Kyokushuho Koki

Kyokushuho Koki - 旭秀鵬 滉規 (born August 9, 1988) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in May 2007 and wrestled for Tomozuna stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2012. His highest was maegashira 4 and he retired in January 2022.

## **Early Life**

Erdenbaatar's father was a former president of a shipping company and his mother was a former teacher. He was raised in the center of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and his three siblings are all doctors at a military hospital.

In 2004, Erdenbaatar first came to Japan. He came as an exchange student through the Mongolian Judo Federation and became a student at Motosu City First High School in Gifu Prefecture. In his second year of high school he took first place in the prefectural judo tournament and went on to take third place in the Tokai regional tournament. He had no experience in sumo beforehand, but having aspired to fellow Mongolian Kyokutenho's success he decided to join Oshima stable, the same stable as his idol. He was able to circumnavigate sumo's one-foreigner-per-stable rule because Kyokutenho had become a naturalized Japanese citizen, although this loophole has since been closed. In April 2012 the stable closed with his stablemaster, former ozeki Asahikuni, close to the mandatory retirement age, and he moved to Tomozuna stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Erdenbaatar made his professional debut in May 2007 under the shikona "Kyokushuho". In his jonokuchi debut he scored an impressive 6-1 record and the following tournament, Kyokushuho posted another 6-1 record. This result boosted him to the top of jonidan, where he ended up winning all seven matches, plus a three-way playoff to clinch the jonidan yusho. As a result, Kyokushuho was promoted to the upper level of sandanme, where he continued to produce winning records.

Kyokushuho made his makushita debut in March 2008 and he continued his strong run. He remained in the top half of makushita for around three years. In May 2011, Kyokushuho was ranked at makushita 12 and posted a 4-3 record. he was boosted all the way up to makushita 2 as a result due to all of the open slots from the 2011 match-fixing scandal. At the rank of makushita 2, Kyokushuho produced a 4-3 record which included a win over juryo-ranked wrestler Arawashi and a guaranteed promotion to the salaried juryo division.

### **Juryo Career**

Kyokushuho made his juryo debut in September 2011 under the rank of juryo 10. He produced a satisfactory 9-6 record and as a result was promoted up to juryo 6. At the rank of juryo 6, Kyokushuho produced an even better result and earned promotion to the makuuchi divison for the following tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kyokushuho struggled in his makuuchi debut and a record of only 3–12 in the January 2012 tournament brought him demotion back to the second division after only one tournament.

Though Kyokushuho seemed to have found his stride again after posting two consecutive 9–6 tournaments in the following March and May tournaments, a disastrous eight consecutive losses followed by a withdrawal from the July 2012 tournament saw him relegated back to the unsalaried ranks for the first time in a year. He bounced back quickly in the September tournament and a 6–1 record at makushita 1 put him right back in the salaried ranks. An 8–7 kachi-koshi in the November tournament and a very strong showing of 11–4 in the January 2012 tournament would put him at the rank of juryo 2 for the March tournament. Here he achieved his most successful tournament yet by posting a 12–3 record and the championship. To achieve this he beat fellow Mongolian Azumaryu on the final day to give both the same record for the tournament and then later in the day beat him again in a playoff to take the championship. For the May tournament Kyokushuho was promoted to the top division for the second time to a new highest rank of maegashira 12, but had to withdraw through injury on Day 10. He reached his highest rank to date of maegashira 4 in January 2016, but an injury forced him to sit out the May 2016 tournament, and this resulted in a fall to juryo.

### **Later Career**

Kyokushuho would remain in juryo for the next four years of his career (as of 2021 he is still wrestling in juryo). He produced a variety of mixed records and in November 2020 Kyokushuho participated in a playoff for the juryo yusho after achieving a 10-5 record, but lost the match against Midorifuji who would end up taking the juryo yusho. Kyokushuho was forced to sit out of the January 2021 after a wrestler in his stable tested positive for COVID-19. Following this, he posted five consecutive 6-9 records and was demoted back to the unsalaried ranks after nine straight years as a sekitori.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After 27 straight tournaments in juryo, and five straight 6–9 records from March until November 2021, Kyokushuho faced demotion to makushita. He withdrew from the start of the January 2022 basho ranked at makushita 1. On 21 January 2022, the Sumo Association announced his retirement. Kyokushuho's danpatsu-shiki (retirement ceremony) was held on 4 June 2023 at the Tobu Hotel Levant in Tokyo. According to some reports, he started a trading company in Mongolia and works as the manager for the company.

## **Personal Life**

* On January 13th, 2019, Kyokushuho married a 25 year old Mongolian woman who he had been in a relationship for four years. They have two daughters.
* Kyokushuho's father was a former president of a shipping company and his mother was a former teacher. He was raised in the center of Ulan-Bator, Mongolia, and his three siblings are all doctors at a military hospital.
* Kyokushuho served as yokozuna Hakuho's sword carrier, or tachimochi.
* Kyokushuho was an avid basketball player growing up and could easily dunk a basketball with two hands.

## **Fighting Style**

Kyokushuho is a yotsu sumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques to pushing or thrusting. His favored grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt is migi-yotsu, meaning his left hand is inside and his right hand outside his opponent's. A straightforward yorikiri or force out is his most common winning kimarite but he also regularly uses oshidashi (push out) and uwatenage (overarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 524-504-54/1024 (87 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 127-153-20/279 (20 basho)
* **Juryo:** 292-286-22/577 (40 basho)
* **Makushita:** 77-58-12/133 (21 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 9-5/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 13-1/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (March 2013)
* 1 **Jonidan** Championship (November 2007)

## **Shikona History**

* Kyokushuho Yuji (2007.05 - 2010.01)
* Kyokushuho Koki (2010.03 - 2022.01)

## **Gallery**

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

Kyokushuho Koki - 2018 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2017 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2016 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2015 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho Koki - 2011 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuho's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Kyokushuho during his time in Maezumo (c. 2007)Kyokushuho after promotion to Juryo (c. 2011)Kyokushuho serves as Hakuho's flag bearer (c. 2011)Kyokushuho after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2012)Kyokushuho throws Jokoryu (c. 2013)Kyokushuho wins his first Juryo Yusho (c. 2013)Kyokushuho battles Chiyotairyu in a bloody match (c. 2014)Kyokushuho defeats Endo (c. 2015)Kyokushuho defeats future Yokozuna Terunofuji (c. 2016)Kyokushuho battles Ura (c. 2017)Kyokushuho defeats Homarefuji (c. 2018)Kyokushuho defeats Kizakiumi (c. 2019)Kyokushuho prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2020)Kyokushuho defeats Midorifuji (c. 2020)Kyokushuho loses his final match to Kitanowaka (c. 2021)Kyokushuho announces his retirement (c. 2022)Kyokushuho's retirement ceremony (c. 2023)

## **Sources**

* Kyokushuho Koki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kyokushuho Koki Rikishi Information