Oniarashi Chikara

Oniarashi Chikara - 鬼嵐 力 (born June 13, 1982) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in July 2000 and wrestled for Asahiyama stable. He reached the juryo division in July 2012. His highest rank was juryo 7 and he retired in July 2014.

## **Early Life**

Ulziijargal Ulziibayar was born on June 13, 1982, in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Asahiyama oyakata (ex-ozeki Daiju) invited Ulziibayar to Japan to tryout out sumo and Ulziibayar immediately accepted. Ulziibayar was recruited into the stable and was set to make his professional debut for the July 2000 tournament.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Ulziibayar made his professional debut in the July 2000 tournament under the shikona of "Daionji" (大恩児) and was a relative lightweight, only weighing 91 kg. Daionji had a good debut tournament and produced a 6-1 record. However, he fell into a slump in jonidan and it was not until a year later when Daionji earned promotion to the sandanme division. Daionji also struggled in sandanme and due to his small frame he could not excel through the ranks at a fast rate. He remained in sandanme for nearly three years before earning promotion to the makushita division for the September 2004 tournament.

Daionji changed his shikona to "Daiki" (大毅) for the May 2005 tournament and would bounce back and forth between makushita and sandanme for around two years. It wasn't until he changed his shikona to Oniarashi (鬼嵐) in September 2007 that made become a makushita regular. Oniarashi started moving up the ranks and in May 2011 he was ranked at makushita 16 and produced a 5-2 record. Due to the 2011 Match-fixing Scandal, there were a lot of empty slots and Oniarashi was boosted to the makushita 1 slot. Oniarashi struggled heavily at this rank and produced a 1-6 record. Oniarashi bounced back and was promoted to makushita 2 for the May 2012 tournament. In this tournament Oniarashi faced three juryo-ranked wrestlers and defeated two of them (Tokushoryu and Masuraumi). Oniarashi finished with a 5-2 record and secured promotion to the juryo division for the July 2012 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

The 71 tournaments it took Oniarashi to reach the juryo division was the slowest progression of all-time for a foreign wrestler. He was also the first sumo wrestler produced by Asahiyama Oyakata (ex-ozeki Daiju) since he took over Asahiyama stable in 1997.

In his juryo debut, Oniarashi struggled and produced a 6-9 record. Since he was ranked at juryo 12 he was demoted down to juryo 14 for the following tournament. In this tournament, Oniarashi scored a disastrous 3-12 record and was demoted back down to makushita.

Oniarashi remained in makushita for two tournaments and in January 2013, he won all seven matches and claimed his first divison yusho. Since he was ranked at makushita 1 east he was boosted to the rank of juryo 7 for the following tournament. In this tournament, Oniarashi continued to struggle and produced a 6-9 record after losing his final two matches. In the next tournament, Oniarashi lost his last two matches again to finish with another losing record of 7-8. He produced a 5-10 in the following tournament and was demoted back down to makushita for the September 2013 tournament. Sadly, this was Oniarashi's last tournament ranked as a sekitori.

### **Later Career**

Oniarashi continued to produce losing records and after pulling out of the March 2014 tournament, Oniarashi was demoted to the lower-half of makushita. Even at this rank, Oniarashi continued to produce losing records and after a 3-4 in the July 2014 tournament, Oniarashi announced his retirement from the sport.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Immediately after winning his makushita yusho in January 2013, San'yaku Gyoji Kimura Shojiki, who belonged in Oniarashi's Asahiyama stable suddenly passed away at the age of 59 due to a bone tumor and multiple other health problems. Oniarashi claimed that his death made him lose his fighting spirit and it was clearly shown as Oniarashi never produced another winning record after Kimura Shojiki's death.

Oniarashi announced his retirement on July 27th, 2014, after producing a 3-4 at the rank of makushita 50 which made demotion to the sandanme divison quite possible. His danpatsu-shiki, or hair-cutting ceremony, was held on August 31st, 2014, in a restaurant in Sumida, Tokyo. Around 160 guests, including Kakuryu, Harumafuji and Hakuho, took turns cutting his hair. Oniarashi claimed that the main highlight of his career was winning the makushita yusho.

After retirement, Oniarashi returned to Mongolia was engaged in trade-related work.

## **Personal Life**

* Oniarashi married a Mongolian woman in 2012 and they have one daughter. He met his future-wife seven years before their marriage at a Mongolian festival held in Tokyo.
* Oniarashi's cousin is former top divison wrestler, Koryu, who belonged in the Hanakago stable and was forced to retire after admitting involvement to match-fixing.
* Oniarashi was reprimanded by the Japan Sumo Association after admitting involvement in the 2010 illegal baseball gambling scandal. However, his involvement was not deemed serious enough to warrant a suspension.
* At the time of his recruitment, two foreign wrestlers were allowed to be in a stable at once. Oniarashi was stablemates with another Mongolian wrestler called Daibanjaku who was recruited a year before Oniarashi.

## **Fighting Style**

Oniarashi's favored techniques are listed at the Sumo Association as migi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponent's mawashi) and yori (forcing). His most common winning kimarite are straightforward: yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out). He was also fond of using uwatenage (overarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Result**

* **Total:** 310-301-10/609 (84 basho)
* **Juryo:** 27-48/75 (5 basho)
* **Makushita:** 158-160-4/316 (46 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 92-76/168 (24 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 27-16-6/43 (7 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (January 2013)

### **Achievements**

* **Record:** **1st** Slowest progress to the juryo division for a foreign wrestler (71)

## **Shikona History**

* Daionji Chikara (2000.07 - 2005.03)
* Daiki Chikara (2005.05 - 2007.07)
* Oniarashi Chikara (2007.09 - 2014.07)

## **Gallery**

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

Oniarashi Chikara - 2013 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oniarashi Chikara - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oniarashi Chikara - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oniarashi Chikara - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oniarashi's Tegata
### **Career Overview**

Oniarashi's early career in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2001)Oniarashi defeats the future Chiyotairyu (c. 2011)Oniarashi loses the Makushita Yusho match to Kairyu (c. 2012)Oniarashi after promotion to Juryo (c. 2012)Oniarashi defeats Dewahayate to win the Makushita Yusho (c. 2013)Oniarashi wins his first Makushita Yusho (c. 2013)Oniarashi battles Osunaarashi (c. 2013)Oniarashi during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2013)Oniarashi's retirement ceremony (c. 2014)

## **Sources**

* Oniarashi Chikara Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Oniarashi Chikara Rikishi Information