Mitoryu Takayuki

Mitoryu Takayuki - 水戸龍 聖之 (born April 25, 1994) is a Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in March 2017 and currently wrestles for Nishikido stable. He reached the juryo division in January 2018 and the makuuchi division in September 2022. His highest rank as of 2023 is maegashira 15.

## **Early Life**

Growing up in Mongolia Turbold was a great athlete participating in many different sports like judo, basketball, darts, and speed skating. He was especially good at speed skating having the ability to win at the district level.

For high school Turbold studied abroad in Japan at Tottori Johoku, this is where he started training in sumo. After graduating from high school he entered Nihon University and their sumo club. In his third year at the university he won the All-Japan Sumo Championship giving him the title of amateur Yokozuna (the first foreigner to do so). The following year he served as the club captain, and won the National Student Sumo Championship and giving him the title of Student Yokozuna (also the first foreigner to do so). After graduating from university, he became a professional sumo wrestler.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

After graduating from university Turbold entered Nishikido stable, recruited by former sekiwake Mitoizumi. His amateur success granted him makushita tsukedashi status, allowing him skip the lower divisions and start at Makushita 15. He started his career with a makekoshi or losing record but quickly rebounded with three consecutive winning records. After this string of winning records he was given sekitori status by being promoted to the juryo division. He was the first sekitori produced by his stable since its founding in 2002.

### **Juryo Career**

He started off his juryo debut with a winning 8–7, he followed this up with another winning record although he had to withdraw the last four days with he injury. The next tournament he was unable to achieve a winning record managing only a 6–9 record. He rebounded to with a 8–7 winning record the following tournament but suffered only his third losing record with a 7–8 finish. He rebounded yet again to get his highest winning record yet with a 9–6 finish.

In 2019, Mitoryu alternated between winning records (kachi-koshi) and losing records (make-koshi) for the whole year and stayed mainly in the lower end of juryo. Mitoryu got off to a bad start in 2020 and produced two losing records in a row which regulated him to the very bottom of juryo (juryo 14 west). After these disastrous tournaments, Mitoryu bounced back with his first double-digit record of 10-5 and participated in a six-man playoff for the juryo yusho, however he lost in the first round. In July 2021, he won the juryo yusho with a strong 12-3 record and was subsequently promoted to the top of juryo in September 2021. However, in this tournament he suffered a herniated disc and withdrew from the tournament on the ninth day. He withdrew from the January 2022 tournament due to a COVID-19 case within his stable.

### **Makuuchi Career**

After a winning record in the top ranks of the juryo division, Mitoryu was promoted to the top division for the September 2022 tournament, but he finished with a 5-10 record and was demoted back down to juryo. He returned to makuuchi in January 2023, but was only able to last for three tournaments before falling back down to juryo in July 2023. In August 2023, Mitoryu was the heaviest active sekitori wrestler at 201 kg (443 lb). Later in the year, at the November tournament, Mitoryu was involved in a match with Shimanoumi marked by a rare mizu-iri (water break), the first in the juryo division in 24 years.

## **Personal Life**

* Mitoryu's hobbies include shooting darts and watching movies.
* Mitoryu, Terunofuji, and Ichinojo all rode the same airplane to Japan and they all attended Tottori Johoku High School, which is known for its strong sumo club.

## **Fighting Style**

Mitoryu is a yotsu-sumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques to pushing and thrusting. His most common winning kimarite is a straightforward yorikiri, or force out, and he uses a migi-yotsu grip on the mawashi or belt, with his right hand inside and left hand outside his opponent's arms.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 272-258-23/526 (39 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 25-35/60 (4 basho)
* **Juryo:** 227-215-23/438 (31 basho)
* **Makushita:** 20-8/28 (4 basho)

## **Gallery**

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

Mitoryu Takayuki - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Mitoryu Takayuki - 2022 (Retrieved from the JSA)Mitoryu Takayuki - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Mitoryu Takayuki - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Mitoryu Takayuki - 2018 (Retrieved from the JSA)Mitoryu's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Mitoryu gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2017)Mitoryu ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2017)Mitoryu after promotion to Juryo (c. 2017)Mitoryu presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2018)Mitoryu defeats Tomokaze (c. 2018)Mitoryu defeats Aminishiki (c. 2019)Mitoryu defeats Shimanoumi (c. 2020)Mitoryu defeats Wakamotoharu to win the Juryo Yusho (c. 2021)Mitoryu wins his first Juryo Yusho (c. 2021)Mitoryu defeats Kotokuzan (c. 2022)Mitoryu after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2022)Mitoryu prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Mitoryu defeats Oho (c. 2023)
## **See Also**

* List of Mongolian Sumo Wrestlers
* List of Heaviest Sumo Wrestlers

## **Sources**

* Mitoryu Takayuki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Mitoryu Takayuki Rikishi Information