- Hōmashō Noriyuki
-
豊真将 紀行
Hōmashō Noriyuki
Personal information Born Yōsuke Yamamoto
April 16, 1981
Yamaguchi, JapanHeight 1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in) Weight 150 kg (330 lb; 24 st) Web presence website Career Heya Shikoroyama Current rank see below Debut March 2004 Highest rank Komusubi (Nov 2011) Yūshō 1 (Sandanme) Sanshō Fighting Spirit (5)
Technique (2)* Career information is correct as of Nov 2011. Hōmashō Noriyuki (born April 16, 1981 as Yōsuke Yamamoto in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan), is a sumo wrestler. He turned professional in March 2004 and reached the top makuuchi division in May 2006, without any losing scores on his record. The highest rank he has so far reached is komusubi. He has earned seven special prizes in his top division career to date and been a runner-up in three tournaments. He is the first sekitori from Shikoroyama stable.
Contents
Career
He graduated from Saitama Sakae High School and was accepted by the Nihon University sumo club. However due to illness, he had to quit the club and instead did various part-time jobs in between attending lectures at the university. He did not make his professional debut until March 2004, at the age of nearly 23. He was recruited by former sekiwake Terao, the head coach of the newly opened Shikoroyama stable, who Homashō had admired as a young boy.
Initially fighting under his real surname of Yamamoto, he rose through the lower divisions quickly, capturing the yusho or tournament championship in the sandanme division with a perfect 7-0 record in November 2004, upon which he changed his shikona to Hōmashō. He achieved kachi-koshi in every tournament until he reached the top makuuchi division, only the third wrestler to do so since 1958, following Akebono and Kotooshu. He moved through the second highest jūryō division in just two tournaments. He took his first make-koshi or losing score in his top division debut in May 2006, but an exceptional result of 12-3 in November of that year, in which he was runner-up, gained him two prizes.
Hōmashō was promoted to maegashira 4 for the following tournament in January 2007. He only managed a 7-8 score there and so slipped down the rankings slightly, but he produced a strong 11-4 record from maegashira 5 in March 2007, which earned him his second Technique prize. He was promoted to his highest rank to date of maegashira 1 for the following tournament, just missing out on the two available komusubi positions which instead went to the demoted sekiwake Kotoshogiku, and Toyonoshima who had scored 8-7 at maegashira 1.
Hōmashō suffered his first big setback in the May 2007 tournament, dropping his last four matches (all against maegashira ranked wrestlers) to finish with a poor 5-10 record. In July 2007 he won nine of his first ten bouts but lost the last five, finishing on 9-6. He returned to maegashira 1 in September and recorded eight wins, but again was not promoted to the sanyaku ranks, instead being moved from the west to the east side of the banzuke. He would only manage three wins at that rank in the November tournament.
At the end of 2007 he dropped 10 kilos in weight, due to the effects of medication for high cholesterol, and he turned in a poor 4-11 score in January 2008, sliding to maegashira 13 for the March 2008 tournament. At this low rank he was able to produce a kachi-koshi score of 9-6. He had climbed to maegashira 2 by September 2008 but was unable to compete in that tournament due to a wrist injury, the first time in his career that he has missed any bouts. After having surgery, he returned in November but despite being ranked as low as maegashira 15 he could only win seven matches.
Homashō was in better condition for the January 2009 tournament and from the very bottom maegashira 16 rank he scored eleven wins and won the Fighting Spirit Prize. In the following tournament in March he won nine bouts in a row from 2-3, finishing as a runner-up with another 11-4 score and winning his second successive Kanto-sho, and third overall. Once again he was denied a sanyaku debut, with the komusubi positions going to Kakuryu and Tochiozan, and was ranked at maegashira 1 for the fourth time in the May 2009 tournament. However, he performed very badly in May, losing his first fourteen matches before managing a solitary win on the final day. He recovered to score 10-5 in July.
He rose to maegashira 2 for the May 2010 tournament, but withdrew after losing his first six matches, citing an injury to his cervical vertebrae picked up in training shortly before the tournament.[1] He made a strong comeback in July, winning his first ten bouts and finishing joint runner-up alongside Aran and Kakuryu on 11-4. He was awarded his fourth Fighting Spirit prize (shared with Aran). In the September tournament he defeated ozeki Kotooshu and Baruto on consecutive days. This came after he had lost his previous twenty matches against ozeki ranked wrestlers.[2] However, he lost five of his last six matches to finish with a disappointing 7-8 score. Ranked at maegashira 2 in May 2011, he won just three bouts; although these did include wins over Kotooshu and sekiwake Kisenosato. Fighting from a more comfortable position at maegashira 9 in the July tournament, he scored 11-4 and won his fifth Fighting Spirit prize and seventh sansho overall. This resulted in his promotion to maegashira 1 for the fifth time in the September 2011 tournament. He is the first wrestler to be ranked at maegashira 1 more than three times without ever making the sanyaku ranks.[3] In the September tournament he went 10-5, including victories over all three ozeki, and this performance saw him finally reach sanyaku in the November 2011 tournament at komusubi rank. At 30 years and six months he became the fourth oldest sanyaku debutant since the six basho a year system began in 1958.
Hōmashō is a popular wrestler amongst sumo fans, and is noted for his deep and graceful bow at the end of a match.[4]
Fighting style
Homasho is a straightforward, unspectacular yotsu-sumo wrestler, rarely employing throwing moves. His favourite grip on his opponent's mawashi is a left hand outside, right hand inside position, or migi-yotsu. Yori-kiri (force out) and yori-taoshi (force out and down) account for about 45 percent of his career wins.[5]
Tournament record
Hōmashō Noriyuki[6]
year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, TokyoMarch
Haru basho, OsakaMay
Natsu basho, TokyoJuly
Nagoya basho, NagoyaSeptember
Aki basho, TokyoNovember
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka2004 x x East Jonokuchi #13
4–3
East Jonidan #114
6–1
West Jonidan #33
6–1
West Sandanme #68
7–0–
Champion
2005 East Makushita #42
4–3
East Makushita #34
5–2
West Makushita #24
6–1
East Makushita #8
4–3
East Makushita #7
5–2
East Makushita #3
5–2
2006 East Jūryō #12
10–5
East Jūryō #5
12–3
East Maegashira #11
6–9
East Maegashira #14
9–6
East Maegashira #11
7–8
East Maegashira #11
12–3
FT2007 West Maegashira #4
7–8
West Maegashira #5
11–4
TEast Maegashira #1
5–10
East Maegashira #6
9–6
West Maegashira #1
8–7
East Maegashira #1
3–12
2008 West Maegashira #7
4–11
East Maegashira #13
9–6
West Maegashira #11
9–6
East Maegashira #6
9–6
West Maegashira #2
Sat out due to injury
0–0–15West Maegashira #15
7–8
2009 East Maegashira #16
11–4
FEast Maegashira #7
11–4
FEast Maegashira #1
1–14
East Maegashira #15
10–5
West Maegashira #6
7–8
West Maegashira #7
6–9
2010 East Maegashira #12
9–6
West Maegashira #5
9–6
East Maegashira #2
0–7–8
East Maegashira #13
11–4
FEast Maegashira #2
7–8
East Maegashira #3
7–8
2011 East Maegashira #4
8–7
East Maegashira #2
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0East Maegashira #2
3–12
East Maegashira #9
11–4
FEast Maegashira #1
10–5
West Komusubi
–
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)
Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — JonokuchiSee also
References
- ^ "Sumo: Homasho pulls out of summer sumo". Breitbart. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FN3D1O1&show_article=1. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
- ^ "Bout query result". Sumo Reference. http://www.sumoreference.com/Query_bout.aspx?show_form=0&rowcount=3&shikona1=Homasho&rank2=O. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
- ^ "2011 September Grand Sumo Tournament Banzuke Topics". Japan Sumo Association. August 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/61MRj1Hf1.
- ^ Oya, Shinichi Oya (4 March 2011). "Sumo world must reaffirm education, master-apprentice ties to resurrect itself". Mainichi Daily News. Archived from the original on 4 March 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/5wvq2Jmqu.
- ^ "homasho bouts by kimarite". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi_kim.aspx?r=6018. Retrieved 2009-08-24.
- ^ "Rikishi in Juryo and Makunouchi". szumo.hu. http://www.szumo.hu/sekitori/Homasho.html. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
External links
- Japanese Sumo Association Biography (English)(Japanese)
- Complete biography and basho results (Japanese)
Categories:- 1981 births
- Living people
- Japanese sumo wrestlers
- People from Shimonoseki
- Sumo people from Yamaguchi Prefecture
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