Wakanoshima Fumiya

Wakanoshima Fumiya - 若乃島 史也 (born September 28, 1984) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tatsugo, Kagoshima. He made his debut in March 2000 and last wrestled for Shibatayama stable. He reached the juryo division in July 2014. His highest rank was juryo 7 and he retired in September 2017.

## **Early Life**

Saita was born the youngest of six siblings (three older brothers and two older sisters). He began playing baseball, soccer, and sumo wrestling in elementary school, but by the time he reached junior high school, he devoted most of his time to only sumo. In his third year of junior high school, he was a key member for his school to win the team competition and as a result he received offers from many different stables. At first, he had no interest in joining professional sumo and he wanted to continue sumo at the high school level. However, he did not want to burden his parents financially so he opted to join Hanaregoma stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Saita made his professional debut in March 2000 and in his very first tournament, he produced a 6-1 record. He would remain in jonidan for around a year, before reaching sandanme in July 2001. Saita would bounce between sandanme and jonidan, before finally becoming a sandanme regular by July 2002. However, in May 2004, he was injured during training and sat out of the following two tournaments. As a result, he was demoted back down to jonidan in November 2004. Saita made a strong comeback and after three consecutive 6-1 records, he earned a spot in the makushita division in May 2005.

Saita found adjusting to the makushita ranks to be quite hard and would not establish himself as a makushita mainstay until September 2010. Meanwhile, he changed his shikona from his family name of "Saita" to "Wakanoshima" in March 2008. In January 2012, Wakanoshima produced a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 7 and as a result was promoted to the top of the makushita division. At this rank, he lost his first four matches and missed out on an opportunity to reach the juryo division. In January 2013, he transferred to Shibatayama stable, after his stablemaster Hanaregoma reached the mandatory retirement age of 65. Wakanoshima would remain in the highly competitive top quarter of makushita and in May 2014, he was promoted back to the top of makushita. At this rank, he produced a 5-2 record which included wins over juryo-ranked wrestlers, Takanoyama and Daikiho. He was promoted to the salaried juryo division in July 2014 as a result.

### **Juryo Career**

Wakanoshima's rise to juryo was the fourth slowest as it took him 85 tournaments and over 14 years to reach elite sekitori status. In his first tournament, Wakanoshima could only muster out 4 wins and as a result was immediately demoted down to the makushita division. He would return to juryo four tournaments later and produced his first winning record of 8-7. He followed this with a career-best 9-6 record and was promoted to a career-high juryo 7 in September 2015. However, after two consecutive losing records, Wakanoshima was demoted back down to makushita in January 2016. He would spend four tournaments in makushita before earning his third promotion back to juryo. In his return, he produced a 6-9 record and was demoted back t makushita, but would earn his fourth and final promotion back to juryo in January 2017. In this tournament, Wakanoshima injured his right knee in a match against Amuru on the twelfth day. As a result he was demoted back down to makushita.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In the September 2017 tournament was ranked at makushita 53 and he announced his retirement after he defeated Tetsuyuzan on the thirteenth day to finish with a 4-3 record. He cited that his right knee injury had decreased his spirit to fight. On September 30th, his danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan where around 250 guests appeared. At the after-party held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, many celebrities such as singers Chitose Hajime and Kousuke Atari, who are all from the Amami Islands, attended. At the party, Wakanoshima stated that the favorite moment of his career was when he found out that he was promoted to juryo.

After retirement, he worked at a shabu-shabu shop at Setagaya, Tokyo. He initially worked under an apprenticeship and intends to open his own shabu-shabu shop in Tokyo around the near future. He has also worked as an actor and entertainer after retirement, where he usually portrays a sumo wrestler.

## **Personal Life**

* Wakanoshima's hobby is training and his favorite food is liver.

## **Fighting Style**

According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, Wakanoshima is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. However, his most common winning kimarite or technique is yorikiri or a straightforward force out, which is more commonly seen with wrestlers who prefer fighting on the mawashi.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 398-366-20/763 (105 basho)
* **Juryo:** 42-61-2/102 (7 basho)
* **Makushita:** 205-201/406 (58 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 95-76-11/171 (26 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 50-27-7/77 (12 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **Record:** 4th slowest rise to juryo (85)

## **Shikona History**

* Saita Fumiya (2000.03 - 2008.01)
* Wakanoshima Fumiya (2008.03 - 2017.09)

## **Gallery**

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

Wakanoshima Fumiya - 2017 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakanoshima Fumiya - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakanoshima Fumiya - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakanoshima's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Wakanoshima during his time in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2010)Wakanoshima emotional after ensuring Juryo promotion (c. 2014)Wakanoshima after promotion to Juryo (c. 2014)Wakanoshima presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2014)Wakanoshima loses to Kyokutaisei (c. 2014)Wakanoshima prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2015)Wakanoshima defeats Aminishiki (c. 2016)Wakanoshima during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2017)Wakanoshima after wrestling a match (c. 2017)Wakanoshima's retirement ceremony (c. 2017)
## **Sources**

* Wakanoshima Fumiya Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Wakanoshima Fumiya Rikishi Information