Hokutofuji Daiki

Hokutofuji Daiki - 北勝富士 大輝 (born July 15, 1992) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tokorozawa, Saitama. He made his debut in March 2015 and currently wrestles for Hakkaku stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 2016 and has 3 special prizes as well as 7 kinboshi. His highest rank as of 2023 is komusubi.

## **Early Life**

Nakamura was involved in many sports before sumo such as soccer, swimming and skiing. He was particularly good at skiing and was already skiing on advanced courses since he was three years old. Nakamura attended Tokorozawa City Minami Elementary School and started sumo his fourth year there. He also attended a local sumo dojo: Iruma Shonen Sumo Club. He described himself as weak when he first got there, but by the end of his fifth year he was the strongest in Saitama Prefecture.

He later attended Tokorozawa City Nanryo Junior High School and belonged in both their sumo and judo clubs. He was also good at judo and won the city tournament, however both club's schedules started to overlap which caused him to miss several judo and sumo tournaments. He won three prefectural sumo tournaments. After that, He attended Saitama Sakae High School and was a high school yokozuna there.

He enrolled in the College of Physical Education Department at Nippon Sport Science University. In his second year he won his first individual title at the East Japan Student Sumo Individual Weight Championship. At the same year he won the National Student Sumo Championship. These titles granted him makushita tsukedashi status, but his parents wanted him to complete his education.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his debut in March 2015 at the maezumo level. He was unable to compete under his family name of Nakamura as that was already taken by Nakamura Oyakata (former sekiwake Kotonishiki), so instead he used his given name, Daiki. He rose very quickly through the lower divisions and took the jonidan and sandanme championships. He achieved 3 consecutive 5-2 records and one 4-3 record in makushita, and this would earn him a promotion to juryo.

### **Juryo Career**

Daiki made his juryo debut in July 2016 and scored a 10-5 record. The following tournament he won the juryo championship in September with a 12–3 record, which saw him promoted to the top makuuchi division. His rise to the top division in ten tournaments was the second fastest of modern times behind that of Jokoryu who achieved the feat in nine tournaments in 2012. At this point he changed his shikona from Daiki to Hokutofuji, which was derived from the shikona of his stablemaster, former yokozuna Hokutoumi, and Hokutoumi's own stablemaster, former yokozuna Kitanofuji.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Hokutofuji came through with a solid 9–6 record in his top division debut and recorded 9 wins again in January 2017. In March he recorded the first make-koshi (losing record) of his career, but a 10–5 result in May saw him move up the rankings. In the July 2017 tournament he earned a kinboshi or gold star in his first ever match against a yokozuna, defeating Kakuryu,  and finished with eight wins. On Day 4 of the September tournament he beat yokozuna Harumafuji to claim his second kinboshi. He was a runner-up to Hakuho in the November 2017 tournament with an 11–4 record, and was awarded his first special prize, for Technique. He also defeated yokozuna Kisenosato in this tournament, earning his third kinboshi in his last three tournaments.

In January 2018 he won a fourth straight kinboshi by defeating Hakuho on Day 3, but he finished the tournament with only four wins against eleven losses. In the May 2018 tournament he suffered a concussion during a false start at the tachi-ai in his match against Ryuden on Day 10. He withdrew from the rest of the tournament. Returning in July ranked at the bottom of the division at maegashira 16, he secured a winning record.

In March 2019 he made his sanyaku debut at komusubi rank. He was the third komusubi from Saitama Prefecture after Wakabayama in September 1951 and Wakachichibu in March 1959. He is also the fourth komusubi from Hakkaku stable following Kaiho, Hokutoriki and Okinoumi. In September 2019 he picked up his sixth kinboshi by defeating Hakuho on the opening day. Following this victory he lost his next 6 matches to fall to 1-6 but made an impressive recovery by winning his final 8 matches to finish the tournament at 9-6. He returned to the komusubi rank in November, one of four komusubi in that tournament, but fell just short of a majority of wins with a 7–8 record. Back in the maegashira ranks in January 2020 he earned his seventh kinboshi by defeating Kakuryū on Day 3. He also beat both ozeki, and finished the tournament with eleven wins and his second Technique Prize. He returned to the komusubi rank in March, and defeated Kakuryū again on Day 2, but finished the tournament with a 4–11 record. He has remained in the maegashira ranks since July 2020, and has alternated between winning and losing records for 16 straight tournaments as of May 2022. He had to withdraw from Day 15 of the July 2022 tournament after a COVID outbreak at Hakkaku stable. In September he was the tournament leader after winning his first nine matches, but he lost five of his last six matches to finish with a 10–5 record.

In July 2023, Hokutofuji had a solid tournament, winning his twelfth match against ozeki-promotion seekers, Hoshoryu. He also topped the rankings after the thirteenth day of the tournament, following a victory over maegashira Endo. Commenting on his performance, he expressed his desire to break his record for makuuchi wins with a twelfth victory over one of the other wrestlers competing for the title, the newly promoted Hakuoho. In September, Hokutofuji revealed he injured his right calf during a training session prior to the sixth day of the tournament.

During the September tournament, Hokutofuji put in a remarkable performance on the first three days. At the rank of maegashira 1, he faced the three ozeki of the time (Takakeisho, Kirishima and Hoshoryu) and won each of these matches. In an editorial for Sports Nippon, Tamanoi-oyakata praised Hokutofuji and his "veteran skills" and for overcoming his neck and knee injuries. This performance marks only the fifth time since the beginning of the Showa era that a wrestler not ranked in san'yaku has won three consecutive victories over ozeki-ranked wrestlers.

## **Personal Life**

* Hokutofuji announced his engagement to Mami Nakayama, an office employee from Hirakata, Osaka. He plans to marry her in January 2020 and the wedding will be held on June 2020.
* Hokutofuji's main sumo rival is Mitakeumi and they have been wrestling against each other since junior high school. Hokutofuji said that one of his happiest moments was when he defeats Mitakeumi in a best eight prefectural tournament in his third year of junior high school. Hokutofuji is close friends with Abi and Daieisho, because they are all from Saitama Prefecture and are around the same age. Hokutofuji admires Myogiryu, because they both attended the same university and Myogiryu's fighting styles similar to Hokutofuji's.
* Around 2017, Hokutofuji met former baseball player Mac Suzuki in a supporter's association party. Since then they have shared a deep friendship.
* Hokutofuji's hobbies include darts, watching YouTube, consuming alcohol, singing karoke and listening to music.
* Hokutofuji's favorite foods are sushi and steak. He strongly dislikes umeboshi (dried salted Japanese plum) and spicy food.
* Hokutofuji is the first makuuchi wrestler from Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.

## **Fighting Style**

Hokutofuji's performances to date suggest that he is an oshi-sumo specialist who favours pushing techniques to fighting on the mawashi or belt. He wins roughly half his bouts with a straightforward oshi-dashi, or push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 383-312-14/692 (52 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 322-294-14/613 (42 basho)
* **Juryo:** 22-8/30 (2 basho)
* **Makushita:** 19-9/28 (4 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 Juryo Championship (September 2016)
* 1 Sandanme Championship (September 2015)
* 1 Jonidan Championship (July 2015)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Technique Prize (2), Fighting Spirit Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 7: (2) Hakuho, (2) Kakuryu, (2) Kisenosato, (1) Harumafuji
* **Record:** Tied for **2nd**: Fastest progress to top division (10)

## **Shikona History**

* Daiki Akimichi (2015.03 - 2016.09)
* Hokutofuji Daiki (2016.11 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Hokutofuji Daiki - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hokutofuji Daiki - 2022 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hokutofuji Daiki - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hokutofuji Daiki - 2018 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hokutofuji Daiki - 2017 (Retrieved from the JSA)Daiki Akimichi - 2016 (Retrieved from the JSA)Daiki Akimichi - 2016 (Retrieved from the JSA)Daiki Akimichi - 2016 (Retrieved from the JSA)Daiki's TegataHokutofuji's Tegata
### **Career Overview**

Daiki gets recruited into Hakkaku stable (c. 2015)Daiki's first tournament of professional sumo (c. 2015)Daiki defeats Daiamami (c. 2016)Daiki after promotion to Juryo (c. 2016)Daiki gets presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2016)Daiki pushes out Ura (c. 2016)Daiki wins his first Juryo Yusho (c. 2016)Daiki becomes Hokutofuji after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2016)Hokutofuji pushes out Chiyotairyu (c. 2016)Hokutofuji defeats Yokozuna Kakuryu (c. 2017)Hokutofuji with his first of many sansho prizes (c. 2017)Hokutofuji defeats Yokozuna Hakuho (c. 2018)Hokutofuji after promotion to Komusubi (c. 2019)Hokutofuji defeats Yokozuna Hakuho (c. 2019)Hokutofuji defeats Yokozuna Kakuryu (c. 2020)Hokutofuji defeats Ozeki Takakeisho (c. 2021)Hokutofuji defeats future Ozeki Mitakeumi (c. 2022)Hokutofuji prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Hokutofuji defeats Nishikigi (c. 2023)Hokutofuji loses the Yusho playoff to Hoshoryu (c. 2023)Hokutofuji after losing the Yusho playoff (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Hokutofuji Daiki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hokutofuji Daiki Rikishi Information