Nionoumi Shinji

Nionoumi Shinji - 鳰の湖 真二 (born December 16, 1986) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Otsu, Shiga. He made his debut in March 2002 and currently wrestles for Yamahibiki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2012. His highest rank as of 2023 is maegashira 16.

## **Early Life**

Shinji Tanaka was an avid judo practitioner before he started sumo. He served as the judo captain at Otsu Municipal Karasaki Junior High School and participated in national tournaments. He even competed against olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii. Tanaka was also a devoted student and served as student council president in junior high school.

Tanaka's parents divorced in his first year of junior high school, and he was raised solely by his mother. Similarly, the same year he met and had a meal at Kitanoumi stable (later renamed Yamhibiki stable). He was convinced that doing sumo would help his mother financially, so he accepted the offer to wrestle at Kitanoumi stable. In doing so, Tanaka rejected an offer from Kokushikan Senior High School which was known for its strong judo program.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Tanaka made his professional debut alongside stablemate Kitaharima in March 2002 under the shikona of "Nionoumi". In his jonokuchi and jonidan debuts, he scored 5-2 records in both tournaments. Nionoumi remain in jonidan for around a year and was promoted to the sandanme division in September 2003. Nionoumi would remain in sandanme for around four years.

At the start of April 2006, Nionoumi was complaining about symptoms from a cold. He later went to the hospital and was diagnosed with encephalitis. He was hospitalize immediately. Due to the bacteria in his brain (encephalitis) he was unconscious for several days and the doctors told him that there was a 50% chance that his lower body would be paralyzed. He also could not eat properly so he supplemented this with intravenous therapy and liquid food. Although Nionoumi lost 20 kg and was bedridden for nearly a month, he was discharged in the latter half of May and went on to compete in the July 2006 tournament.

Fortunately after the encephalitis, Nionoumi didn't suffer any setbacks and actually improved his sumo. He produced five straight winning records, or kachi-koshi and earned promotion to the makushita division. Nionoumi remained in the mid-level makushita ranks for around three years. In November 2010, Nionoumi produced a 5-2 record at the rank and earned promotion to the salaried juryo divison for the January 2011 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

In his juryo debut, Nionoumi produced a 5-10 record and was demoted back down to makushita. He produced a 3-4 in his first tournament back in makushita but due to the 2011 Match Fixing Scandal he was promoted to makushita 1 from his previous rank of makushita 4. In this tournament, Nionoumi produced a 5-2 record and was promoted back to juryo. In his return, Nionoumi produced two consecutive 9-6 records and earned promotion to the makuuchi divison for the January 2012 tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In Nionoumi's debut he was ranked at the bottom of makuuchi and he struggled. Even though he defeated makuuchi regulars such as Kaisei, Kyokushuho, Tosayutaka, Daido and Masunoyama, he still finished with a 5-10 record and was demoted back down to juryo. This would be his only tournament ranked in the top division.

### **Later Career**

Nionoumi would remain in juryo for another year and a half. He produced mainly losing records, but after two consecutive winning records, Nionoumi was promoted to juryo 4 for the July 2013 tournament. Sadly this would be his last tournament ranked as a sekitori, because he finished with a disastrous 1-14 record and was demoted straight down to makushita.

After Nionoumi's disastrous 1-14 record he continued to produce losing records. As a matter of fact he produced 7 straight losing records and was demoted back to the sandanme division for the November 2014 tournament. He would return to makushita after producing a 6-1 record and would remain in makushita for the next seven years (disregarding one small sandanme stint in January 2019).

## **Personal Life**

* At the start of April 2006, Nionoumi was complaining about symptoms from a cold. He later went to the hospital and was diagnosed with encephalitis. He was hospitalized immediately. Due to the bacteria in his brain (encephalitis) he was unconscious for several days and the doctors told him that there was a 50% chance that his lower body would be paralyzed. He also could not eat properly so he supplemented this with intravenous therapy and liquid food. Although Nionoumi lost 20 kg and was bedridden for nearly a month, he was discharged in the latter half of May and went on to compete in the July 2006 tournament.
* On October 1st, 2011, Nionoumi was pickpocketed and he lost 900,000 yen in cash. He filed a report to the police, but gave up and declared that no one would openly come back with his money.

## **Fighting Style**

Nionoumi is a oshi-sumo specialist, who prefers pushing at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite or technique is oshidashi or a straightforward push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 505-481-14/986 (129 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 5-10/15 (1 basho)
* **Juryo:** 83-97/180 (12 basho)
* **Makushita:** 290-277-7/567 (82 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 88-73-7/161 (24 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 34-22/56 (8 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Gallery**

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

Nionoumi Shinji - 2013 (Retrieved from the JSA)Nionoumi Shinji - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Nionoumi Shinji - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Nionoumi Shinji - 2011 (Retrieved from the JSA)Nionoumi Shinji - 2011 (Retrieved from the JSA)Nionoumi's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Nionoumi after promotion to Juryo (c. 2011)Nionoumi loses a match to Kotoyuki (c. 2011)Nionoumi after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2012)Nionoumi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2013)Nionoumi defeats Asahisho (c. 2013)Nionoumi defeats his opponent in Makushita (c. 2014)Nionoumi battles his opponent (c. 2015)Nionoumi speaks on his stable master's death (c. 2015)Nionoumi defeats Ryusei (c. 2018)Nionoumi defeats his opponent (c. 2019)Nionoumi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2020)Nionoumi slaps down and defeats Yoshii (c. 2021)Nionoumi battles Kawazoe (c. 2022)Nionoumi battles Wakaikari (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Nionoumi Shinji Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Nionoumi Shinji Rikishi Information