page_title: Aminishiki Ryūji
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Aminishiki Ryūji / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: First day of 2009 May Sumo Tournament in Tokyo, Japan - Aminishiki
context_page_description: Aminishiki Ryūji is a retired Japanese sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 1997 and reached the top makuuchi division in 2000. He earned twelve special prizes and won eight kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna. He was twice runner-up in a tournament. The highest rank he reached was sekiwake. After more than 22 years as an active wrestler he retired in July 2019 at the age of 40. He is in the all-time top ten for a number of sumo records, including most career wins, most top division appearances and most tournaments ranked in the top division. He wrestled for Isegahama stable.
context_section_description: He made his professional debut in January 1997. He reached the second highest jūryō division after three years in January 2000. He made the top makuuchi division just three tournaments later in July 2000. He won his first special prize in his debut top division tournament, for Fighting Spirit. In January 2003, he scored his first win over a yokozuna by defeating Takanohana, who announced his retirement the next day. He was a runner-up in the May 2003 tournament. In 2004, he briefly fell to jūryō after suffering an injury in the July tournament.
  Aminishiki has won the prestigious ginō-shō or Technique Prize on six occasions, and has also earned eight kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna. Having come close on a number of occasions, Aminishiki finally made his san'yaku debut in November 2006, having chalked up an impressive 11–4 runner-up record at maegashira 3 rank the previous September. He fell short with 6 wins at komusubi, but remained in the upper maegashira ranks. In July 2007, he returned to komusubi and scored 8–7, winning his second successive shukun-shō, or Outstanding Performance Award. This earned him promotion to sekiwake for September 2007. It took him 43 top division tournaments to reach sumo's third highest rank, the fourth slowest rise ever.
  He won his first eight bouts in his sekiwake debut, leading the race for the championship, although he faltered in the second week and finished with a 10–5 record. In the November 2007 tournament he won his last three bouts to preserve his sekiwake rank with an 8–7 score. In January 2008, however, he could win only five matches and fell back to the maegashira ranks. In March 2008 he defeated yokozuna Hakuhō having injured his right knee the day before the match in a loss to Asashōryū. In May 2008 he scored an impressive ten wins and was the only man to defeat Kotoōshū, the winner of the tournament, which secured him his third Outstanding Performance Prize.
  Aminishiki returned to the sekiwake rank in January 2009 after winning his fourth Outstanding Performance Prize at komusubi in November 2008. However, he was still wearing a brace on his right knee when he faced yokozuna Asashōryū on Day Eight. Asashōryū shoved him out of the ring, at which point Aminishiki winced, collapsed and grasped his right knee. He forfeited the next day's bout against Kyokutenhō, and pulled out of the tournament altogether after doctors pronounced he would require at least two weeks to heal.
  Falling back to the maegashira ranks for the March tournament, he produced a 9–6 score on his return. He earned his seventh kinboshi, and fourth from  Asashōryū, during the May 2009 tournament. In July 2009 he scored eleven wins and won his fourth Technique Prize, guaranteeing him a return to san'yaku. In September he was ranked at komusubi but just failed to secure his kachi-koshi, falling to Kakuryū on the final day to finish 7–8. A strong performance in the January 2010 tournament saw him win eleven bouts and pick up his fifth Technique Prize. He returned to the komusubi ranking in March, and to sekiwake in May. Dropping to the maegashira ranks for July, he was forced to withdraw after injuring his right knee yet again in a win over Tochinoshin on Day 12. His withdrawal drew much attention in Japan because it meant on that day foreigners outnumbered native born Japanese in the top division for the first time ever (17 to 16). He remained an upper maegashira, and held on to the maegashira 3 rank in July 2011, despite only scoring 7–8 in the previous tournament, due to the larger number of forced retirements from the top two division in the wake of a match-fixing scandal – his brother amongst them.
  In March 2012 he returned to the rank of sekiwake for the first time in ten tournaments, and although he fell just short of kachi-koshi with a 7–8 record, he remained in the san'yaku ranks at komusubi in May. On Day 1 he defeated Hakuhō for the fourth time, handing the yokozuna his first opening day defeat since November 2008 – and Aminishiki was the wrestler who beat him on that occasion as well. Amin
caption: Aminishiki in May 2009, with his injured right knee taped
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