Kiozan Takeru

* Anime
* Ashura
* Omega

The Delinquent Sekiwake (不 (ふ) 良 (りょう) 関 (せき) 脇 (わき) , *Furyō Sekiwake*) (Formerly)
The Brawler of the Sumo Ring (土 (ど) 俵 (ひょう) の喧 (けん) 嘩 (か) 屋 (や) , *Dohyō no Kenka-ya*) (Formerly)

### Age:

20 (Kengan Ashura)
~22 (Kengan Omega)

### Weight:

159kg (351lbs)
162kg (357lbs)

### Occupation:

Sumo Wrestler
Underground Fighter

### Relatives:

Ko'ozan Shinobu (brother)
Ryuozan Ken (brother)
Ko'ozan's Wife (sister-in-law)
Ko'ozan's Son (nephew)

### Seiyū:

Kenta Miyake (Japanese)
Tony Azzolino (English)

*"My brothers are the failures...* modern *sumo is a failure. And I'm here to change sumo."*
— Takeru denouncing modern sumo to Haga Haruki

**Kiozan Takeru** (鬼 (き) 王 (おう) 山 (ざん)  尊 (たける) , *Kiōzan Takeru*), also known as **The Ozeki Boss** , is a professional *jūryō* sumo wrestler and an affiliated fighter within the Kengan matches. He represented Magatanien during the Kengan Annihilation Tournament. He had a terrible reputation for always getting into fights, being considered a failure in comparison to his *yokozuna* older brothers.

## Appearance

Kiozan, befitting of a sumo wrestler, is an extremely bulky, heavy-set individual with an angular face, thin arrogant eyes, short black eyebrows and black hair set into a traditional ponytail with a single strand of hair falling over the left side of his face. Unlike many of his peers and sumo wrestlers in real life, Takeru's muscles are very prominent, even his abdominals, resembling more of a power lifter or even a bodybuilder.

Kiozan typically has an intense or rather aggressive gaze. He also has multiple wrappings on his arms and elbows, though these seem to change or are simply not visible under his attire. Outside of battle, Kiozan wears a traditional kimono with one arm resting inside it. In battle, he wears a traditional *mawashi*.

As an ozeki in Chapter 221 of *Omega*, Kiozan had become much bulkier, losing muscle definition in favor of a more traditional sumo build.

## Personality

Kiozan is a notably arrogant individual who supposedly takes great pride in his style of 'ancient' sumo, considering modern sumo to be a failure. As a man who seeks to fight the strongest and prove his way of sumo is the best, he is easily annoyed and angered when he feels like his pride has been disrespected. After his defeat to Sekibayashi Jun in the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Takeru appeared to have become a lot more respectful to his martial art, now taking modern sumo seriously again.

## History

Kiozan, a younger brother to distinguished yokozunas over time had his faith in sumo as a martial art diminish, stricken with the belief that with the sumo wrestler's strong body, that restricting such a body to only simple slaps was foolish. In response, he began integrating other strikes into his style and dubbing it "ancient sumo" much to the chagrin of his older brothers who believe Takeru's style to be blasphemous to sumo.

At some point prior to the tournament, Kiozan annihilated the members of the Manly Kickboxing Gym before easily dispatching its boss, Haga Haruki, a GO-1 Grand Prix heavyweight champion.

## Plot

### *Kengan Ashura*

While on board the S.S. Kengan, Kiozan made quick work of the people that were after his representative position before condescendingly deriding them as he left.

On the opening day of the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, he had a quick show of his strength with Magatani Juzo before his fight. Asking whether his opponent was actually strong, Akiyama Sakura told him that indeed his opponent was strong, which excited Kiozan. Representing Magatanien, Kiozanfought Sekibayashi Jun in the first round. Despite seemingly holding the advantage throughout the match by being the one landing more blows—even his most powerful attack, Kiozan ended up losing to the pro wrestler due to his incredible defense and unshakeable conviction.

Later Kiozan was seen watching the match between Sekibayashi and Muteba Gizenga. When Hayami Katsumasa began his "revolution", Kiozan was seen fighting the Guardians. When his brothers and many sumo came to help him, Kiozan remembered that his brothers used to be like him when they were younger.

The next day, he and the majority of other knocked out fighters watched the final day of the tournament unfold in a special viewing area.

After the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Kiozan started taking sumo seriously again, much to his older brothers' satisfaction.

### *Kengan Omega*

Pitted against Chiba Takayuki in a Kengan match, Kiozan swiftly defeated him and ended the man's 4-win streak.

## Power & Abilities

Kiohzan Takeru is an extremely physically powerful professional sumo wrestler. His muscular strength is immense, with his legs being particularly strong, due to being trained from dawn till dusk, 365 days a year. As a result of his incredible leg strength, Kiozan is deceptively fast despite his rather large and heavy build, being able to knock out a champion kick-boxer before the man even had time to react.

Kiozan is an adept practitioner of sumo techniques. He is able to launch powerful **tsuppari** (突 (つ) っ張 (ぱ) り, *"thrust"*) with Kiozan's individual **harite** (張 (は) り手 (て) , *open hand strikes*) being capable of breaking teppo poles in half; a single harite left his hand imprinted into the stone arena wall. Before his loss to Jun, Kiozan used a form of "ancient" sumo, a form that doesn't limit the types of techniques he can use; these techniques resemble Kinjite, such as kicking, grabbing the opponent's hair, and striking with a closed fist. Despite the seeming advantages of this form of sumo, it is not properly compatible with a sumo's body type, thus draining Kiozan's stamina a lot faster than usual.

Two years after the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, after abandoning "ancient" sumo in favor of refining his modern sumo techniques, Yamashita Kazuo noted that Kiozan had been getting more and more powerful by the day.

Two years after the events of the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament, Kiozan's skills have improved to the point that he's now a rising star in professional sumo and have climbed up to the rank of Ozeki. This means he won at least thirty-three official sumo matches within the last three tournaments. He's now strong enough to fight evenly against someone of Tokita Ohma's caliber. Even Sekibayashi admitted that Kiozan is the "last fighter" he want to fight, a testament to far he had come from his debut. Kiozan's durability had also improved capable of even tanking a Demonsbane counter that used his own power against him. Despite eventually losing, Kiozan stood firmly on his feet despite having lost his consciousness from Ohma's rear naked choke.

### Raging Vigour

* Kiozan getting into his stance
* Kiozan in the stance
* Takeru hitting Sekibayashi with Raging Vigour
1/4
**Raging Vigour** (激 (げき) 旺 (おう) , *Gekiō*) is a variant of the ramming charge, which involves Kiozan going into the traditional sumo squatting position and then lowering it even further, so his center of gravity is as low as possible, before charging at his opponent at nigh-untraceable speeds to the point where even Kazuo's Fist Eye couldn't follow him. The technique is only possible due to Kiozan's particularly powerful legs (even by a sumo's standards of Makuuchi, who can run 100m in 13 seconds with a body of 150kg), with the charging strike being twice as fast and four times as powerful as normal. The technique has an offensive range of 4.55 meters and, while it limits him to forward motion, his speed in this range exceeds that of even Murobuchi Gozo. Despite its great power, this technique puts strong internal pressure and strain on Kiozan's legs, making him unable to stand up after using it.

Four years after the Kengan Annihilation Tournament, Kiozan seems to overcome it's weakness, as he still manages to fight even after using it. It is now powerful enough to overcome Ohma's **Demonsbane**.

## Etymology

* **Kiozan** means "demon king" (鬼王) (**kio**) and "mountain, hill" (山) (**san**/**zan**).
* **Takeru** means "revered, valuable, precious, noble, exalted" (尊).

## Trivia

* Ex-*yokozuna* Takanenohana is the sumo wrestler he respects the most.
* Takeru's favourite manga is Kyō Kara Ore Wa!!.
* Takeru is modelled after fromer ozeki Miyabiyama Tetsushi.
* It is unknown what Takeru and his brothers' true surnames are, as they are all more commonly known by their *shikona*. Their *shikona*, Ryuozan, Ko'ozan, and Kiozan, are named thematically after the dragon, tiger, and *oni*, respectively.
* Takeru's theme in the anime is *Dengeki Raigo* (電撃来迎, *Dengeki Raigō*; lit. *"The Lighting Approach"*) by yaiba.
* Kiozan's win streak of 12, by Chapter 222 of *Omega*, is actually an error from the draft. The number was later updated to 19 in the original Japanese, but this was not communicated to the English translation.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Kiohzan Takeru's profile
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Chapter 74
3. ↑ Chapter 221 (Omega)
4. ↑ *7 wins prior to the Kengan Annihilation Tournament*(Ch74)(Ep13)
*At least 8 wins after his victory over Chiba Takayuki*(ΩCh25)
5. ↑ After defeat to Sekibayashi Jun during the Kengan Annihilation Tournament(Ch81)(Ep13)
1 loss to Tokita Ohma in a Kengan match(ΩCh223)
6. ↑ Chapter 236
7. ↑ Chapter 76
8. ↑ Chapter 78
9. ↑ Chatper 25 (Omega)
10. ↑ Chapter 80
11. ↑ File:Chapter 222 Page 17 - Original Draft.png