Takanoyama Shuntarō

Takanoyama Shuntarō (born 21 February 1983 as Pavel Bojar) is a former sumo wrestler from Prague, Czech Republic. He is the first man from the Czech Republic to join the professional sport in Japan. He reached the third highest ''makushita'' division in 2004, but due to his light weight he had difficulty in regularly beating his opponents, despite his skill. However, in May 2011 he finally earned promotion to the ''sekitori'' ranks. After becoming only the third new ''sekitori'' since 1958 to pass through ''jūryō'' division in just one tournament, he made his debut in the top ''makuuchi'' division in September 2011. He retired on 24 July 2014.

Early life and sumo background

Bojar practised judo in the Czech Republic before becoming interested in sumo. Sumo is more popular in the Czech Republic than in any other European country, with ten sumo clubs containing some 600 members, and he was trained by , president of the Czech Sumo Association. After winning the bronze medal in the 2000 Junior World Sumo Championships in Tokyo, he was accepted by Naruto stable, a ''heya'' in Chiba run by former ''yokozuna'' Takanosato. After passing the physical exam, he made his official debut in November 2001.

Professional career

He was given the ''shikona'' of Takanoyama, meaning "noble mountain." He reached the ''sandanme'' division in January 2003, and the third highest ''makushita'' division in March 2004. He fell back to ''sandanme'' after only two tournaments but returned to ''makushita'' in March 2005 and largely remained there for the next six years, unable to break through to the elite ''sekitori'' ranks.

Takanoyama was hampered mostly by an inability to put on weight. His height of and weight of make him among the lightest sumo wrestlers in the modern era. In November 2008 he climbed as high as ''makushita'' 13, beating his previous high of ''makushita'' 15 set in November 2005, and he moved up to ''makushita'' 9 in January 2009. After compiling a 5–2 record in the July tournament, which included a win over the former ''maegashira'' Ryūhō, he reached a new highest rank of ''makushita'' 4 in September 2009. He produced another good score of 5–2 in May 2010 from ''makushita'' 6, which included wins over Jūmonji and Hōchiyama. In January 2011 a 6–1 score saw him promoted to a new highest rank of ''makushita'' 2 for the May "technical examination tournament." There he scored 5–2, guaranteeing promotion to the ''jūryō'' division for July. When the ''banzuke'' was released on June 27, Takanoyama was at #5 West, the tenth highest rank in the 26 man division. It took him 57 tournaments from his professional debut to reach ''jūryō'', the second slowest among foreign born wrestlers after the Brazilian Wakaazuma.

He had a successful ''jūryō'' debut, winning seven of his first eight bouts and finishing on 10–5. This earned him immediate promotion to the top ''makuuchi'' division for the September 2011, only the third time since the six tournaments a year system was established in 1958 that a ''jūryō'' debutant has achieved this (the other two were Daikiko and Ichihara). Weighing in before the tournament at just , he was the first wrestler under 100 kilos in the top division since Mainoumi in 1997.

Takanoyama had a difficult start to his ''makuuchi'' career, losing his first five matches and then only winning the sixth when his opponent inadvertently stepped out of the ring first (''isamiashi''). However, he picked up a legitimate win on Day 7, downing the 166 kg Yoshiazuma with a hooking inner thigh throw (''kakenage'') and instantly becoming a favourite with the tournament crowd. He finished on 5–10, which sent him back to ''jūryō'' in November, but he responded with a 9–6 record which returned him immediately to the top division for the January 2012 tournament. He was unable to produce a ''kachi-koshi'' score in either January or March, but in the May tournament he managed an 11–4 record in ''jūryō'' which earned him a 2nd place and a return to the ''makuuchi'' division in the July tournament. However he had yet to earn a winning record in five tournaments in ''makuuchi'' and was demoted to ''jūryō'' once again for November. His 7–8 record in July 2013 was his seventh consecutive losing score, pushing him towards the bottom of the ''jūryō'' division. In September 2013, he finished on 5–10, his weakest performance in ''jūryō'' so far, which sent him back to ''makushita'' 2 for the November tournament. Afterwards, he skirted the border between the two divisions, being relegated twice and promoted twice.

Retirement from sumo

Takanoyama announced his retirement on Day 12 of the July 2014 tournament, where he had withdrawn after losing his first match, guaranteeing a large fall down the ''makushita'' division. He said, "I mount the '' dohyo'' to win, and I can no longer win." He indicated that he would return to the Czech Republic with his family, and try to make use of his Japanese language skills. Takanoyama's ''danpatsu-shiki'' or retirement ceremony was held at his stable on 7 September 2014.

Fighting style

Due to his exceptionally light frame, Takanoyama relied heavily on throws to defeat his much heavier opponents. His most common winning ''kimarite'' was ''uwatenage'', or overarm throw, followed by ''shitatenage'' (underarm throw) and ''kakenage'' (hooking inner thigh throw). He had knowledge of a wide variety of techniques, having used at least 37 different winning ''kimarite'' in his career.

Personal life

In an effort to improve his understanding of Japanese culture, Takanoyama devoted his spare time to watching historical dramas and reading manga. After reaching ''jūryō'', he returned to the Czech Republic in the summer of 2011 for the first time since leaving ten years earlier.

After the September 2011 tournament, he announced his engagement to a 32-year-old domestic helper from Chiba Prefecture. The couple's first child, a girl, was born in May.

Takanoyama became a ''sekitori'' at around the same time as (temporarily) breaking through the 100 kg barrier, and attributed his gain in weight to the Naruto Oyakata (and the stablemaster's wife) giving him special dishes and snacks at night. However, in November 2011, he was given a warning by the Sumo Association for injecting himself with insulin that had been prescribed by his stablemaster.

Career record

See also

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

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Takanoyama, Shuntaro
1983 births
Living people
Czech expatriate sportspeople in Japan
Czech sumo wrestlers
Sportspeople from Prague