Kunimiyama

Kunimiyama - 国見山 (born May 5, 1959) is a former South Korean professional sumo wrestler from Seoul, Gyeonggi Province. He made his debut in November 1977 and wrestled for Tomozuna stable. His highest rank was makushita 27 and he retired in May 1988.

## **Early Life**

Kiju Kim (김기주) was born in Seoul, South Korea, and he participated in Judo in high school. He also practiced judo in the collegiate level at Yong In University before dropping out. After dropping out, he was a candidate for the South Korean Judo Team for the Moscow Olympics, but in 1977 he was scouted for professional sumo and he accepted an invitation to Tomozuna stable. He made his debut in November 1977 and initially wrestled under the shikona "Daikanyama" (大韓山).

## **Career**

Daikanyama breezed through the first two divisions and achieved two consecutive 6-1 records which sent him to the sandanme division in May 1978. Daikanyama found sandanme to be harder than the previous two divisions and he sat out of the May 1979 tournament. The following tournament he won all seven bouts and a playoff match against Komahikari to claim the sandanme yusho. As a result he was promoted to the makushita division in September 1979.

In his first makushita tournament, he struggled and would not make another appearance at the division until two years later in November 1981. In September 1983, he changed his shikona to his family name of Kim "金"(Japanese pronunciation is Kin). In November 1984, he reached a career-best rank of makushita 27. In May 1985, he changed his shikona to "Kunimiyama" (国見山).

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Kim announced his retirement in May 1988 after posting his fifth consecutive losing record and he cited that this was caused due to injuries. After retirement Kim stayed in Japan and held several different jobs. He worked as the manager of an oil company, manager of a planning office in Samsung Japan, employed at KBS Tokyo, manager of a ryokan, employed at a Korean barbecue restaurant. He also worked at Japanese broadcasting stations. During the 1988 Seoul Olympics he served as the interpreter for Japanese reporters.

Kim works with many NGO's that help protect the lives and human rights of North Korean defectors.

His most notable job was when he was employed as Korean baseball player Lee Seung-yuop's agent and personal translator. Since Lee Seung-yuop played in the Japanese baseball leagues, Kim would teach him Japanese and help him adapt to Japanese culture.

### **Legal Issues**

On August 12th, 2003, Kim was arrested by Chinese public security officials after he tried to pursue asylum for North Korean defectors. He was later repatriated to South Korea.

In October 2008, According to the *Mainichi Shimbun*, Kim was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment due to violation of Japanese custom laws. He was accused of smuggling stimulants for commercial purposes. According to the ruling, Kim used a fake passport to smuggle 6.8 kg of stimulants from South Korea and other countries from June to September 2008. He sold the stimulants to a Japanese drug ring and received 8 million yen ($77,450 USD) in return.

## **Personal Life**

* Kim married a Korean woman in 1989 and they share a daughter and a son together.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 217-200-24/417 (64 basho)
* **Makushita:** 50-76/126 (18 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 155-122-24/277 (43 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (July 1979)

## **Shikona History**

* Daikanyama Kiju (1977.11 - 1983.07)
* Kin Motomasa (1983.09 - 1985.03)
* Kunimiyama (1985.05 - 1988.05)

## **Gallery**

Kunimiyama joins professional sumo (c. 1977)Kunimiyama during his time in maezumo (c. 1977)Kunimiyama's retirement ceremony (c. 1988)

## **Sources**

* Kunimiyama Rikishi Information
* Chosun Article on Kunimiyama
* Article on Kunimiyama's Arrest