Rikishin Tatsuki

Rikishin Tatsuki - 力真 樹 (born October 7, 1995) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Taragi, Kumamoto. He made his debut in May 2011 and last wrestled for Tatsunami stable. He reached the juryo division in January 2017. His highest rank was juryo 10 and he retired in September 2017.

## **Early Life**

Kubota started judo in his third year at Taragi Choritsu Kurohiji Elementary School. However, since his training partner quit, Kubota also left the judo program in his fifth year of elementary school.

He would resume judo after enrolling in Taragi Choritsu Taragi Junior High School. He belonged in the judo club for three years during junior high school and during his second year at junior high school, Tatsunami oyakata (ex-komusubi Asahiyutaka) visited his junior high school and recommended that he tried sumo. Kubota accepted this offer, even though he had many other offers from top-level judo high schools. Before joining professional sumo, the only sumo wrestling experience he had was participating in a local tournament in the first grade of elementary school.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his debut under the shikona "Rikishin" in May 2011 alongside Meisei, Chiyotairyu, Terunofuji, Jokoryu, and Hakuyozan. Rikishin had a slow start in sumo and remained in jondan for nearly two years. Upon reaching sandanme in 2013, Rikishin started to rise up the ranks at a faster rate and reached the rank of sandanme 8 in September 2013, however he sat out of his tournament. He bounced back from his absence and earned promotion to the makushita division for the July 2014 tournament.

In Rikishin's makushita debut he won all seven matches and took the makushita yusho. It was the third time that a teenager (Rikishin was 18 years old at the time) won the makushita yusho at their debut tournament. The previous wrestlers to accomplish this feat was the 47th yokozuna Kashiwado and the 65th yokozuna Takanohana. As a result, Rikishin was promoted to makushita 6 for the following tournament. In this tournament, Rikishin's opponents were significantly more experienced and Rikishin suffered a 2-5 record. In September 2015, Rikishin produced a 6-1 record and was placed in an eight-man playoff for the makushita yusho. He defeats Tetsuyuzan in the first round, but lost to Sato in the second round. From March 2016 to November 2016, Rikishin produced five straight winning records which earned him a promotion to the juryo division.

### **Juryo Career**

Rikishin made his juryo debut in the January 2017 tournament and was 7-7 on the final day, however he lost the last match against Kyokutaisei to finish with a 7-8 losing record. He followed this with an impressive 9-6 record and was promoted to a career-high juryo 10 for the May 2017 tournament. However, on April 13th, 2017, Rikishin started to hyperventilate after 15 minutes of collision training. On April 20th, he complained that he was not feeling too well (presumably due to the hyperventilation) and was urgently transferred to a hospital by ambulance. Rikishin was depolarized from this incident and as a result produced two losing records in the following tournaments and was demoted back down to makushita for the September 2017 tournament.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Rikishin was demoted to makushita for the September 2017 tournament and he pulled out fro the tournament. This was because he underwent knee surgery, but felt that the surgery was not improving his health or his sumo skills. As a result he announced his retirement on September 23rd at the young age of 21. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on the very next day (September 24, 2017).

After retirement, Rikishin currently works as the manager of a restaurant called "Dining Bar JOGO" (ダイニングバー JOGO) in Yokohama.

## **Personal Life**

* Rikishin is close friends with stablemate and top divison wrestler Akua. In September 2018, Rikishin gave Akua his bright green mawashi which he never used before in his career.
* On the first day of January 2017, Rikishin was nervous during the dohyo-iri, or ring entering ceremony, and made a mistake by clapping his hand earlier than he should have.
* On April 13th, 2017, Rikishin started to hyperventilate after 15 minutes of collision training with Takanoiwa during a training session in Kashiwa, Chiba. On April 20th, he complained that he was not feeling too well (presumably due to the hyperventilation) and was urgently transferred to a hospital by ambulance.
* Since Rikishin's stable is located at Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, he was sponsored by a recycling company called Nissho Tsukuba (日昇つくば). They presented him with a kesho-mawashi.
* Rikishin's hobbies include listening to music.

## **Fighting Style**

Rikishin is a oshi-sumo specialist, who prefers pushing at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite or technique is oshidashi or a straightforward push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 158-126-14/284 (39 basho)
* **Juryo:** 26-34/60 (4 basho)
* **Makushita:** 63-42-7/105 (16 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 35-21-7/56 (9 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 30-26/56 (8 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (July 2014)

## **Gallery**

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

Rikishin Tatsuki - 2017 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Rikishin Tatsuki - 2017 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Rikishin's Tegata
### **Career Overview**

Rikishin emotional after winning the Makushita Yusho (c. 2014)Rikishin ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2016)Rikishin after promotion to Juryo (c. 2016)Rikishin celebrates promotion to Juryo (c. 2016)Rikishin prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2017)Rikishin collapses in training due to hyperventilation (c. 2017)Rikishin lose to future Ozeki Asanoyama (c. 2017)Rikishin during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2017)Rikishin's retirement ceremony (c. 2017)
## **Sources**

* Rikishin Tatsuki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Rikishin Tatsuki Rikishi Information