Hinomaru Ushio

is the main protagonist of Hinomaru Zumō. He is a first year student at Oodachi High School and vice-captain of its sumo club. His greatest desire is to attain the title "Yokozuna", the highest rank in the world of professional sumo wrestling. He was a two year consecutive champion of Elementary School. He decided to join Shibakiyama Stable to become a professional wrestler. Upon entering professional sumo, he took the ring name Onimaru Kunitsuna (鬼丸国綱).
==Appearance==
Ushio Hinomaru is a stout, far below average height 16-year-old. He has long reddish black hair, which in some panels appears to resemble fire. In coloured illustrations, he is shown to have amber eyes. He also has a scar on his lower left cheek. Hinomaru's shown to have multiple scars on his muscular body from his harsh training. Despite this, there is a strong physical resemblance to his mother aside from a quite prominent Adam's apple, but as he grows older, his face becomes more masculine. In the anime, however, this resemblance is lost.
In his debut, during tournaments and in illustrations, he's shown only to wear a jacket over his chest and his mawashi, and sometimes he wears the jacket like a cape. He's also known for wearing a gakuran, rather than the Dachi HIgh western-style uniform.
After the time skip, he's shown wearing a black and red yukata with a flame motif and his shikona embroidered on it, as well as having his hair styled in the traditional topknot. However, during the stay at his grandparents' home, he changed into a T-shirt and pants when going to sleep.
==Personality==
In high school, Hinomaru tends to have a friendly, easy-going personality and a serious mind when it comes to sumo and his studies. However, when he enters the dohyo, his personality completely changes, becoming focused, fierce and explosive like a blazing fire. Unlike Kuze Sōsuke, who also went through year not competing, Hinomaru enjoys and absorbs the crowds' cheers and boos, while Kuze actively blocks them out to achieve a zen-like state of mind.
However, he's shown having a soft spot when it comes to the memories of his mother (especially concerning her passing away), coming to the point of anger when he feels someone's about to leave him, or when someone jokes around about death. Also, by his own admittance, he feels very uncomfortable when women show interest in him, due to his single-minded way of being, even saying that he's just a "sumo freak" and can't give anything to whoever he's with, something that worried his stable master. He also feels uncomfortable with 'dirty talk', as explained by some of his stable mates and Onikiri. He's also notoriously bad at saying what he feels, which leads to some frustration and misunderstandings from others, particularly Reina, whom he apologizes to constantly for "showing her his uncool side".
His biggest flaw, nonetheless, is his extreme focus on results, which led to a lack of self-care in the ring. He'll stop at nothing to win, disregarding the consequences, an issue noticed by many of the characters and that creates varying issues with the people closest to him. Jinou refers to this as a "death wish", which is in Hinomaru's own words, "not wrong," yet at the same time, he's afraid of entering the dohyo and worries about what will his next crippling injury be. How this affects his mindset is shown as a "twisted and painful form of love for sumo", and due to all the disadvantages he has regarding the sport he loves, he is considered to be incredibly reckless in his pursuit of the title of yokozuna, something the top-ranked wrestler himself tries to deter.
He's also seen as someone who's so self-reliant, he has an incredibly hard time depending on others. That excessive independence came from the fact that his mother couldn't take proper care of him, and therefore he does whatever he can to not worry anyone else, be it his grandparents, his stable master, or the person closest to him.
He is also known to be very old-fashioned, despite being so young because he is so entrenched and locked-in to life as a sumo wrestler. He opts to run for miles to retrieve sales flyers instead of pulling them up online as he is also technologically challenged, often going for pay phones, and doesn't even have an older-model mobile phone.
==Abilities==
Hinomaru is a deceptively skilled sumo wrestler, being considered a National Treasure, someone who was the potential to become a yokozuna. Despite his height, he showed a 'demon-like' strength, fighting opponent much larger than him without a problem, having both great resistance and attacking power.
His main focus when he attacks is grabbing his opponent's mawashi and using throwing techniques, like his Onigiruma (underarm throw). He also can keep people at a relative distance with strikes, similar in power to the ones Yuuma, a black-belt karateka, uses.
He is even more powerful in individual battles, especially against Chihiro Kunisaki. When they fought in the individual battles, Kunisaki's improvisation and ability to take other people's moves are helpful, but it took Hinomaru's improvised move off of Kunisaki's suplexes to beat him.
His strength is also his weakness. Against Higher-ranked high-school wrestlers, they can easily counter and withstand his special moves due to them being constantly filmed for biomechanical analysis and scouting purposes since middle school, something Ushio never experienced as he left the competitive scene during that time.
However, during his training with Ogawa Tokio, he managed to perform Reverse Hundred Demon Throw by faking the hip toss, lead the Hundred Demon Throw, by first lifting the opponent upward and drive them back, he finally realizes he should use different techniques to set up for the finisher.
His biggest issue is against Tennoji Shido. In his second bout against him in the Inter High, because he was thoroughly scouted, he had no choice but to be defensive, but in also helped him build momentum to spring-load himself. He also combined Yuma's punches, with Kei's evasiveness. He finally acknowledges how incorporating different styles, or even copying others like Kunisaki seemed to do, actually compliments his own style.
As a pure striker, as long as he can stay close enough to his opponent, he can compensate his lack of power by using quick strikes. However, he is vulnerable when countered by strikers with reach and powerful one-counter-punch power. He is also vulnerable against bigger opponents with great endurance. Due to his left arm being injured, if the fight lasts for over 2 minutes, he has to resort to Right Underarm Throw: Demon Wheel to try and finish, which he did to defeat Kuze Sōsuke.
==History==
==Synopsis==
===District Preliminary arc===
During his first Inter-High, where the matches are done in reverse (individual competition before team competition), he fought valiantly against Tennōji Shidō, but after losing, it seems like he'd hads to wait another year to get into All-Japan tournament. However, given Tennōji;s dominance, he was asked to rest, and seek treatment his arm for the rest of Day 1, while the rest of the team survives the team competition, until he returns on Days 2 and 3 of the competition.
===Sumo Recruitment arc===
===Kanto Newcomer Tournament arc===
==Major Battles==
===Amateur===
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Gojō Yūma
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Kanamori
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Ookouchi
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Sada Mizuki
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Chihiro Kunisaki
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Kei Mitsuhashi (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Kei Mitsuhashi (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Shimoyama Rinpei (Kanto Newcomer Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Kariya Shun (Kanto Newcomer Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Kuze Sōsuke (Kanto Newcomer Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Tsuji Kirihito (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Terahara (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Saenoyama Norihino (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Saenoyama Norihino (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Saenoyama Norihino (Sparring Match)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Tennoji Shido (Inter High, Individual and Team battles, All-Japan National Championships)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Kuze Sōsuke (Inter High, Team battles Finals)
===Professional===
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Nochi Kazuoki
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Ganryuu (Nagoya Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Tsuji Kirihito (Nagoya Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Yomoda Jin
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Tonbokiri Rui
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Otegine Tadashi
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Hikage Tenma (September Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Jinou (September Tournament)
*Ushio Hinomaru vs Nochi Kazuoki (September Tournament)
== Etymology ==
* Ushio means "tide, ebb, opportunity" (潮).
* Hinomaru means "fire/flame, light, blaze" (火) (hi) and "round, circle, pills, purity, suffix for ship names, complete" (丸) (maru).
=== Ring Name ===
* The name Onimaru means "demon, ogre, daemon" (鬼) (oni) and "round, circle, pills, purity, suffix for ship names, complete" (丸) (maru).
* Onimaru's surname Kunitsuna means "national rules" (国綱).
==Trivia==
*His blood type is O.
*His epithet, Onimaru Kunitsuna, comes from one of the Tenka-Goken (天下五剣, Five Swords under Heaven), classified as an Imperial Property of Japan.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenka-Goken
*He enjoys learning about history, visiting historical sites, juggling bag games (according to himself) and jidaigeki (period drama) stories.
*Despite his love for sumo, his garlic and protein powder-packed chankonabe tastes so bad, only Kunisaki Chihiro liked it.
*He ranked first in the popularity poll.
*He hates crowded trains and dirty talk.
*Despite his size, he has a big appetite, and stated he has to eat a lot because he also struggled to keep his weight up due to his fast metabolism. However, he made the club black-listed from Jiro's BBQ Buffet because he almost single-handedly bankrupted the restaurant and its food supply overnight.
*In sumo battles, crowds throw futon pillows as a show of appreciation after a great final bout.
*During time skip at the end of episode 24 of the anime, it was revealed that Hinomaru came third in All-Japan National Championships, losing to Tennoji Shido, while Tennoji went on to win the tournament, he became a sandanme (pro league with no size or weight restrictions), while Tennoji became a #15 ranked makushita. The trade-off is that he must drop out of high school.
==References==
Category:Males
Category:Oodachi High School
Category:Amateur Sumo Wrestlers
Category:Professional Sumo Wrestlers
Category:National Treasures
Category:Shibakiyama Stable
Category:Characters