Kiho Tomotaka

Kiho Tomotaka - 輝鵬 智貴 (born April 10, 1999) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Uto, Kumamoto. He made his debut in September 2022 and currently wrestles for Miyagino stable. He reached the juryo division in July 2023. His highest rank as of 2023 is juryo 13.

## **Early Life**

Kawazoe hails from Udo, Kumamoto, the same hometown as the 8th yokozuna Shiranui Dakuemon and ozeki Shodai. When he was in nursery school, he took part in a local sumo tournament and recalls being thrown to the ground by a girl. Although they were fighting for fun, his ego was bruised and he vowed to continue sumo, eventually developing a passion for the sport as he became more and more involved in his club's activities. At high school, he enrolled at Buntoku High School, a school with a good sumo club and several team and individual championship victories. There, Kawazoe became a high school yokozuna at the national championships. In 2015, he won the Hakuho Cup individual championship (junior high school competition), and cites this competition as the moment when he decided to join Miyagino stable, in particular to become stronger by training with wrestlers of the same calibre as him (such as Ishiura and Enho). After graduating from high school, he joined Nihon University's sumo club, where he won the title of student yokozuna in 2021, by defeating the reigning champion Hidetora Hanada at the All Japan College Championships. During his year at Nihon University, observers noted that he had quickly won the university's black mawashi, a symbol of the club's veteran wrestlers. During the same period, he however suffered a partially torn right Achilles tendon and a torn right hamstring, which delayed his decision to become a professional. With this last amateur yokozuna title, Kawazoe finally decided to turn pro, as he was still eligible to enter professional sumo using the makushita tsukedashi system. As expected, he joined Miyagino stable where his fellow Nihon University classmate Otani was already wrestling.

Formally recruited in September 2022, Kawazoe became the first new member of the Miyagino stable since Hakuho took over the Miyagino elder share in July of that year. At the time of the inspection of the new recruits, at the end of August 2022, he was authorised to compete because of his prowess as an amateur. However, he received a comment from Isegahama (former yokozuna Asahifuji) who told him "even if you are a tsukedashi, you can't be tall enough."

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

During his ealry career, he wrestled under his real name "Kawazoe" (川副). Just as he was about to begin his first tournament, Kawazoe expressed his desire to compete against the former ozeki Asanoyama, who was climbing back to the top division after his suspension, on Day 1 of the September 2022 tournament. Kawazoe nevertheless suffered a defeat but considered the match a good experience. However, Kawazoe was able to bounce back and win a kachi-koshi score. For a year, he wrestled in the makushita division without ever scoring a make-koshi record but without winning a championship either, which slowed his progression up the rankings. In March 2023, when he was ranked as makushita 3, he missed out on promotion to sekitori status.

### **Juryo Career**

Following a 5–2 record as West Makushita 1, Kawazoe earned a promotion to the juryo division, along Yuma and Ukrainian Shishi, despite a fracture in the back of his left foot. On the occasion of his promotion it was announced that he would take the shikona, or ring name, "Kiho" (輝鵬). It was revealed that this ring name, chosen on the night of his fourth victory securing his promotion, was chosen by Kawazoe himself with the kanji for "shine" (輝) as he wishes to become a wrestler who shines ever brighter. His shikona first name, "Tomotaka" (智貴), is a combination of his father's Tomonori (智徳) and mother's Takayo (貴代). During the interview introducing the new juryo wrestlers, the now Kiho expressed regret at having fallen behind the promotion records of his stablemate Hakuoho, vowing to overtake him in the rankings. Upon promotion, Kiho became the smallest active sekitori, replacing his stablemate Enho, and complementing Hokuseiho, another stablemate, who is the tallest sekitori.

Unusually, he took part in his first juryo tournament with the iconic golden shimekomi of his coach Magaki-oyakata. Speaking about this unusual situation, since wrestlers promoted to juryo have their own competition mawashi custom-made, he explained that his silver shimekomi had only been delivered the day before the tournament, too late to use it. As he resolved himself to use his coach's, the observers saw it as a passing of the baton between Ishiura, who had just retired, and Kiho, who had just been promoted to juryo; the two also sharing the same build and sumo style and Kiho declaring "I will do my best to carry on his will." On the seventh day of the tournament, Kiho faced amateur scene rival and Nishonoseki stable wrestler, Onosato, who fought in makushita. Kiho had never managed to beat Onosato on the amateur scene, and the latter had even stolen the college yokozuna title from him at the 2022 championships. Kiho nevertheless managed to defeat Onosato by hatakikomi and thus inflicted on him his second consecutive defeat, further delaying Onosato's promotion to juryo.

On the eighth day of the same tournament, he received a kesho-mawashi from his former school Buntoku High School. As he won that day against Tsushimanada, he commented that this gift, designed by his former sumo coach, was a good omen for his tournament. On the eleventh day of the same tournament, Kiho, who was then recording a score of 7 wins, lost his match against Akua by the rare kimarite (winning technique) abisetaoshi, or 'backward force down'. Wounded during the fight, he had to be taken to the arena infirmary in a wheelchair, before submitting a medical certificate and declaring himself kyujo the next day; mentioning a lisfranc injury requiring a month's treatment.

However, Kiho was listed among the wrestlers participating in the September 2023 tournament. In stable condition on his injured leg, he nevertheless injured his other leg on the first day of the tournament, when Onosato pushed his opponent Asakoryu out of the ring, the latter falling on top of Kiho. Now wrestling under painkillers in both legs due to torn muscles in both thighs, he won his second match over Shimanoumi the following day. On the twelfth day of the same tournament, however, Kiho had to declare himself absent for the second consecutive juryo tournament, after suffering a right hamstring muscle tear during his match against Chiyomaru, requiring around a month's treatment. Due to his absence Kiho recorded an eighth defeat by default, increasing the risk of relegation to the makushita division.

When the banzuke for the November tournament was announced, it was indeed confirmed that Kiho would lose his sekitori status. At the same time, it was announced that he had undergone reconstructive surgery to treat his lisfranc joint ligament injuries and his metatarsal fracture, injuries he had sustained earlier in the year. His period of remission, expected to be of long duration, led to comments about his possible relegation to the sandanme division.

## **Personal Life**

* Standing at only 166 cm (5 ft 5 in), Kiho is the shortest active sekitori.
* Kiho's favorite band is Kariyushi58 and his hobby is listening to music. His his favorite food is shrimp and crab and he dislikes ramen and horumonyaki. His favorite TV show is *ZENRYOKU! DATSURYOKU TIMES*. His favorite drinks are shochu and sake, but he dislikes the smell of potato shochu. His favorite type of YouTube videos are ASMR.
* Kiho's target wrestler is former sekiwake Kotonishiki.

## **Fighting Style**

Kiho is a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He won majority of his bouts with a straightforward yorikiri, or force out. He is also fond of employing utchari, or backward pivot throw.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 34-25-13/57 (8 basho)
* **Juryo:** 11-13-6/22 (2 basho)
* **Makushita:** 23-12-7/35 (6 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Kawazoe Keita (2022.09 - 2023.05)
* Kiho Tomotaka (2023.07 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Kiho Tomotaka - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kiho Tomotaka - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kiho Tomotaka - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kiho's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Kawazoe gets recruited into Miyagino stable (c. 2022)Kawazoe gets measured upon joining sumo (c. 2022)Kawazoe defeats Kotoyusho by utchari (c. 2022)Kawazoe ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Kawazoe becomes Kiho upon promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Kiho gets presented with his kesho mawashi (c. 2023)Kiho lifts out and defeats Daiamami (c. 2023)Kiho prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Kawazoe Keita Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kawazoe Keita Rikishi Information