Yoshiazuma Hiroshi

Yoshiazuma Hiroshi - 芳東 洋 (born May 26, 1977) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kashima, Kumamoto. He made his debut in January 1996 and currently wrestles for Tamanoi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 2011. His highest rank as of 2023 is maegashira 12.

## **Early Life**

In his early years Ishihara was more interested in soccer, and was a member of the kendo team in middle school. He started sumo in high school, and in his third year contributed to his team taking the championship in a national tournament. He chose to join Tamanoi stable when he graduated high school.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Upon joining professional sumo in March 1996, he took the ring name of Yoshiazuma, taking the first character from a benefactor's name and the second character following the convention of taking the character of azuma from the current and previous stable owners, former Tochiazuma II, and Tochiazuma I.

Yoshiazuma's career started out very successfully and in only his second tournament he almost took the jonidan division championship, losing a three-man playoff to Akiyama. He actually beat Akiyama in the second round, but lost to him in the fourth and final round. His career after this was lackluster however, and for the next fifteen years he would struggle in the unsalaried ranks, through a series of setbacks, ever so slowly working his way up through the ranks.

In May 1999, he earned promotion to the makushita division and slowly rose up the ranks of makushita. He got his first taste of a juryo promotion in September 2002 when he was ranked at makushita 5, however, he finished with a 3-4 record. In July 2004, he was ranked at the top of makushita and even faced off against juryo-ranked wrestler, Wakakosho, however, he finished with a 3-4 record and missed out on juryo promotion yet again. He would remain in the top ranks of makushita for around the next three years. After six consecutive winning records which include 5-2 and 4-3 records, Yoshiazuma was promoted to the juryo division in November 2007.

### **Juryo Career**

At the age of 30 years and 5 months, he was the third oldest wrestler promoted to juryo since the six tournaments per year system was established. Yoshiazuma struggled in his first juryo tournament and only produced a 4-11 record. He would remain in the top makushita ranks for another three years before earning a promotion back to juryo in January 2011.

He scored only 6–9 in his juryo return, but after the cancellation of the March tournament he enjoyed a big promotion up the division from juryo 13 to juryo 2 despite only scoring a bare majority of 8–7 in the May 2011 "technical examination" tournament. He benefitted from a large number of retirements in the juryo division following a match-fixing scandal, with the Sumo Association needing to over-promote to fill the gaps. However he took advantage of his good fortune by putting in a strong 9–6 score in July and was promoted to the top division for the September 2011 tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

This feat took him fifteen years and 93 tournaments from his professional debut, the third slowest rise to the top division in the history of sumo. He was also the second oldest wrestler since World War II to earn promotion to makuuchi for the first time at 34 years, 3 months. However, he only lasted this one tournament, being relegated after a 5–10 record. His second tournament in makuuchi was also unsuccessful, a 3–12 in January 2012. After three winning records in the next four tournaments he earned promotion to makuuchi for a third time in November 2012, but was again demoted straightaway, after another 3–12 score.

### **Later Career**

Yoshiazuma would remain in juryo for another two years before demotion from sekitori status became imminent in November 2014. Three tournaments later, he was demoted all the way down to sandanme. He would remain in sandanme for three years before falling down to jonidan in September 2020. He was force to sit out of the September 2020 tournament after a COVID-19 outbreak happened at his stable. Since he was unsalaried at the time, it was never confirmed wether he attracted the virus or not. Nevertheless, this broke his 1183 consecutive match record, but the Sumo Association announced that this mandatory pull out would not affect his streak of consecutive matches. He had to withdraw from Day 11 of the July 2022 tournament after another COVID outbreak at Tamanoi stable.

## **Personal Life**

Since Yoshiazuma's debut in January 1996, he has always been the tallest Japanese rikishi at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m). The only sumo wrestlers taller than him were Bulgarian wrestler Kotooshu who stood at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) and Estonian wrestler Baruto, who stood at 6 ft 6.5 in (1.99 m). The only other sumo wrestler that shared the same height as Yoshiazuma was the other Estonian wrestler, Kitaoji, who stood also at 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) as well. Yoshiazuma finally lost the achievement of being the tallest Japanese rikishi in March 2020, when 6 ft 7 in (2.00 m) Hokuseiho joined. However, since Hokuseiho is technically an ethnic Mongolian, Yoshiazuma is still the tallest ethnic Japanese sumo wrestler.

He has not missed a bout since his debut and has the longest streak of consecutive career bouts amongst active wrestlers. July 2018 was his 135th career tournament with no absences over a period of 22 years, equal to Aobajo, although Yoshiazuma has fought around 500 bouts fewer than Aobajo's record of 1630 consecutive bouts, having spent only 21 of those tournaments in the sekitori ranks fighting a full 15 days.

After the retirement of Kyokutenho and Wakanosato in September 2015, Yoshiazuma became the oldest rikishi with sekitori experience.

Yoshiazuma's hobby is watching TV.

## **Fighting Style**

Yoshiazuma is a solidly yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. His favoured grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt is migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position. He wins about half of his bouts with a straightforward yorikiri, or force out. Another kimarite he regularly uses is hatakikomi, the slap down.

## **Record**

### **Divison Results**

* **Total:** 649-666-8/1314 (166 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 11-34/45 (3 basho)
* **Juryo:** 124-146/270 (18 basho)
* **Makushita:** 289-271/560 (80 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 182-195-1/376 (54 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 38-18-7/56 (9 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **Record:** **3rd** Slowest progress to top division (93)
* **3rd** oldest rikishi promoted to juryo (30 years 5 months)
* **2nd** oldest rikishi promoted to makuuchi (34 years 3 months)

## **Gallery**

### **JSA Profile Pictures and Tegata**

Yoshiazuma Hiroshi - 2013 (Retrieved from the JSA)Yoshiazuma Hiroshi - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Yoshiazuma Hiroshi - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Yoshiazuma Hiroshi - 2011 (Retrieved from the JSA)Yoshiazuma Hiroshi - 2007 (Retrieved from the JSA)Yoshiazuma's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Yoshiazuma after promotion to Juryo (c. 2007)Yoshiazuma prepares for his upcoming bout (c. 2007)Yoshiazuma defeats Takamisakari (c. 2011)Yoshiazuma after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2011)Yoshiazuma defeats Sotairyu (c. 2013)Yoshiazuma defeats Wakanoshima (c. 2014)Yoshiazuma battles Tomokaze (c. 2021)Yoshiazuma prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Yoshiazuma throws and defeats his opponent (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Yoshiazuma Hiroshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Yoshiazuma Hiroshi Rikishi Information