Kaihō Ryōji

Kaihō Ryōji (born April 17, 1973 as Ryōji Kumagaya) is a former sumo wrestler from Aomori, Japan. His highest rank was ''komusubi''. An amateur champion at Nihon University, he entered professional sumo in 1996. He was one of the lightest ''sekitori'' wrestlers in recent years. He won two special prizes for Technique. He retired from active competition in 2010 and became a coach, but in April 2011 he was asked to resign from the Japan Sumo Association after being found guilty of match-fixing.

Career

Kaihō was born in Fukaura, a town in the Nishitsugaru District of Aomori Prefecture. He was an amateur sumo champion at Nihon University, and won the middleweight world title for Japan in the 2nd World Sumo Championships held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. He entered professional sumo in January 1996 at the age of 22, joining Hakkaku stable. Because of his amateur achievements, he was given ''makushita tsukedashi'' status and allowed to enter at the bottom of the third highest ''makushita'' division. He won the ''makushita'' championship in his very first tournament with a perfect 7-0 record, defeating Kyokutenhō in a playoff - the only ''yūshō'' of his career. He was promoted to the second highest '' jūryō'' division in May 1997. At this point he switched from fighting under his family name of Kumagaya to the ''shikona'' of Kaihō, which was taken from the name of his father's boat, ''Kaihō-maru'' (Kai means "ocean" or "sea" in Japanese).

He reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in May 1998, the first wrestler from his stable to do so, and remained a rank and file ''maegashira'' for the next three years. In the September 2001 tournament he defeated ''yokozuna'' Musashimaru, earning his first ''kinboshi'' and scored ten wins. He was rewarded with his first '' sanshō'' or special prize and was promoted to the ''san'yaku'' ranks at ''komusubi'' for the following tournament. He was however, unable to maintain that rank.

He stayed in the top division for the next 44 tournaments with just one brief demotion to ''jūryō'' in November 2003, and won his second special prize in March 2005 after a fine 11-4 record. However, just two tournaments later in July 2005 he suffered a fractured ankle in a bout against Iwakiyama on the 14th day. He was forced to sit out the final day and the whole of the following tournament in September, resulting in demotion to the second division in November 2005. He remained there until July 2007, when, due to the unusually large number of retirements and demotions from the top division, a 9-6 score at ''jūryō'' 5 was good enough to return him to ''makuuchi''.

He produced a strong 10-5 record in his first tournament back in the top division, and although he missed out on another special prize he was promoted up the rankings to ''maegashira'' 6. He could only win four bouts at that rank in September 2007 and after another losing score of 6-9 in November, he fell to ''maegashira'' 16, the lowest rank in the top division. An 8-7 record in the January 2008 tournament preserved his top division status, but in March he could manage only four wins and was demoted back to ''jūryō'' for the May 2008 tournament, where he remained for the next two years. In May 2010 he scored just 3-12 at the lowest rank of ''jūryō'' 14, and he was demoted to the non-salaried ''makushita'' division for the first time in 13 years.

Retirement

Kaihō did not take part in the July 2010 tournament and announced his retirement on the eighth day. He became a coach at Hakkaku stable under the ''toshiyori'' name Tanigawa-'' oyakata''. However, in April 2011 he was told to resign from the Sumo Association after an investigation into alleged bout-rigging prompted by the discovery by police of text messages on the mobile phone of former wrestler Kasuganishiki, which mentioned Kaihō and a number of other wrestlers as being involved in throwing matches. He was given an envelope containing the message, "You intentionally had sumo bouts lacking fighting spirit with Kasuganishiki on the 13th day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in 2010 and the seventh day of the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in 2010." Kaihō responded angrily to the decision of the fact-finding panel, saying "There is no evidence to incriminate me because I didn't do it. They only trust what Kasuganishiki says, and they wouldn't listen to me."

Following his retirement Kaiho became certified as a kaatsu instructor and opened his own gym in Tokyo, where he trained some wrestlers active in professional sumo such as Hidenoumi. In July 2015 he took part in a mixed martial arts match held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, losing by a technical knock out. As of 2018 he was a coach at Nihon University sumo club.

Fighting style

Kaihō was below average size for a ''rikishi'' and relied on his technical ability, employing a similar sumo style to Mainoumi. He won two special prizes for Technique. His favourite grip on his opponent's ''mawashi'' was ''hidari-yotsu'', a right arm outside, left hand inside grip. He specialised in throws, and regularly used his inside grip to win by ''shitatenage'', or underarm throw. He is also fond of ''uchigake'', the inside leg trip. He was known for often employing ''henka'', or sidestepping at the ''tachi-ai'' or initial charge, and was adept at using ''inashi'', or ducking and moving diagonally back from the opponent. He had a higher than average number of wins by ''okuri-dashi'', or push out from behind, as a result.

Career record

See also

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

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiho Ryoji
1973 births
Living people
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Sumo people from Aomori Prefecture
Nihon University alumni
Komusubi
Sportspeople banned for life