Ryūhō Masayoshi

Sumo wrestler infobox

wrestlername =琉鵬 正吉 Ryūhō Masayoshi
realname = Keisuke Urazaki
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|06|18
placeofbirth = Okinawa, Japan
height = height|meters=1.84
weight = convert|147|kg|lb|abbr=on|lk=on
heya = Michinoku, formerly Tatsutagawa
rank = Makushita 11
record = 385-366-12
debut = March, 1993
highestrank = Maegashira 16 (September, 2006)
yushos =
prizes =
goldstars =
update = Sept 2008

Ryūhō Masayoshi (born June 18, 1977 as Keisuke Urazaki) is a sumo wrestler from Nakagami, Okinawa, Japan. His highest rank has been "maegashira" 16.

Career

He entered sumo in March 1993, joining Tatsutagawa stable. He initially wrestled under his own surname of Urazaki, first adopting the "shikona" of Ryūhō in 1997. He has changed the second part of his "shikona" several times, from Keisuke to Shokichi before settling on his current Masayoshi.

In 2000 he moved to Michinoku stable when his old "heya" was closed down upon the retirement of its stablemaster. After over nine years in the unsalaried apprentice ranks, he finally became a "sekitori" for the first time in November 2002 upon promotion to the second highest "juryo" division. He could only manage a 5-10 score in that tournament and was demoted back to the "makushita" division. He finally managed a return to "juryo" in September 2005, after nearly three years away, and slowly moved up the division until an 8-7 score at "Juryo" 1 East in July 2006 saw him promoted to the top "makuuchi" division. It took him 81 tournaments from his professional debut to reach makuuchi, the tenth slowest since the introduction of the six tournaments a year system in 1958.

Although Ryūhō won his first two top division matches (against Kasugao and Kakuryu) he could manage only two more wins in September 2006 (against Hakurozan and Toyonoshima) and was demoted back to the second division after only one tournament. By July 2007 he had fallen to "Juryo" 11 West and a loss to Ichihara on Day 12 left him with only three wins against nine losses. Demotion to "makushita" seemed certain, yet he managed to win his last three bouts, and his 6-9 score was just enough to preserve his "sekitori" status. However, in the next tournament in September 2007 he could only manage 5-10 at "Juryo" 14 West and was demoted from "juryo", replaced by Ichihara.

Back in "makushita" for the November 2007 tournament he turned in a "make-koshi" 3-4 score but he produced three "kachi-koshi" winning records of 4-3 in the first three tournaments of 2008.

Top division record

Sumo record box start|Ryūhō Masayoshi [cite web | author= | title=Rikishi in Juryo and Makunouchi | publisher=szumo.hu | language=English | url=http://www.szumo.hu/sekitori/Ryuho.html | date= | accessdate=2007-07-10]


Sumo record year start|2006 Basho | Basho | Basho | Basho | Basho |m|16|e|4|11 Basho |JURYO Sumo record year start|2007 Basho |JURYO Basho |JURYO Basho |JURYO Basho |JURYO Basho |JURYO Basho |MAKUSHITA Sumo record year end Basho |MAKUSHITA Basho |MAKUSHITA Basho |MAKUSHITA Basho |MAKUSHITA Basho |MAKUSHITA Basho | Sumo record year end

References

ee also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of active sumo wrestlers

External links

* [http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/ozumo_meikan/rikishi_joho/rikishi_1211.html Japan Sumo Association biography]