Musashikuni Mamu

Musashikuni Mamu - 武蔵国 真武 (born December 17, 1994) is a former American professional sumo wrestler from Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii. He made his debut in May 2013 and last wrestled for Musashigawa stable. His highest rank was makushita 26 and he retired in September 2019.

## **Early Life**

Fiamalu Musashimaru Penitani was born in Oahu, Hawaii, and raised in the town of Makaha. His middle name is is the shikona of his uncle, the 67th yokozuna Musashimaru. He played American football at Waianae High School and earned all-state honors. After graduating, he went to Japan in hopes of becoming a sumo wrestler. He joined his uncle's Musashigawa stable and became the first American sumo wrestler in over a decade.

## **Career**

He made his debut in May 2013 under the shikona "Musashikuni" (武蔵国). In his first tournament, he produced a strong 6-1 record and was promoted to jonidan. He breezed through the jonidan division in two tournaments and was promoted to sandanme in March 2014. Musashikuni found sandanme harder than the previous divisions and he struggled to accelerate past the division. In March 2015, he broke his left big toe and had to pull out of the tournament. In May 2016 he was promoted to makushita after two years in sandanme. In his makushita debut he won six out of his seven matches and was promoted to a career-best makushita 26. However, in this tournament he struggled and could only win two matches. Nonetheless, he remained in the makushita division for the majority of his later career. In may 2018 he changed the kanji of "kuni" in his shikona from country (国) to province (國).

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Musashikuni's retirement was announced after the September 2019 tournament. It was announced through his stable's official website that he became ill in 2018 and had been discussing about retirement with his uncle. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on September 22nd, 2019. After this, he returned back to Hawaii. He currently works as a talent at a company called "Sumo + Sushi".

## **Personal Life**

* Musashikuni's hobbies are eating, sleeping, and playing games.
* His middle name is the shikona of his uncle, the 67th yokozuna Musashimaru.

## **Fighting Style**

Musashikuni was an oshi-sumo wrestler who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi. He won half of his bouts with a straightforward oshidashi, or push out. He also won a lot of bouts with hatakikomi (slap-down) and tsukidashi (thrust down).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 132-111-16/242 (39 basho)
* **Makushita:** 52-52-1/104 (15 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 64-54-15/117 (19 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 11-3/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Gallery**

Musashikuni becomes the first American to join sumo in 11 yearsMusashikuni gets measured upon joining sumo (c. 2013)Musashikuni receives his shikona (c. 2013)Musashikuni in Maezumo (c. 2013)Musashikuni defeats his opponent (c. 2013)Musashikuni with American sumo pioneer, Takamiyama (c. 2014)Musashikuni trains with future Ozeki Takayasu (c. 2015)Musashikuni prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2016)Musashikuni with his uncle, Yokozuna MusashimaruMusashikuni defeats his opponent (c. 2018)Musashikuni makes his way to the sumo stadium (c. 2018)Musashikuni's retirement ceremony (c. 2019)

## **Sources**

* Musashikuni Mamu Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Musashikuni Mamu Rikishi Information