Mōkonami Sakae

Mōkonami Sakae (born 5 April 1984 as Ganbold Bazarsad) is a former sumo wrestler from Mongolia. After making his professional sumo debut in March 2001, he had his top ''makuuchi'' division debut 8 years later in July 2009. His highest rank was maegashira 6. He has acquired Japanese citizenship. In April 2011 he was ordered to retire by the Japan Sumo Association after an investigation found him guilty of match-fixing.

Early life and sumo background

Ganbold Bazarsad was born and raised in Ulan Bator. It has been reported that he lived in the same apartment complex as later ''makuuchi'' contemporary Shōtenrō, though they never met in person. During his school years, he was focused on basketball and only participated in Mongolian wrestling occasionally as recreation. But after seeing the well-known Mongolian sumo wrestler Kyokutenhō in action, he was inspired to try out sumo. He came to Japan in 2000 with an invitation to try out for Tatsunami stable through a connection with Kyokutenhō's contemporary Kyokushūzan, and entered sumo in March, 2001, the same tournament as the later Mongolian ''yokozuna'' Hakuhō.

Career

The ring name he took combined "Mōko" (, "fierce tiger", which is homophonous with the old Sino-Japanese name for Mongolia, ) with the "nami" of Tatsunami stable. There is a now a movement among Mongolians residing in Japan to discontinue using the country name ''Mōko'' as they consider the name derogatory. This was acknowledged by Mōkonami, but he continued using this ''shikona'' for the remainder of his career.

Mōkonami had trouble gaining weight at first and struggled in the ranks of the ''sandanme'' fourth division. As his weight finally began to rise, however, his sumo improved, and he was promoted to the third division, ''makushita'' in January 2005. He proceeded to win a majority of bouts in 5 consecutive tournaments, and with a 5–2 record in his last ''makushita'' tournament, he finally became a ''sekitori'' by gaining promotion to ''jūryō'' in January 2006. Being a fan of the Hanshin Tigers, and recognizing that his coach is an old friend of the well-known Tiger player Katsuhito Yamada (as well as the fact that the second Chinese character in his ring name is "tiger") Mōkonami commemorated his ''jūryō'' debut with a new ''keshō-mawashi'', approved by the Tigers' owners, that closely resembled the Tigers' logo.

Mōkonami proceeded to get a majority of wins in his first three tournaments after his ''jūryō'' debut. His performance in the March 2006 tournament would have granted him entry into the top division in the following May tournament had not Jūmonji, the ''maegashira'' #9 wrestler, narrowly managed to avoid relegation to ''jūryō'' by achieving a fourth win on the last day of the tournament. Perhaps succumbing to the pressure, Mōkonami only managed a 5–10 record at the ''jūryō'' top slot that he had earned for the May tournament. His fall continued, as he chalked up losing tournaments in for the remainder of 2006. He dropped back to ''makushita'' in 2007. Though he managed a 5–2 record in the January tournament at ''makushita'' #4, the successful records of a number of other wrestlers near his rank kept him from ''jūryō'' promotion in the following tournament. His 4-3 performance in the March tournament of 2007 was enough to grant him entry into ''jūryō'' again. After bouncing between winning and losing tournaments through the rest of 2007 and most of 2008 he managed to find some traction, and in four consecutive tournaments from November 2008 tournament to May 2009, he won a majority of his bouts. His May 2009 rank, again at the top spot of ''jūryō'' was almost a mirror image of his previous performance at this rank, as he pulled off a dominating 11–4 win which would catapult him into his top ''makuuchi'' division debut at the comparatively high rank of ''maegashira'' #7.

Possibly challenged by debuting at such a high rank, Mōkonami's first two tournaments in the top division were losing performances. However, in the November 2009 tournament, he finally achieved a positive record of 9–6 at the 13th ''maegashira'' slot, staving off any fears of demotion from ''makuuchi''. After clinching his ''kachi-koshi'' on the final day of the July 2010 tournament, he reached a new highest rank of ''maegashira'' 6 in September. He scored only five wins there, but managed a majority of wins in what was to be his final tournament in January 2011.

Retirement from sumo

After an investigation by the Sumo Association into allegations of bout-rigging prompted by the discovery of text-messages on a mobile phone belonging to former ''maegashira'' Kasuganishiki, Mōkonami was one of 23 wrestlers and coaches found guilty of involvement. He was ordered to retire, and submitted his letter of resignation on April 4, 2011.

Fighting style

Mōkonami's favourite techniques as listed by the Sumo Association were ''hidari-yotsu'' (a right hand outside, left hand inside grip on the opponent's ''mawashi''), ''yori'' (force out) and ''tsuppari'' (a series of rapid thrusts to the chest). After ''yori-kiri'', his next most frequently used ''kimarite'' were ''uwatenage'' (overarm throw) and ''oshi-dashi'' (push out).

Private life

On December 21, 2009, it was announced that Mōkonami had been granted Japanese citizenship. This allowed his stable to take on another Mongolian wrestler, Ryuonami, bypassing the Japan Sumo Association's limit of one foreign wrestler per stable, although this loophole has since been closed. Mōkonami's legal name is now Sakae Ishikawa.

Mōkonami is married, with a daughter born in 2006.

Career record

See also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers
*List of past sumo wrestlers

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokonami Sakae
1984 births
Living people
Japanese people of Mongolian descent
Mongolian emigrants to Japan
Mongolian sumo wrestlers
Naturalized citizens of Japan
Sportspeople from Ulaanbaatar
Sportspeople banned for life