Dairyu Tadahiro

Dairyu Tadahiro - 大竜 忠博 (born September 30, 1960) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nishinari-ku, Osaka. He made his debut in May 1976 and last wrestled for Taiho stable. He reached the juryo division in March 1988. His highest rank was juryo 4 and he retired in July 1997.

## **Early Life**

He was a member of the soccer club in junior high school. After graduating from junior high school, he joined Taiho stable after he was introduced by an acquaintance.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his debut in May 1976 and initially wrestled under his maiden name Nagamoto. He was promoted to sandanme in March 1978 and in May 1979, he won all seven matches, but missed out on the sandanme yusho after losing to a playoff. Nevertheless, he was promoted to makushita in the following July 1979 tournament. In November 1980 he changed his shikona to "Dairyu" (大竜). In March 1987, he finished with a 6-1 record and participated in a nine-man playoff for the makushita yusho where he defeated Ryujuyama in the first round, but lost to Morita in the second round. One year later, he was promoted to juryo in March 1988.

### **Juryo Career**

Dairyu made his juryo debut in March 1988 and produced an 8-7 record in his first tournament. However, he fell down to makushita on multiple occasions due to injuries. Nevertheless, he was able to return to juryo on several instances. In Janaury 1990, he was promoted to a career-best juryo 4 and was expected to make it to makuuchi, but he finished the tournament with a 6-9 record.

In May 1995, Dairyu injured his right knee in a match on the 7th day against Ryudo. He subsequently withdrew from the tournament on the 8th day and continued to sit out of the following tournament. As a result, he fell back down to makushita, but still managed to return to juryo on two separate occasions. His last juryo appearance was in July 1996 where he finished with a 6-9 record.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Due to his right knee injury, Dairyu struggled to return to juryo and ultimately announced his retirement after the July 1997 tournament. Unusually for a juryo wrestler, Dairyu remained in the Sumo Association as an elder. Although, he never made it to makuuchi, Dairyu met the qualifications (qualifications: either 20 consecutive tournaments as a sekitori or 25 total tournaments as a sekitori) as he was ranked in juryo for a total of 25 tournaments. He initially borrowed the Otake name from active wrestler Takatoriki before switching to Sanoyama in 2002 which was owned by ozeki Chiyotaikai. In 2005, he switched to the Yamahibiki and Futagoyama names which were owned by yokozuna Takanohana. He worked as a coach for Taiho stable (later renamed Otake stable).

In June 2010, Otake Oyakata (former sekiwake Takatoriki) was dismissed from the Japan Sumo Association for betting illegally on baseball. As a result, he assumed the role of head coach for Otake stable.

In January 2012, he made history by accepting Abdelrahman Shalan (future Osunaarashi) of Egypt to his stable. Osunaarashi became the first professional sumo wrestler from the African continent, as well as the first Muslim sumo wrestler. He was also Otake stable's top wrestler and rose to the top division in November 2013. However, Osunaarashi was forced to retire in March 2018 after he caused a car accident while driving without a license.

A makushita wrestler in his stable, Shingaku was forced to retire in November 2018 after he was involved in a car accident on November 10 and charged with being under the influence of alcohol and failure to report an accident. Otake Oyakata was punished by the Sumo Association with a 20 percent salary cut for the next six months.

## **Personal Life**

Dairyu is a Zainichi-Korean, or an ethnic Korean with permanent residence in Japan. Prior to his naturalization, his full name was Tadahiro Hwang, He joined sumo under the name Tadahiro Nagamoto, Nagamoto being his maiden name. Due to his Korean parentage, he did not hold any Japanese citizenship. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1997 and changed his name to Tadahiro Sato. Because of this, he was able to stay in the Japan Sumo Association.

## **Fighting Style**

Dairyu was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He favored a hidari-yotsu (right hand outside, left hand inside) position when gripping his opponent's mawashi (belt). His most common kimarite was yorikiri, or force out.

## **Record**

### **Divison Results**

* **Total:** 553-508-28/1059 (128 basho)
* **Juryo:** 173-195-7/367 (25 basho)
* **Makushita:** 269-235-14/503 (74 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 75-51/126 (18 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 28-21-7/49 (8 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 8-6/14 (2 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Nagamoto Tadahiro (1976.05 - 1979.07)
* Nagamoto Tadaharu (1979.09 - 1979.09)
* Nagamoto Tadahiro (1979.11 - 1979.11)
* Nagamoto Tadaharu (1980.01 - 1980.01)
* Nagamoto Tadahiro (1980.03 - 1980.09)
* Dairyu Tadahiro (1980.11 - 1982.05)
* Dairyu Tadaharu (1982.07 - 1982.07)
* Dairyu Tadahiro (1982.09 - 1997.07)

## **Gallery**

Dairyu during his first juryo tournament (c. 1988)Dairyu battles future Yokozuna Takanohana (c. 1989)Dairyu with his kesho-mawashiDairyu during his later career as he prepares for his matchDairyu loses his final match to Kyokubenten (c. 1997)Dairyu after wrestling his final match (c. 1997)Dairyu after retirement as Otake Oyakata (c. 2018)Dairyu's tegata

## **Sources**

* Dairyu Tadahiro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Dairyu Tadahiro Rikishi Information