Kagayaki Taishi

Kagayaki Taishi - 輝 大士 (born June 1, 1994) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kanazawa, Ishikawa. He made his debut in May 2010 and currently wrestles for Takadagawa stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2016. His highest rank as of 2023 is maegashira 3.

## **Early Life**

Tatsu was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa and is the youngest of three children. His father was a truck driver. He was a normal-sized baby but grew quickly so that when attending kindergarten he had difficulty fitting into the uniform. He first began practicing sumo whilst in the first grade of elementary school.

After elementary school, Tatsu attended Kanazawa Shiritsu Seinanbu Junior High School and was in the same sumo club as future makuuchi wrestler, Enho. By the age of thirteen, when he ended his first year at junior high school he stood 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in), and weighed 108 kg (238 lb). After competing successfully in junior high school sumo he gave up formal education at the age of fifteen and entered the Takadagawa stable to pursue a professional career.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

In the early part of his sumo career the wrestler subsequently known as Kagayaki competed as "Tatsu", his family name. On entering the professional sport Tatsu revealed that his idol was Hakuho and that his aim was to become a yokozuna "in six or seven years".

He was still a month away from his sixteenth birthday when he made his professional debut in May 2010 but recorded six wins in the jonokuchi division to earn an immediate promotion. Two months later another 6-1 result saw him being promoted from jonidan to sandanme, the fourth-highest division. After five more tournaments he was promoted to makushita (third division) after a 5–2 result at the Nagoya tournament in July 2011.

Tatsu rose through the ranks of makushita and in January 2012, the seventeen-year-old Tatsu tied for the lead with six wins at the end of regular competition but was defeated in the first round of an eight-man play-off for the makushita championship. Tatsu remained in the upper levels of makushita for around two years.

In July, 2013, Tatsu fell down to lower makushita at the rank of makushita 44. He bounced back with eight consecutive winning records, or kachi-koshi, including a win over juryo ranked wrestler Akiseyama at makushita 3. In fact, a 4-3 at the rank of makushita 3 earned him promotion to juryo.

### **Juryo Career**

It was at this point that Tatsu announced that he had adopted the shikona Kagayaki, after the express train service, Kagayaki, which runs between Tokyo and Kanazawa, his home town.

Kagayaki made an immediate impact in juryo, recording 11–4 and 10–5 records in his first two tournaments to reach the brink of another promotion but initially struggled when moved up to the division's higher ranks. A 10–5 record in September however, put him back in contention and an 8–7 in November 2015 (beating Satoyama on the final day) saw him promoted to makuuchi (top division) for the first time.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kagayaki struggled in his top division debut: he won only two of his first thirteen matches, one of which was a walk-over when his scheduled opponent, Endo, withdrew with an injury. He won his last two bouts to salvage a 4–11 record but he was relegated back to juryo.

He recorded only seven wins in March but secured a second promotion with a 10–5 result in May. He barely avoided relegation with a 7–8 record in July but recorded his first kachi-koshi (winning record) in the top division with nine wins in September. Ranked at a new high of maegashira 9 he recorded six wins in November and was dropped to maegashira 11 for the January 2017 tournament when he posted an 8–7 record. He returned to maegashira 9 in March and retained his rank for the May tournament despite a 7–8 result. He continued to maintain his place in the top division for the rest of that year, reaching a new rank of maegashira 4 in July.

Kagayaki would remain in the mid-low maegashira ranks for another two years. In the November, 2019, tournament, Kagayaki achieved his first double-digit top division record of 10-5. The following tournament he achieved another 10-5 record. He continued to show strong sumo and achieved an 8-7 record in the March, 2020, tournament. He was promoted back to maegashira 4 for the following tournament.

In September 2020, Kagayaki produced an 8-7 record at the rank of maegashira 6. This earned him a promotion to career-best rank of maegashira 3 for November. After reaching as high as maegashira 3 for the November 2020 tournament, Kagayaki posted consecutive losing records, eventually being relegated back to juryo for the January 2022 basho. However he returned to the top division for the March 2022 tournament. After spending July and September in juryo, he returned to makuuchi once again for the November 2022 tournament.

## **Personal Life**

* Kagayaki served as Wakanosato's personal attendant, or tsukebito. He saw Wakanosato as a mentor and they would often partake in activities together. Upon his promotion to juryo, he faced off against Wakanosato two times, however he lost both times. They were eighteen years apart in age, and Wakanosato made his debut 2 years before Kagayaki was even born.
* Kagayaki served as Kisenosato's tsuyuharai, or dew sweeper, in the yokozuna's dohyo-iri. On the 1st day of the March, 2017, tournament, Kagayaki accidentally turned clockwise, instead of the usual counterclockwise. He claimed he was nervous and noticed the mistake after the ceremony. He hoped he didn't seem "rude" to the sumo world after this accident.
* On the third day of November, 2016, Kagayaki faced off against Ikioi. This was the first time that two one-kanji sekitori faced off against each other since 1909.
* In his childhood, Kagayaki enjoyed catching stag beetles, but he was bad at catching cicadas.
* Kagayaki's ring name, or shikona, is named after the express train service, Kagayaki, which runs between Tokyo and Kanazawa, his home town.
* In January, 2019, Kagayaki faced off against Endo. This match became a "hot topic" due to the fact that they both wore bright gold mawashi.
* In May, 2020, Kagayaki's stablemate, Shobushi passed away due to complications of the COVID-19 virus. On June 1st, he left a comment through the Japan Sumo Association that "he was a hard worker and a reliable brother."
* Kagayaki's father's distant relative is 54th yokozuna Wajima Hiroshi.
* Kagayaki's hobbies include going to hot springs.

## **Fighting Style**

Kagayaki is an oshi and tsuki specialist, which means he relies on pushing and thrusting techniques to defeat his opponents rather than belt-wrestling. His most common winning technique is oshidashi (push-out) which accounts for 46% of his wins.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 494-498/992 (81 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 271-329/600 (40 basho)
* **Juryo:** 14-96/210 (14 basho)
* **Makushita:** 76-57/133 (19 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 21-14/35 (5 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Tatsu Ryoya (2010.03 - 2014.09)
* Kagayaki Taishi (2014.11 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Kagayaki Taishi - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2022 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2018 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2017 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2016 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2015 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2015 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki Taishi - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kagayaki's Tegata
### **Career Overview**

Tatsu gets recruited into Takadagawa stable (c. 2010)Tatsu gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2010)Tatsu wins his match in Maezumo (c. 2010)Tatsu during his time in Maezumo (c. 2010)Tatsu ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2014)Tatsu becomes Kagayaki upon promotion to Juryo (c. 2014)Kagayaki celebrates his promotion with Yokozuna Wajima (c. 2014)Kagayaki battles Kagamio (c. 2015)Kagayaki used to serve as Takanosato's tsukebito (c. 2015)Kagayaki after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2016)Kagayaki pushes out Homarefuji (c. 2016)Kagayaki defeats Ura (c. 2017)Kagayaki defeats Shohozan (c. 2018)Kagayaki defeats Enho (c. 2019)Kagayaki prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2020)Kagayaki defeats Tochiozan (c. 2020)Kagayaki defeats Takanosho (c. 2021)Kagayaki pushes out and defeats Oho (c. 2022)Kagayaki defeats Chiyomaru (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Kagayaki Taishi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kagayaki Taishi Rikishi Information