Wakakirin Shinichi

Wakakirin Shinichi - 若麒麟 真一 (born September 21, 1983) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kawanishi, Hyogo. He made his debut in March 1999 and last wrestled for Oguruma stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 2007. His highest rank was maegashira 9 and he was dismissed in January 2009.

## **Early Life**

Shinichi Suzukawa was born in Kawanishi, Hyogo, on September 21st, 1983. His father ran a restaurant. In junior high school, he played volleyball and in his first year he visited a sumo stable which got him interested in sumo. After graduating junior high school, he joined Oshiogawa stable in March 1999.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Suzukawa had limited experience with sumo and initially struggled. He could not make it past the jonidan vision until September 2001. Suzukawa breezed through sandanme in less than a year and was promoted to makushita in July 2002. He bounced between the sandanme and makushita division for around a year until establishing himself in makushita in July 2003. After six consecutive winning records, he was promoted to the second juryo division in September 2004.

### **Juryo Career**

Wakakirin scored an impressive ten wins in his juryo debut, but in January 2005 he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury that forced him to sit out two tournaments, resulting in demotion back to the unsalaried makushita division. The injury reduced the effectiveness of his favoured tsuppari, or thrusting techniques, and although he returned to the second division in January 2006 he could manage only four wins and was immediately demoted once again.

He slowly returned to full fitness and after a series of solid performances he took his second makushita championship in May 2007 with a perfect 7-0 record from the rank of makushita 3, to earn promotion back to juryo. After scores of 10-5 in July and 9-6 in September, he was promoted to the top makuuchi division for the November 2007 tournament. In April 2005 Oshiogawa stable was absorbed into Oguruma stable, in anticipation of Oshiogawa Oyakata's retirement the following year. Wakakirin is the third member of Oguruma stable to make his top division debut, following Takekaze and Yoshikaze.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Wakakirin achieved ten wins in his top division debut, a feat that normally wins the Fighting Spirit Award, but he missed out, the prize going to Baruto instead. He was promoted to what was to be his highest rank of maegashira 9 for the January 2008 tournament, but disappointing scores of 4-11 there and 6-9 in March meant he was demoted back to the juryo division. He missed out on a kachi-koshi winning score on the final day in May 2008, falling to 7-8. He scored 7-8 once again in July. He remained in the top half of juryo after that, but did not win promotion back to the top division. He produced a good 9-6 score at juryo 3 in January 2009 but lost to Tamawashi on the final day when a win would have virtually guaranteed a return to makuuchi.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

### **Dismissal**

On January 30, 2009 Wakakirin was arrested for possession of cannabis, at a CD shop in Roppongi that had been monitored by police for some time. The following day, Oguruma, his stable master, declared his intention to dismiss him as a professional sumo wrestler in the wake of the scandal and submitted his letter of resignation to Japan Sumo Association by proxy. The Sumo Association fired him on February 2, deciding on dismissal rather than the heavier penalty of expulsion that would have deprived him of a 5.3 million yen retirement bonus.

This decision split the Association and was criticised by some as being too lenient. However, Wakakirin subsequently said he would not accept the severance pay. An editorial in the Asahi Shimbun said the newspaper was "appalled by his utter folly" in taking the drug. After being in jail for a month, Wakakirin was released on bail on February 27. He appeared at the Yokohama District Court on April 13 and pleaded guilty to cannabis possession. On April 22 he was given a ten-month prison sentence, suspended for three years. He was believed to be working for a time at his father's restaurant business.

Wakakirin is the fourth wrestler to be dismissed because of cannabis use, following Wakanoho, Roho and Hakurozan, but the first Japanese. In the same tests in September 2008 that led to Roho and Hakurozan being dismissed, it was reported that Wakakirin's result was borderline, which put the wrestler under suspicion.

The March 2009 banzuke or ranking list had a blank space where Wakakirin's name should have been (juryo 1 West). This previously occurred with Wakanoho and Tokitsuumi, who retired between tournaments after the expulsion of his stablemaster.

### **After Retirement**

After leaving the detention center, Wakakirin was picked up by his father and he went to live in his parent's house. He helped out with his father's restaurant and people in his local market continued to support him. He later transitioned into professional wrestling and mixed martial arts.

In March 2021 he was arrested again on suspicion of possessing cannabis.

### **Professional Wrestling Career**

In 2010, Wakakirin, still using his sumo name returned to the ring as a professional wrestler, training in Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) stable. His first match was on the IGF-13 card in December, when he defeated Mark Coleman by referee stop. The match was controversial, and Coleman's colleague, Phil Baroni accused Wakakirin of shooting on Coleman in what was supposed to be a worked match. He made his comments on this on the Nightmare of Battle website.

Wakakirin's next fight was scheduled for December 31 against Bob Sapp, but the match never took place as Sapp refused to leave his dressing room. He was also scheduled to face Kimbo Sliceon February 5 in Fukuoka, but that fight never took place as Kimbo went down with an injury. In 2011 he was named the sport's rookie of the year by Tokyo Sports. He wrestled his last match on February 21st, 2017 where he lost to Ryuta Sakurai. Many fans consider him one of the worst puroresu stars in the industry due to his attitude and his lack of skill; cagematch.net lists his overall popularity as 0.75/10.

### **MMA Career**

Shinichi Suzukawa made his MMA debut at the Inoki Bom-ba-ye 2012 event where he lost in the first round to Mirko Cro Cop by submission (armbar). After the fight he confronted Mirko Cro Cop which garnered a negative reaction from the fans. He defeated Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO (corner stoppage) in his third professional fight. His overall MMA record is 2 wins and 4 losses.

## **Fighting Style**

Wakakirin was an oshi-sumo specialist, preferring pushing and thrusting techniques. The Sumo Association lists tsuppari, a series of rapid thrusts to the chest, as his favorite. His most common winning kimarite was oshidashi, or push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 279-232-22/511 (60 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 20-25/45 (3 basho)
* **Juryo:** 85-80-15/165 (12 basho)
* **Makushita:** 83-57-7/140 (21 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 39-24/63 (9 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 41-36/77 (11 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 11-10/21 (3 basho)

### **Championships**

* 2 **Makushita** Championships
	+ 1st (May 2007)
	+ 2nd (September 2005)

## **Shikona History**

* Suzukawa Shinichi (1999.03 - 2004.07)
* Wakakirin Shinichi (2004.09 - 2009.01)

## **Gallery**

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

Wakakirin Shinichi - 2007 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakakirin Shinichi - 2005 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakakirin Shinichi - 2004 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakakirin's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Wakakirin after promotion to Juryo (c. 2004)Wakakirin after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2007)Wakakirin defeats Yamamotoyama (c. 2009)Police investigate Wakakirin's stable (c. 2009)The Sumo Association apologizes on behalf of Wakakirin (c. 2009)Wakakirin's stable master talks about Wakakirin's dismissal (c. 2009)Wakakirin goes to court (c. 2009)Wakakirin's new career as a pro wrestler
## **Sources**

* Wakakirin Shinichi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Wakakirin Shinichi Rikishi Information