Hochiyama Kokan

Hochiyama Kokan - 寶智山 幸観 (born January 18, 1982) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hirosaki, Aomori. He made his debut in March 2000 and last wrestled for Sakaigawa stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 2006. His highest rank was maegashira 14 and he retired in January 2014.

## **Early Life**

Munakata was born in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, and his parents owned an apple orchard. He started sumo wrestling from an early age and was a member of the Kizukuri High School sumo club. In high school he participated in national competitions, but was at a loss, because he was considering to either enroll in Hosei University, or join professional sumo. However, the director of his high school sumo club was classmates with Mainoumi, who was also an alumnus of Kizukuri High School. Munakata met with Mainoumi and he recommended that Munakata enter the professional sumo world. He joined the Nakadachi stable set up by former komusubi Ryogoku, which was subsequently renamed Sakaigawa stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Munakata made his debut in March 2000 under the ring name (shikona), "Hochiyama". In his first tournament in jonokuchi, he took the championship with a perfect 7-0 record. The following two tournaments in jonidan, he produced mixed results, but the next tournament he won all seven of his matches, but loss in a playoff against Haraguchi. This still propelled him to the sandanme division for the January 2001 tournament. Hochiyama remained in sandanme for around a year, and a 6-1 record in January 2002 earned him a promotion to makushita.

Hochiyama rose steadily through the ranks of makushita. In January, 2003, Hochiyama finished with a 6-1 and was placed in a playoff for the yusho. The playoff involved 9 other wrestlers, and Hochiyama defeated Bushuyama and Futeno, but lost to Kokkai in the final round. He continued to rise up the ranks and after a 6-1 record in July 2004 he was promoted to the top of makushita. Even though he defeated juryo wrestler, Sumanofuji, he still finished with a 3-4 record. He was promoted to makushita 3 for the September 2005 tournament and produced a 4-3 record, including wins over juryo wrestlers: Raiko and Yotsukasa. He was promoted to the top of makushita again, but produced another 3-4 record. The next tournament he was ranked at makushita 4, and produced a 4-3 record which promoted him to juryo.

### **Juryo Career**

Hochiyama made his juryo debut in March 2006 and produced an 8-7 record. The following tournament he won ten matches and was placed in a three man playoff, however he lost. The next tournament he won thirteen matches, including a win against future yokozuna Kakuryu on the last say. The 13-2 record was good enough for a yusho, and he was promoted to makuuchi for the September, 2006, tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He could only manage five wins in his top division debut in September 2006 and was demoted back to juryo. He reappeared in makuuchi in May 2007 but after two more make-koshi or losing scores he fell back to the second division once again in September of that year. He just missed out on immediate promotion back to the top division after recording seven wins against eight losses at the rank of juryo 1. However, restricted by diabetes, a disastrous performance of 2-13 at the rank of juryo 6 in the March 2008 tournament (which was his sixth consecutive losing score) saw him demoted to the third division for May.

After more than two years in makushita, he finally returned to the sekitori ranks in July 2010 after scoring 5-2 at the rank of makushita 1 West in May. He came through with a winning record of 8-7, securing his kachi-koshi on the final day after four straight losses. He was one of seven rikishi from Sakaigawa stable ranked in juryo in September 2010, the others being Iwakiyama, Goeido, Toyohibiki, Sadanoumi, Sadanofuji and Shironoryu. After a solid 9-6 at Juryo 5 in July 2011, he was promoted back to the top division for September after a 23 tournament absence - the fourth longest ever. He scored only 5-10 on his return and was immediately demoted back to juryo, but he ensured with an 8-7 score at Juryo 1 in January 2012 that he was promoted to makuuchi once again for the March 2012 tournament. However he failed in his fifth attempt at a top division kachi-koshi, finishing on 4–11. In his sixth and final appearance in makuuchi he fared even worse, only scoring 1–14. He is the only wrestler in the modern era of sumo to have six top division tournaments without a kachi-koshi.

### **Later Career**

After his disastrous 1-14 record in makuuchi, he produced an 8-7 record in juryo. However he produced three consecutive make-koshi in juryo and was demoted down to makushita. In makushita, Hochiyama continued to struggle and was demoted down to sandanme for the November 2013 tournament. He won all seven matches and defeated 5'3 tall wrestler, Baraki, in a playoff for the yusho.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In November 2013, after dropping to the sandanme division for the first time since the beginning of his career, Hochiyama managed to take the championship. He still chose to retire before the beginning of the following January 2014 tournament. He had been suffering from chronic lower back pain and diabetes. Hochiyama's danpatsu-shiki was held in the Ryogoku Kokugikan, with 350 guests cutting hair.

He has remained in sumo as a coach under the toshiyori or elder name of Kimgahama Oyakata. He had 29 tournaments at a sekitori rank; normally 30 are required to become an oyakata but Hochiyama was allowed because his stablemaster and previous owner of the stock acted as guarantors, under new Sumo Association rules brought in on November 17, 2013.

In December 2020 he switched from the Kimgahama name (owned by Okinoumi) to Furiwake (owned by the former Takamisakari). In December 27, 2023, he switched kabu with the ex-Satoyama, taking on the Dekiyama name.

## **Personal Life**

* On January 23rd, 2012, Hochiyama participated in a Hadaka Matsuri (naked festival) in Oni Shrine, located in his hometown of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
* Hochiyama suffers from diabetes.
* Hochiyama's hobbies include sleeping.

## **Fighting Style**

Hochiyama's favourite techniques were listed by the Sumo Association as migi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi), yori (grappling) and tsuki (thrusting). The majority of his wins were by either yori-kiri (force out) or oshi-dashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 399-400/799 (83 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 27-63/90 (6 basho)
* **Juryo:** 169-176/345 (23 basho)
* **Makushita:** 148-132/280 (41 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 34-22/56 (8 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 14-7/21 (3 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 Juryo Championship (July 2006)
* 1 Sandanme Championship (November 2013)
* 1 Jonokuchi Championship (May 2000)

## **Shikona History**

* Hochiyama Yukimi (2000.03 - 2006.11)
* Hochiyama Kokan (2007.01 - 2014.01)

## **Gallery**

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

Hochiyama Kokan - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hochiyama Kokan - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hochiyama Kokan - 2007 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hochiyama Yukimi - 2006 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hochiyama's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Hochiyama joins professional sumo (c. 2000)Hochiyama gets thrown by Tokitenku (c. 2003)Hochiyama after promotion to Juryo (c. 2006)Hochiyama defeats Shunketsu to win the Juryo Yusho (c. 2006)Hochiyama after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2006)Hochiyama during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2007)Hochiyama makes his way to the Kokugikan (c. 2010)Hochiyama battles Sagatsukasa (c. 2011)Hochiyama defeats Chiyonokuni (c. 2011)Hochiyama defeats Bushuyama (c. 2012)Hochiyama after winning a match (c. 2012)Hochiyama attends the Setsubun festival in his hometown (c. 2013)Hochiyama defeats Baraki to win the Sandanme Yusho (c. 2013)Hochiyama wins his first Sandanme Yusho (c. 2013)Hochiyama announces his retirement (c. 2014)Hochiyama's retirement ceremony (c. 2014)Hochiyama after retirement as Furiwake Oyakata (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Hochiyama Kokan Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hochiyama Kokan Rikishi Information