Kyokushuzan Noboru

Kyokushuzan Noboru - 旭鷲山 昇 (born March 8, 1973) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in March 1992 and wrestled for Oshima stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1996 and has 5 special prizes as well as 5 kinboshi. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in November 2006.

## **Early Life**

Davaagiin Batbayar was born on March 8, 1973, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. He was a diligent practitioner of Mongolian wrestling from a young age, but had ambitions of becoming a policeman. However, in late 1991, a Japanese sumo training stable master, Oshima-oyakata (the former ozeki Asahikuni) went to Mongolia to recruit promising wrestlers for sumo. The young Batbayar happened to notice the advertisement and applied along with 120 others. He was selected and went to Japan with five others, including Kyukotenho and Kyokutenzan. They were the first Mongolians ever to join sumo.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He was immediately given the shikona of Kyokushuzan, meaning "eagle mountain of the rising sun." He made his professional debut in March 1992. However six months later, due to cultural differences, language problems, and an extremely hard training regime, five of them including Kyokushuzan ran away from the training stable to the Mongolian embassy. He was eventually persuaded to return by his stablemaster's wife, and also Kyokutenzan.

Even though he struggled to adapt to Japanese culture, Kyokushuzan excelled on the dohyo. He was promoted to sandanme in January 1993 and makushita in September 1993. He was promoted to juryo in March 1995 and became the first Mongolian sekitori. Out of the 18 tournaments it took him to reach juryo, he only produced three losing records.

### **Juryo Career**

Kyokushuzan only managed six wins in his juryo debut and was demoted back down to makushita. He immediately returned after one tournament in the unsalaried ranks and he won his first juryo yusho in July 1995. Three tournaments later he won his second juryo yusho in March 1996. He was promoted to makuuchi in September 1996 which made him the first Mongolian to reach the top division.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kyokushuzan produced a solid 9-6 record and followed with an 8-7 record. In his third makuuchi tournament he won the technique prize after employing seven different kimarite. He was also promoted to komusubi in the following tournament, but he could only manage four wins in his lone san'yaku tournament.

After his single appearance as a komusubi in March 1997 he was ranked as a maegashira for 58 tournaments in a row, a record in the sumo world. He was a runner-up in two tournaments in March 2003 and September 2004, and was awarded five special prizes for his achievements in tournaments – two for Technique, two for Fighting Spirit and one for Outstanding Performance. He also earned five kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna, the last coming in May 2003 against fellow Mongolian Asashoryu. Determined to get revenge in the next tournament in July, Asashoryu pulled on Kyokushuzan's topknot; a foul for which he was disqualified (hansoku), the first time this had ever happened to a yokozuna (Kyokushuzan did not get a kinboshi on that occasion as they are not given for wins by hansoku).

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In November 2006, he suddenly announced his retirement two days into the Kyushu tournament. At the time this was thought to be because of a heart problem. A ceremony in his honour was held in Ulaanbaatar at the end of 2006, attended by the Mongolian Prime Minister, who thanked him for strengthening the ties between Mongolia and Japan.

Kyokushuzan's danpatsu-shiki, the official retirement ceremony where the retired rikishi's topknot is cut off, was reportedly going to be held in Mongolia, but eventually took place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on June 2, 2007. Soon after the ceremony, on June 4, 2007, Kyokushuzan released his memorial photobook featuring Anna Tsuchiya.

It subsequently emerged that Kyokushuzan was the victim of an attempted extortion by gangsters, linked to the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate. The gangsters were all arrested, and Kyokushuzan told police that this incident was one reason for his retirement.

He moved into Mongolian politics and in June 2008 was elected to the Mongolian parliament on the opposition Democratic Party ticket. In the 2012 Parliamentary elections, he ran in his native Khovd Province but was not elected. He worked as an advisor on Japan to the Prime Minister of Mongolia Chimediin Saikhanbileg from 2013. He ran for the Democratic Party again in the 2020 Parliamentary elections but was once more unsuccessful.

During his active career and since his retirement Kyokushuzan has been an active recruiter of Mongolian sumo wrestlers to enter professional sumo, using his connections to help fellow Mongolians interested in joining sumo to find a stable looking to recruit a foreign wrestler. In this regard, he was instrumental in starting the careers of younger sumo wrestlers such as Hakuho, Tamawashi and Mokonami. He estimates he has recruited around 25 Mongolians for professional sumo over the years.

## **Personal Life**

* As he succeeded in the ring, his popularity in Mongolia soared. Also, as he has contributed much to his country by establishing several foundations for the welfare of the youth and sick people, he is now regarded as one of the heroes of the country.
* In April 2004, he started to study on a correspondence course for an MSc in telecommunications at Waseda University in Japan. This is partly because the Mongolian president advised him to study while in Japan for his future.
* In May 2000, Kyokushuzan married a Mongolian woman who was studying in Japan. The couple have a son and a daughter. Following his retirement from his professional career, he relocated back to Mongolia. He entered into his second marriage with T. Bayasgalan, a renowned Mongolian country singer, and they have since welcomed a son and a daughter into their family.

## **Fighting Style**

At the beginning of his top division career he gained great popularity with audiences due to his variety of techniques, which were influenced by Mongolian wrestling. Less often seen in sumo, they surprised many of his early opponents. He was known as the gino depato, or "department store of techniques." In the May 2002 tournament, he won his first eight bouts in a row, using eight different techniques. However, because he was in danger of injuring other wrestlers, he was eventually told by the Sumo Association to stop using some of them, and by the end of his career he had a much more defensive (and less successful) style. His most common winning kimarite overall were uwatenage (overarm throw) and yorikiri (force out), using his preferred mawashi grip of migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside). However his next most common were hatakikomi (slap down) and hikiotoshi (pull down), reflecting his change of style.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 560-601-2/1159 (89 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 408-507-2/913 (62 basho)
* **Juryo:** 67-53/120 (8 basho)
* **Makushita:** 46-24/70 (10 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 18-10/28 (4 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 15-6/21 (3 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 2 **Juryo** Championships
	+ 1st (July 1995)
	+ 2nd (March 1996)
* 1 **Makushita** Championship (January 1995)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (2), Technique Prize (2), Outstanding Performance Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 5: (2) Wakanohana, (1) Asashoryu, (1) Musashimaru, (1) Akebono
* **1st** Mongolian sekitori
* **1st** Mongolian to reach san'yaku

## **Gallery**

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

Kyokushuzan Noboru - 1997 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kyokushuzan's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Kyokushuzan joins sumo with five other Mongolians (c. 1992)Kyokushuzan and five others become Mongolian sumo pioneers (c. 1992)Kyokushuzan after promotion to Juryo (c. 1995)Kyokushuzan after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 1996)Kyokushuzan with his Mongolian stablemates (c. 1996)Kyokushuzan (c. 1996)Kyokushuzan defeats Tosanoumi (c. 1997)Kyokushuzan wins his first of many sansho prizes (c. 1997)Kyokushuzan after promotion to Komusubi (c. 1997)Kyokushuzan with former Ozeki Konishiki (c. 1997)Kyokushuzan battles his opponent (c. 1998)Kyokushuzan battles his opponent (c. 1999)Kyokushuzan (c. 2002)Kyokushuzan defeats Chiyotenzan (c. 2002)Asashoryu gets disqualified against Kyokushuzan (c. 2005)Kyokushuzan as a pioneer for Mongolian success in sumo (c. 2006)Kyokushuzan announces his retirement (c. 2006)Kyokushuzan's retirement ceremony (c. 2007)Kyokushuzan's political career in Mongolia (c. 2008)

## **Sources**

* Kyokushuzan Noboru Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kyokushuzan Noboru Rikishi Information