Musashimaru Kōyō

武蔵丸 光洋 Musashimaru Koyo
Personal information
Born	Fiamalu Penitani May 2, 1971 (1971-05-02) (age 40) Samoa
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in)
Weight	235 kg (520 lb; 37.0 st)
Career
Heya	Musashigawa
Record	779-294-115
Debut	September, 1989
Highest rank	Yokozuna (May, 1999)
Retired	November, 2003
Yūshō	12 (Makuuchi) 1 (Jūryō) 1 (Sandanme)
Sanshō	Outstanding Performance (1) Fighting Spirit (1) Technique (2)
* Career information is correct as of August 2007.

Musashimaru Koyo (武蔵丸 光洋, Musashimaru Kōyō^?, born May 2, 1971 as Fiamalu Penitani in American Samoa), is a former sumo wrestler. He was the second foreign-born wrestler in history to reach the rank of yokozuna. He won over 700 top division bouts and took twelve top division tournament championships during his career. Musashimaru's sheer 235 kg (520 lb) bulk combined with 1.92 m (6 ft 3 ¹⁄₂ in) of height made him a formidable opponent, and he was remarkably consistent and injury-free for most of his career. An amiable personality, his fan base was helped by a surprising facial resemblance to Japanese warrior hero Saigō Takamori.^[1] He now works as a coach at Musashigawa stable and an executive manager at the Japan Sumo Association.

Early career

Fiamalu Penitani was born in eastern Samoa, the fourth son of a Tongan-German father and a Samoan-Portuguese mother.^[2] The family moved to Oahu, Hawaiʻi when he was ten years old.^[2] While attending Wainae High School in Waianae he played American football and was offered a scholarship to Pasadena City College, but he also had success in Greco-Roman wrestling, and his wrestling coach encouraged him to give sumo a try.^[2] He moved to Japan and joined former yokozuna Mienoumi's Musashigawa stable in June 1989, initially on a trial basis only.^[2] This proved to be successful and he formally made his professional debut that September, adopting the shikona of Musashimaru. He moved up the ranks quickly, becoming an elite sekitori wrestler in July 1991 upon promotion to the jūryō division.^[2] He reached the top makuuchi division just two tournaments later in November 1991. He made komusubi in May 1992 and sekiwake in July. After a superb 13-2 record and runner-up honours in November 1993, and a 12-3 score the following January, he was promoted to ozeki alongside Takanonami.

Ozeki

Musashimaru was ranked as an ozeki for 32 tournaments. He showed great consistency, never missing any bouts through injury and always getting at least eight wins. However, he was unable to gain the successive championships needed to become a yokozuna. Musashimaru took his first top division championship (yusho) in July 1994 with a perfect 15-0 record, but in the following tournament he could manage only 11 wins and Takanohana overtook him to become grand champion at the end of the year, joining Akebono who had become the first foreign born yokozuna in 1993. Musashimaru seemed content just to maintain his rank, not winning another title until November 1996. Takanohana was absent from this tournament and Musashimaru won it after a five way play-off with a score of 11-4, the lowest number of wins needed to take a top division title since 1972. His third championship came in January 1998.

Yokozuna

In 1999, with Akebono and Takanohana both struggling with injury and loss of form, Musashimaru suddenly came alive with two consecutive tournament wins in March and May 1999 to earn promotion to yokozuna. There was little of the controversy that surrounded previous promotion drives by foreign rikishi such as Konishiki, and Musashimaru's record of never having missed a bout in his career was praised by the Yokozuna Deliberation Council.^[3] After a respectable 12-3 performance in his yokozuna debut, he won two further titles that year. However, in January 2000 he had to pull out of the tournament with an injury on the fourth day, bringing to an end his record run of 55 consecutive tournaments with a majority of wins, dating from his 6-1 score in the makushita division in November 1990. He was however, one tournament short of Kitanoumi's top division record. Akebono returned to form in 2000, and Musashimaru was also sidelined with injury in May. He won just one title that year, in September, although it was one of his most impressive results as he won his first 14 matches, just failing on the last day to become the first wrestler in four years to win with a perfect record.^[4] In 2001, although he did not have the injury problems of the previous year, he lost two playoffs to Takanohana in January and May, and had to wait until November 2001 for his ninth title. In 2002, with Takanohana sidelined through injury, Musashimaru was dominant. Although he missed most of the January 2002 tournament after injuring himself against Kyokushuzan on the 3rd day, he won three tournaments, making 2002 his most successful year since 1999. His victory over the returning Takanohana in September 2002 was his twelfth and final championship and was also the last time either man would complete a tournament, making it the end of an era.

Retirement from sumo

In November 2002 he tore a tendon in his left wrist, an injury which proved to be career-ending. Forced to withdraw from that tournament, the chronic problem restricted him to just a handful of appearances in the whole of 2003. Overshadowed by new yokozuna Asashōryū, he entered the July tournament but pulled out after just six days. He did not compete again until November, when after suffering his fourth defeat on the 7th day, he bowed to the inevitable and announced his retirement. In an interview on November 16, 2003, he revealed that he had also injured his neck while playing American football in high school and had been unable to move his left shoulder properly. He was the last Hawaiian wrestler in sumo. During his career he had won a total of twelve top division championships, one more than Akebono, and also won over 700 top division bouts, one of only six wrestlers to have achieved that feat to date. He officially retired on October 2, 2004 when he had his danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Musashimaru has remained in the sumo world as an oyakata, or coach at his old stable. He did not acquire a permanent elder (toshiyori) name, going instead under the name of Musashimaru Oyakata, which as a former yokozuna he was entitled to do for a period of five years after retirement. In October 2008 he began using the name Furiwake.^[5]

In April 2008 he married a hula hoop instructor from Tokyo and the wedding ceremony took place in August 2008 in Hawaii.

He appeared alongside Brad Pitt (who was playing his personal assistant) in two commercials for Softbank, a Japanese mobile phone company, in July 2009. They were directed by Spike Jonze.

Fighting style

In addition to his great size and strength, Musashimaru had a low centre of gravity and excellent balance, which made him very difficult to beat. Earlier in his career he favoured pushing and thrusting (tsuki/oshi) techniques, but he also began to fight more on the mawashi, simply wearing his smaller opponents out with his huge inertia. He usually used a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip. His most common winning kimarite was oshi dashi (push out), closely followed by yori kiri (force out). Together these two techniques accounted for about 60 percent of his career wins.

Top division record

Musashimaru Kōyō ^[6]

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
1991	x	x	x	x	x	East Maegashira #12 11–4 F
1992	East Maegashira #3 9–6	West Maegashira #1 9–6	West Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 11–4 T	West Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 9–6
1993	East Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 9–6	West Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 13–2–P O
1994	East Sekiwake 12–3 T	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 12–3	West Ōzeki 15–0	East Ōzeki 11–4	West Ōzeki 12–3
1995	West Ōzeki 13–2–P	East Ōzeki 12–3	East Ōzeki 12–3	East Ōzeki 12–3	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 10–5
1996	West Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 11–4	West Ōzeki 11–4–PPP
1997	West Ōzeki 12–3	West Ōzeki 12–3–P	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 13–2–P	East Ōzeki 12–3
1998	West Ōzeki 12–3	East Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 12–3	East Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 11–4
1999	East Ōzeki 8–7	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 13–2	West Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 12–3	East Yokozuna 12–3
2000	East Yokozuna 2–2–11	East Yokozuna 11–4	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	East Yokozuna 10–5	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 11–4
2001	West Yokozuna 14–1–P	West Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 13–2–P	West Yokozuna 12–3	East Yokozuna 9–6	East Yokozuna 13–2
2002	East Yokozuna 1–3–11	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 10–5	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 4–2–9
2003	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	West Yokozuna 2–4–9	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	West Yokozuna Retired 3–5–0
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 sumo tournament winners
• List of sumo tournament second division winners
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of yokozuna

References

1. ^ Kuehnert, Marty (2003-11-19). "The end of the Hawaiian era marks a huge blow to sumo". Japan Times Online. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/sp20031119mk.html. Retrieved 2007-06-30. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0283-x. 
3. ^ "SUMO'S HAWAIIAN GIANT:Second Foreign Wrestler Reaches Highest Rank". Trends In Japan. 1999-08-06. http://web-japan.org/trends00/honbun/tj990806.html. Retrieved 2008-07-31. 
4. ^ "Musashimaru stays on top". BBC News Online. 2000-09-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/931074.stm. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
5. ^ "Oyakata (coaches) - goo sumo". Japan Sumo Association. October 2008. http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/ozumo_meikan/kyokai_in/oyakata/oyakata.php. Retrieved 2008-10-22. 
6. ^ "Rikishi in Juryo and Makunouchi". szumo.hu. http://www.szumo.hu/sekitori/Musashimaru.html. Retrieved 2007-08-06. 

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile

previous: Wakanohana Masaru	67th Yokozuna 1999 - 2003	next: Asashōryū Akinori
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title

Persondata
Name	Musashimaru, Koyo
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1971-05-02
Place of birth	Samoa
Date of death
Place of death