Hidenokuni Hajime

英ノ国 一 Hidenokuni Hajime
Personal information
Born	Nathan Strange August 23, 1971 (1971-08-23) (age 40) Kent, United Kingdom
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight	102 kg (220 lb)
Career
Heya	Azumazeki
Record	9-5-14
Debut	September 1989
Highest rank	Jonidan 89 (March 1990)
Retired	May, 1990
* Career information is correct as of May 2007.

Hidenokuni Hajime (born August 23, 1971 as Nathan John Strange) is a former professional sumo wrestler, who was active from 1989 until 1990. The highest rank he reached was jonidan 89. He was the first, and so far only sumo wrestler from the United Kingdom.

Career

A former photographic print worker from Herne Bay, Kent, he was inspired to join sumo after seeing broadcasts on Channel 4. After nine months of training in martial arts techniques with Syd Hoare of the British Sumo Association,^[1] he went to Japan and joined the Azumazeki stable run by former sekiwake Takamiyama, who had already taken on a number of foreign recruits from Hawaii. The name Hidenokuni was chosen to acknowledge his pioneering status as the first ever rikishi from the United Kingdom: the first and last characters of Hidenokuni together mean England. Hajime is a common given name in Japan, and can be taken to mean start or beginning.

Hidenokuni's sumo career was short. After coming though maesumo (pre-sumo) in September 1989, he fought his first tournament in the bottom jonokuchi division in November 1989, and performed sufficiently well to be promoted to jonidan for the January 1990 tournament. He celebrated by going out to a disco with ōzeki Konishiki, who had just won the top division title.^[1] He again achieved kachi-koshi in January. He had gained quite a lot of attention due to his status as the first ever European in sumo, and even started to receive fan mail. However, he also received very harsh treatment in training from his stablemates, who were not pleased at the attention he was getting,^[1] and this influenced his decision to return to England. He did not appear in the next two tournaments, and retired from sumo.

Record

Hidenokuni Hajime^[2]

year in sumo	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1989	x	x	x	x	(Banzukegai)	West Jonokuchi #38 5–2
1990	West Jonidan #123 4–3	East Jonidan #89 0–0–7	West Jonokuchi #7 Retired 0–0–7	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s) P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Patmore, Angela (1990). The Giants of Sumo. MacDonald & Co. ISBN 0-356-18120-0. 
2. ^ "Hidenokuni Hajime Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?r=2046. Retrieved 2 June 2009. 

External links

• Hidenokuni

Persondata
Name	Nathan John Strange
Alternative names	Hidenokuni, Hajime
Short description	Sumo wrestler
Date of birth	August 23, 1971
Place of birth	Kent, United Kingdom
Date of death
Place of death