Shishi Masaru

Shishi Masaru - 獅司 大 (born January 16, 1997) is a Ukrainian professional sumo wrestler from Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. He made his debut in January 2020 and currently wrestles for Ikazuchi stable. He reached the juryo division in July 2023. His highest rank as of 2023 is juryo 5.

## **Early Life**

Serhii started wrestling at the age of 6, and switched to sumo at the age of 15. According to his mother, he always liked to fight and wasn't afraid of pain, something she attributes to an ancestor on his father's side, who was a strongman and who fought alongside Nestor Makhno. As a kid, he played football as a goalkeeper but was scouted by a freestyle wrestling coach who motivated him to join his club. While climbing the weight categories of freestyle wrestling, Serhii exceeded the sport's maximum weight limit of 125 kg (276 lb) and joined the sumo club. In 2012, he won the European Sumo Championships. In 2016, he took part in several tournaments, including the European and World Championships, where he finished third in both individual and team competition. In 2018, he took part in the US Sumo Open where he won bronze and silver medals in the Heavyweight and Openweight categories respectively, being only defeated in the Openweight final by the champion, Russian Konstantin Abdula-Zade.

Since he had already decided to become a professional sumo wrestler, he moved to Japan in 2018, at the invitation of Irumagawa stable, which had scouted him, to see if he could acclimatize to stable life. After over a year living and training at Irumagawa stable, he finally decided to enroll in 2020, bringing the number of countries with at least one professional sumo wrestler to 24.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

During the new recruits inspection, Wakafuji-oyakata (former maegashira Otsukasa), one of his coach at Irumagawa stable, said he looked like a "mini-Baruto" because at the time of his apprentice examination he was 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) and weighted 162 kg (357 lb). He joined at the same time as 2019 high-school yokozuna Genki Okuwa, who joined Isegahama stable, Hokuseiho, who joined Miyagino stable, and Hozan Takamori, the second son of former sekiwake Takatoriki, who joined Otake stable; although they never faced each other in their maezumo (pre-sumo) debut. He was given the shikona, or ring name, "Shishi" (獅司), from the kanji for 'lion' (獅), to evoke the hopes of his master that he will "become the king of beasts", and the kanji meaning 'to govern' (司), in deference to former coach and stable owner, the former sekiwake Tochitsukasa.

Shishi dominated his first tournament and posted a 6-1 record. In jonidan, he continued his strong run and finished with another 6-1 record in September 2020. He was promoted to sandanme in November 2020 where he continued to replicate his previous performances as he produced yet another 6-1 record. In the following January 2021 tournament, he pulled out on the first day, but returned and won his remaining six matches. As a result he earned promotion to the makushita divison for the March 2021 tournament. A 4-3 record meant further promotion to the mid-level makushita ranks where he posted a 6-1 record to earn promotion to the "juryo promotion zone" for the July 2021 tournament as he was ranked at makushita 12. He subsequently posted a 4-3 record and was promoted to the rank of makushita 8 in September 2021, however, in this tournament he finished with his first career losing record.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Shishi has been regularly asked about the fate of his family, who stayed in the country. However, since the Japan Sumo Association forbids political comments to its wrestlers, he has always dodged the subject, limiting himself to simple comments on his communications with his parents and their view of his performances and refusing to comment on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit in Japan in May 2023. Furthermore, since the beginning of the invasion, he's received a great deal of acclaim from the public, even when he was in makushita, a division where the public is not normally as enthusiastic.

On 26 January 2023, it was announced that Irumagawa-*oyakata* (former sekiwake Tochitsukasa), in anticipation of his mandatory retirement in April, would give control of his stable to coach Ikazuchi (former komusubi Kakizoe), without him inheriting the Irumagawa elder name. During this change, Shishi received encouragement from his new stablemaster, who told him he had "the potential to become a star".

During the May 2023 tournament, Shishi was in a position of potential promotion to the juryo division. He first secured a kachi-koshi record over Yuma on Day 4, and went to earn a sixth victory with a win over upper-division wrestler Tokihayate, conceding just one defeat in his sixth match to eventual tournament winner Kiryuko (Tatsunami stable). He finished the tournament with a score of 6–1 and was logically promoted to sumo's second highest division, juryo, alongside Kiho and Yuma. This promotion makes Shishi the first Ukrainian wrestler in sumo history to achieve sekitori status, although sumo has also welcomed other wrestlers of Ukrainian descent, including the no less famous yokozuna Taiho, whose father was a Ukrainian from Kharkiv who fled the Russian revolution.

### **Juryo Career**

At the press conference to mark his promotion to the rank of juryo, he expressed his reservations about the situation in his home country, but vowed to offer his parents, who remained in Ukraine, the material and financial assistance they needed from then on. At the time of his promotion, Shishi received his shimekomi from his former master (former sekiwake Tochitsukasa) and was presented with a kesho-mawashi by the supporters' association of Izumisano (Osaka Prefecture). The all-white and gold kesho-mawashi bears the inscription Kishin (鬼心), meaning 'demon's heart', at the request of master Ikazuchi to inspire his wrestler to fight with demonic fervor. On the thirteenth day of the July tournament, Shishi achieved a kachi-koshi record by defeating Tamashoho, thus securing his presence in the juryo division.

Shishi continued his progress in the juryo division by recording another good score at the September tournament. During the November tournament, he had a notable match against Hitoshi on day eleven, during which he broke his front teeth during the tachi-ai. Shishi had, however, recorded an eighth defeat the day before against the eventual winner of that month's tournament, Kotoshoho. He finally worsened his score on the thirteenth day, in his match against Kagayaki, finishing the tournament with a score of 6–9.

## **Personal Life**

* Although most of Shishi's family remains in Ukraine, they are split between Ukraine and Japan. His parents and grandmother remained in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and his younger brother was moved as a refugee to Saitama Prefecture.
* Despite being in Japan since 2018, Shishi still has difficulty speaking Japanese properly. Since his promotion to juryo, this problem has become more of a hassle as sekitori respond more to interviews. To compensate for his level of Japanese, Shishi relies on his tsukebito (assistant) and stablemate, sandanme wrestler Saidaiji, with whom he converses when in doubt about the meaning of his sentence and who relays the answer to the journalists.The relationship between the assistant and his superior has also attracted the attention of observers, who are amused by this unprecedented situation, even dubbing Saidaiji the "Ippei Mizuhara of the kakukai", in reference to the translator to whom Shohei Ohtani owes a great deal during his interviews.

## **Fighting Style**

Shishi is proficient in both yotsu-sumo (grappling) and oshi-sumo (pushing and thrusting) techniques. His most common techniques are oshidashi (push out), yorikiri (force out), hatakikomi (slap down), and uwatenage (overarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 106-63-2/168 (22 basho)
* **Juryo:** 24-21/45 (3 basho)
* **Makushita:** 58-39-1/96 (14 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 12-1-1/13 (2 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **1st** Ukrainian professional sumo wrestler
* **1st** Ukrainian sekitori

## **Gallery**

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

Shishi Masaru - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Shishi Masaru - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Shishi's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Shishi gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2020)Shishi (right) in maezumo (c. 2020)Shishi throws and defeats his opponent (c. 2022)Shishi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Shishi ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Shishi after promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Shishi defeats Kotokuzan (c. 2023)

## **Sources**

* Shishi Masaru Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Shishi Masaru Rikishi Information