is a Mongolian professional

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler from

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

. He began his professional sumo career in 2013 at the age of eighteen. His highest rank to date has been '' maegashira'' 9. He wrestles for the

Oitekaze stable The is a Heya (sumo), stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tokitsukaze ''Glossary of sumo terms#ichimon, ichimon'' or group of stables. It was established in its modern incarnation on 1 October 1998 by former ''maegashira'' Daishōyama Naoki, Da ...

Early life and education

Shijirbayar spent his childhood in

and was a good student, but was sent to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

to study after his fourth grade year, with his mother wishing for him to get a better education. While at this new school he discovered sumo and started wrestling. After showing an aptitude for sumo, by junior high school he was asked by fellow Mongolian ''

rikishi A , or, more colloquially, , is a sumo wrestler. Although used to define all wrestlers participating in sumo wrestling matches, the term is more commonly used to refer to professional wrestlers, employed by the Japan Sumo Association, who par ...

'' Sensho to join Shikihide stable but chose to stay in school. In high school he was introduced to Oitekaze Oyakata who then took him into

. His ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Muromachi period and established itself during the Edo period, where they were used as a means to hide the identities of the . Given by the master to his di ...

'' of Daishōhō was derived from his stablemaster, with the ''hō''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

coming from ''yokozuna'' Taihō and Hakuhō.

Career

Shijirbayar entered sumo in the January 2013 tournament. He started strong with a 6-1 in '' jonokuchi'' and winning the ''

jonidan Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' division the following tournament with a perfect 7-0 record. He made steady progress until he reached the '' makushita'' remaining there for 16 '' basho'' before gaining '' sekitori'' status by being promoted to the ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' division after the September 2016 tournament. He told reporters when his promotion was announced that he looked up to ''yokozuna'' Kakuryū as a role model, and that he simply hoped to get a ''

kachi-koshi The following words are terms used in sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part oth ...

'' or winning record in his ''jūryō'' debut. However, in the event Daishōhō fell short of that with a 5-10 record in November 2016, and he was immediately demoted back to ''makushita''. After a year in ''makushita'', he earned promotion back to ''jūryō'' for the January 2018 tournament. He was able to remain in the division this time, recording six straight winning records to rise to Jūryō 1 by January 2019. He secured another 8–7 record in January, and won promotion to the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of Professional sumo divisions, the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous ...

'' division for the first time at the rank of '' maegashira'' 16. He became the 25th Mongolian to be promoted to ''makuuchi'', and alongside Tomokaze and Terutsuyoshi it marked the first time since May 2013 that three wrestlers had made their top division debuts simultaneously. In the March 2019 tournament in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Daishoho fell just short of a winning record with seven wins against eight losses. However he remained in the top division at the same rank when the '' banzuke'' was released for the May 2019 tournament. In this tournament he secured his first winning record in the top division of 9–6, and was promoted to his highest rank to date of ''maegashira'' 9 for the July 2019 tournament. He lost to Enhō on the final day to fall to a 6–9 record in July, and a disappointing 5–10 score in September saw him fall to ''maegashira'' 15 for the November tournament. Daishōhō lost his top division status after the November 2019 tournament. After the September 2020 tournament he was demoted from ''jūryō'' to ''makushita''. After three tournaments in ''makushita'' he returned to the ''jūryō'' division after the March 2021 tournament. He returned to the top division in March 2023. In August of the same year, he was the heaviest ''makuuchi'' wrestler at , just behind Mitoryū who was the heaviest active ''sekitori''.

Fighting style

Daishōhō is a yotsu-sumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques to pushing and thrusting. His most common winning '' kimarite'' is a straightforward ''yori kiri'', or force out, and he uses a ''migi-yotsu'' grip on the ''

mawashi In sumo, a is the loincloth that (sumo wrestlers) wear during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a as part of the ring entry ceremony or . ''Mawashi'' ''Sekitori'' During competition For top ranked profess ...

'' or belt, with his right hand inside and left hand outside his opponent's arms.

Career record

References

External links