Nakanokuni Sho

Nakanokuni Sho - 仲の国 将 (born September 17, 1983) is a former Chinese professional sumo wrestler from Shunyi District, Beijing. He made his debut in July 2002 and wrestled for Minato stable. He reached the juryo division in September 2010. His highest rank was juryo 12 and he retired in May 2012.

## **Early Life**

Chao practiced judo from elementary school to high school in Beijing. After graduating from high school he went to Japan to study Japanese. Already weighing 140 kg (309 Ib) and standing at 6 ft 0.5 in (1.84 m), he joined Minato stable in July 2002 at the age of 18.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Wrestling under the shikona "Nakanokuni" (仲の国), he had a strong start and produced three straight 6-1 records. He wrestled in sandanme for nine tournaments before earning promotion to makushita in July 2004. He only lasted three tournaments in makushita and was demoted back down to sandanme. In January 2005 he won all seven of his matches and won the sandanme yusho. He was then promoted to the upper-levels of makushita where he would wrestle for majority of his career.

After four consecutive winning records, Nakanokuni was promoted to makushita 3 in July 2009. In this tournament he defeated two juryo-ranked wrestlers, but still finished with a losing record of 3-4. In July 2010, he was ranked at makushita 2 and defeated Kanbayashi on the last day to finish with a winning record of 4-3. As a result he was promoted to the salaried juryo division.

### **Juryo Career**

He was the third Chinese sumo wrestler promoted to the juryo division and the first Han Chinese who was born in China to become a sekitori (Kiyonohana was ethnically Han, but he was born in Japan; Sokokurai is ethnically Mongolian). In addition, he was also the first sekitori from Minato stable in nine years since his stablemaster Minatofuji. Nakanokuni struggled and lost his first six matches. He could only finish the tournament with three wins and cited back pain as the main reason for his lackluster debut. However, he never returned to juryo.

### **Later Career**

In the following tournament, Nakanokuni lost his first six matches and finished with a 1-6 record. He continued his poor run and after five straight losing records he was demoted back down to sandanme in March 2012.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Due to his back pain, Nakanokuni went from 172 kg (379 Ib) at his peak to around 135 kg (298 Ib) which was less than when he debuted. After the May 2012 tournament he submitted his retirement papers to the Japan Sumo Association. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on June 2nd, 2012, at his stable. After retiring, he was employed at a travel agency.

## **Fighting Style**

Nakanokuni was a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting 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:** 218-196/414 (59 basho)
* **Juryo:** 3-12/15 (1 basho)
* **Makushita:** 155-153/308 (44 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 48-29/77 (11 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (January 2005)

## **Shikona History**

* Nakanokuni Cho (2002.07 - 2005.01)
* Nakanokuni Sho (2005.03 - 2012.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Nakanokuni Sho - 2010 (Retrieved from the JSA)Nakanokuni's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Nakanokuni as one of the four foreign hopefuls (c. 2002)Nakanokuni gets his hair done in the Beijing Jungyo (c. 2004)Nakanokuni loses to Shironoryu in Makushita (c. 2010)Nakanokuni after promotion to Juryo (c. 2010)Nakanokuni prepares to face Asofuji in Juryo (c. 2010)Nakanokuni during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2010)Nakanokuni makes his way to the Kokugikan (c. 2010)Nakanokuni prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2010)Nakanokuni's retirement ceremony (c. 2012)

## **Sources**

* Nakanokuni Sho Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Nakanokuni Sho Rikishi Information