Harimayama Hanataro

Harimayama Hanataro - 播磨山 花太郎 (born May 20, 1970) is a former South Korean professional sumo wrestler from Seoul. He made his debut in May 1990 and last wrestled for Onaruto stable. His highest rank was makushita 58 and he retired in September 1994.

## **Early Life**

Sangjin Hong was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. He began wrestling in his second year of middle school. He attended Dongyang Technical High School (동양공업고등학교), where his future Korean stablemate, Nanzan, was one grade below. He participated in Ssireum which is traditional Korean wrestling (equivalent of sumo in South Korea). After graduating high school he attended Yeungnam University and wrestled on the collegiate level. However, after his first year in university, he was not happy with his time in university. As a result, he decided to move to Japan and pursue sumo wrestling.

## **Career**

He joined Onaruto stable, which was already home to fellow Korean Nanzan, in May 1990 and was given the shikona "Kanzan" (漢山). In his very first tournament, he produced an impressive 6-1 record and was placed in a five-man playoff for the jonokuchi yusho, but lost in the first round (Nanzan ended up winning the playoff). He continued his strong run by posting two more consecutive winning records and was promoted to sandanme in September 1991. He struggled a bit in sandanme and even sat out of some tournaments which caused him to fall back down to jonidan.

In November 1992, he produced a perfect 7-0 record, but lost to veteran Daitengo in a playoff for the sandanme yusho. Nonetheless he was promoted to the makushita division in January 1993. He struggled in his lone makushita tournament and was demoted back down to sandanme. He changed his shikona to "Harimayama" (播磨山) in September 1993.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Harimayama sat out of the September 1993 tournament. He continued to sit out in the following tournaments, and after sitting out for seven straight tournaments, his retirement was announced after the September 1994 tournament.

### **Professional Wrestling Career**

Sangjin Hong has always been a professional wrestling fan and would often attend professional wrestling events in Japan as an active wrestler. Upon returning back to South Korea in 1994, he started training in a gym for professional wrestling. He was approached by Lee Wang-Pyo who was a wrestler and the chairman of the World Wrestling Association (WWA), a wrestling promotion based in Seoul, South Korea.

He wrestled for many years in Korea and Japan under the ring name "Hong Sangjin". He wrestled mainly in the tag team scene and would usually team up with Kim Jong Wang.

As of 2018 he works as the vice president of the WWA. After the death of Lee Wang Pyo he took over as the owner of WWA in 2019.

## **Fighting Style**

Harimayama is a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He won majority of his bouts with a straightforward yorikiri (force out). He also regularly employed kotenage (armlock throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 70-55-43/124 (25 basho)
* **Makushita:** 1-6/7 (1 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 28-27-15/54 (10 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 35-21-21/56 (11 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1-7/7 (2 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Kanzan Sochin (1990.05 - 1993.07)
* Harimayama Hanataro (1993.09 - 1994.09)

## **Gallery**

Harimayama in maezumo (c. 1990)Harimayama prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1992)Harimayama during his time a professional wrestler

## **Sources**

* Harimayama Hanataro Rikishi Information
* Article on Harimayama and WWA