Hananoumi Ken

Hananoumi Ken (born 6 December 1960 as Ken Sawaishi) is a former sumo wrestler from Ikawa, Akita, Japan. He made his professional debut in May 1976, and reached the top division in March 1985. His highest rank was ''komusubi''. He retired in July 1989.

Career

He was persuaded by his father, a rice farmer, to be a sumo wrestler, although he really wanted to play baseball. He joined the original Hanakago stable in May 1976, and for five years he was a ''tsukebito'' or personal attendant to ''yokozuna'' Wajima Hiroshi, until the latter′s retirement in 1981. The two spent much of their spare time tinkering with Wajima′s luxury American automobile, a Lincoln Continental. Sawaishi began competing under his own surname, although he went through a number of different ''shikona'', including Otowadake, Sawakaze and Onoumi, before finally settling on Hananoumi, meaning ′lake or sea of flowers.′

In July 1983 he took the ''makushita'' division championship with a perfect 7–0 record and was promoted to the ''juryo'' division, becoming a fully fledged ''sekitori'' for the first time. He reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in March 1985 and just one tournament later won his first '' sansho'' or special prize, for Technique. In November 1985 he had his first victory over a ''yokozuna'', earning a ''kinboshi'' for defeating tournament winner Chiyonofuji. In March 1987 he beat Chiyonofuji again, scored ten wins at ''maegashira'' 1 and won his second Technique Award, and with it promotion to what was to be his highest rank of ''komusubi''. In September 1987 he achieved the feat of winning a majority of wins against losses (''kachi-koshi'') despite missing four days and having to return for the last seven – the first time this had been done in the top division for 22 years. On the seventh day of the May 1988 tournament he was defeated by Chiyonofuji, the first bout in Chiyonofuji's post-war record winning streak of 53 consecutive matches.

Retirement from sumo

In March 1989 Hananoumi returned to the ''komusubi'' rank but had a disastrous tournament, losing his first nine bouts before withdrawing injured on Day 10. In May he defaulted on Day 5 after losing his first four matches due to a herniated disk and was never to appear on the '' dohyo'' again, retiring after missing the July 1989 tournament altogether. He remained in sumo for a short time as an elder under the name Hanakago Oyakata (formerly used by his old boss Wajima), but left the Sumo Association in June 1990. He ran a chanko restaurant in Akita and after it closed ran a hotel in Nanporo, Hokkaido.

Fighting style

Hananoumi had an unusual fighting style, preferring to come in low at the ''tachi-ai'' and push up against the opponent′s armpits, known as ''hazu–oshi''. He also liked the throat thrust, or ''nodowa''. When fighting on the ''mawashi'' he used a double inside grip, or ''morozashi''. His two most common winning ''kimarite'' were ''yorikiri'' (force out) and ''oshidashi'' (push out).

Career record

See also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of past sumo wrestlers
*List of komusubi

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hananoumi, Ken
1960 births
Living people
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Sumo people from Akita Prefecture
Komusubi