' Kitanofuji in his sister's chankonabe restaurant in Sakata, Yamagata. Because of his prior connections with Hakkaku stable and the fact that Kitanofuji was the master of Hakkaku-''oyakata'' (former ''yokozuna'' Hokutoumi), Daisuke logically joined Hakkaku stable. Thanks to Kitanofuji's role in this recruitment, Kitanowaka is sometimes nicknamed .

Career

Kitanowaka began his professional career in May 2019, and scored a '' kachi-koshi'' record of 6–1 in his first tournament, after suffering an upset defeat in his fourth match. Kitanowaka spent the rest of his first professional year steadily climbing the rankings, reaching the '' sandanme'' division for the November tournament. There, he competed for the championship but was defeated on the final day by Naruto stable's Motobayashi. His score of 6–1, however, allowed Kitanowaka to join the '' makushita'' division for the first tournament of 2020, where he wrestled throughout the year. In 2021, Kitanowaka once again found himself in a position to potentially win a championship when he recorded 6 consecutive victories in the September 2021 ''makushita'' tournament. However, he was defeated again in his final match, losing the championship to Takasago stable's Fukai. Between 2020 and 2021, Kitanowaka came up against the ''makushita'' wall, climbing up the rankings thanks to some good results but without registering any championship wins. On two occasions he even suffered '' make-koshi'' negative scores, delaying his promotion to the ''jūryō'' division. Nevertheless, promoted to the top of his division, during the last tournament of the year he managed to secure promotion to '' sekitori'' status by securing promotion to the ''jūryō'' division by defeating upper division wrestler Kyokushūhō. At the time, Kitanowaka was promoted along and . He became the first ''sekitori'' raised in Hakkaku stable in five and a half years, and the first since Hokutofuji.

During his first ''jūryō'' tournament, Kitanowaka, despite a barely achieved positive record, received the compliments of Kitanofuji who praised his progress since his years in ''makushita''. Securing promotion in this division, he was promoted to ''jūryō'' 5 for the May 2022 tournament after a good performance in March. Nevertheless, he was injured during that tournament and had to declare himself '' kyūjō'' (absent) for the sixth day of the tournament citing a right thigh flexor tendon injury, and allowing Ryūden to win by default. Kitanowaka nevertheless returned on Day 12 to avoid demotion to the ''makushita'' division, and won two of his four matches to stay in the ''jūryō'' division.

In January 2023, Kitanowaka, then defeated by Asanoyama, received harsh comments from Kitanofuji, who felt that Kitanowaka had shown no resistance and had not been training hard enough since the retirement of his senior stablemate Okinoumi.
Promoted to his highest rank in September 2023, it was noted that Kitanowaka was in a position for imminent promotion to sumo's top division, '' makuuchi''. As his master Hakkaku neared the mandatory retirement age of 65, it was also noted that his promotion would allow former Hokutoumi to leave having solidified the legacy of his stable. On the twelfth day of the September tournament of the same year, Kitanowaka inflicted defeat on Ōnosato, hampering the latter's progress in the race for the ''jūryō'' title and declaring after the match "I was looking forward to this", both opponents having been ''yokozuna'' in their respective amateur careers. On the fourteenth day of the tournament, Kitanowaka also inflicted a defeat on the tournament's second leader, Ichiyamamoto, recording an eighth victory and boosting his own chances of promotion to the '' makuuchi'' division.

Fighting style

Kitanowaka's most common '' kimarite'', or winning-technique, is ''yori-kiri'', force out victory, and he preferred a ''migi-yotsu'', meaning a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on his opponent's '' mawashi''. He also regularly win by ''oshi-dashi'', push out victory, and ''uwatenage'', overarm throw. When he joined Hakkaku stable, his master, former '' yokozuna'' Hokutoumi, tried to teach him an always forward style, based on pushing-style techniques.

Career record

See also

* Glossary of sumo terms
* List of active sumo wrestlers

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daisuke, Kitanowaka
2000 births
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Living people
Sumo people from Yamagata Prefecture