Seiro Takeshi

Seiro Takeshi - 青狼 武士 (born August 18, 1988) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Bulgan Province. He made his debut in July 2005 and wrestled for Shikoroyama stable. He reached the makuuchi division in July 2015. His highest rank was maegashira 14 and he retired in July 2020.

## **Early Life**

Amgaa Unubold was born on 18 August 1988 in Bulgan Province, Mongolian People's Republic. His father was a successful Mongolian wrestler with a rank the equivalent of sekiwake.

He had no prior experience to Mongolian Wrestling and would only practice when Naadam, a traditional sports festival, approached. Unubold also won a sumo audition out of 1000 competitors and he had intonations of studying abroad in Japan. Then-yokozuna Asashoryu noticed his talent and word got to the head of Shikoroyama stable, the former Terao, who had come scouting to Mongolia. Unubold accepted an invitation to come to Japan to enter sumo and while still a teenager he joined said Shikoroyama stable, taking the ring name (shikona) Seiro, meaning "blue wolf". Prior to joining Shikoroyama stable, he attended training sessions at Takasago stable where he gained first-hand advice from yokozuna Asashoryu.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Seiro made his debut as a 17-year-old in September 2005 when he won five of his seven bouts in the lowest jonokuchi division and was immediately promoted to jonidan. He competed in jonidan for the next ten tournaments, recording more wins than losses (kachi-koshi) on six occasions before being promoted to the sandanme division for the July tournament in Nagoya in July 2007. After four consecutive kachi-koshi he was promoted to the makushita division in March 2008 but dropped to sandanme after losing four of his seven bouts.

Seiro would spend another seven tournaments in sandanme. He pulled out of the January 2009 tournament after completing surgery on a detached retina. He later bounced back and in May 2009, Seiro won all seven bouts in sandanme to clinch the sandanme division yusho. He was promoted back to makushita, but Injury problems in early 2010 saw him relegated briefly to sandanme but he returned to makushita for the Nagoya tournament in July. Starting from 2012, Seiro improved his sumo and rose up the ranks. By the end of the year he was ranked at makushita 2. However, he produced a rare 3-5 record and couldn't secure promotion to juryo. He would bounce back with three straight winning records and secured promotion to juryo for the July 2013 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

He became a juryo regular by the time of promotion and remained in juryo for two years. In the May 2014, he took part in a four-man playoff for the juryo championship which would eventually go to Ichinojo. He became the top wrestler in his stable, and the only sekitori, in January 2015 upon the retirement of former komusubi Homasho. In the first three tournaments of 2015, Seiro made kachi-koshi, recording nine wins in January, eight in March and eight in May to earn him promotion to the makuuchi division.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In his first appearance in sumo's top division he was ranked maegashira 15 for the Nagoya tournament in July 2015. On his makuuchi debut Seiro won seven of his first thirteen bouts but lost to Yoshikaze and Homarefuji on the last two days to end with a losing record (make-koshi) of 7–8, which nevertheless enabled him to maintain his place in the top division. He again recorded a 7–8 result in September – although he won seven of his twelve matches against makuuchi opposition he lost all three of his contests against juryo wrestlers. After two losing records he was demoted to juryo for November and recorded eight wins to maintain a position near the top of the second division.

In January he won his first five matches to head the juryo division, but won only two of his subsequent bouts to end the tournament on 7–8. In March he was more consistent, recording a 9–6 score including a top-division win over Satoyama on the final day to all but ensure his promotion back to makuuchi. Seiro was given a career high ranking of maegashira 14 in May but his second spell in the top division lasted only one tournament. He recorded wins over Gagamaru and Endo but ended with a 5–10 record and was immediately relegated.

### **Later Career**

An 8–7 record in July kept him in contention for promotion but a disappointing performance in September saw him drop to the lower reaches of the second division. He returned to form in November with eleven wins to finish runner-up behind Sato and return to the upper ranks of juryo. He continued to compete in the second tier throughout 2017, but was never in serious promotion contention.

After an injury in the September 2018 tournament he was demoted to makushita for November, breaking a run of 32 straight tournaments as a sekitori since his juryo debut. He was promoted back to the juryo division after the March 2019 tournament. A losing record saw him return to makushita after the May tournament, but he once again earned a promotion to juryo after the July tournament. However his return to juryo was short-lived as he withdrew from the September 2019 tournament with only two wins.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After withdrawing from his last juryo tournament he produced two losing records in makushita and sat out of the March 2020 tournament which dropped him down to makushita 57. He announced his retirement on July 13th and cited a number of health problems including meningitis lead to his eventual retirement. The meningitis took a big toll on Seiro's sumo as he lost 20 kg and was hospitalized for two weeks.

Since Seiro holds no Japanese citizenship he does not qualify for elder stock, or toshiyori. Immediately after retiring, Seiro had hoped to work in the real estate industry, but in June 2021, he started his own company dealing with gypsum.

## **Personal Life**

* On May 14, 2018, Seiro declared that he had been married since December 2016 to a Mongolian woman. Their wedding reception was held on 10 June 2018 with 250 guests in attendance most notable of which being Shikoroyama-oyakata, Hakuho, and Kakuryu.
* Seiro was born in Bulgan Province, but used Ulaanbaatar as his official birthplace when joining sumo.
* Seiro's hobby is playing with a jigsaw puzzle.

## **Fighting Style**

Seiro favoured a left hand outside, right hand inside (migi-yotsu) grip on his opponent's belt. He employed a wide variety of winning techniques (kimarite) but his most common was yorikiri or force-out which accounted for more than 30% of his wins. He also makes frequent use of uwatenage (outer arm throw) and yoritaoshi (front crush-out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 433-424-25/854 (89 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 19-26/45 (3 basho)
* **Juryo:** 213-243-9/453 (31 basho)
* **Makushita:** 109-93-9/202 (31 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 48-29-7/77 (12 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 39-31/70 (10 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Gallery**

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

Seiro Takeshi - 2018 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro Takeshi - 2017 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro Takeshi - 2016 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro Takeshi - 2015 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro Takeshi - 2014 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro Takeshi - 2013 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro Takeshi - 2013 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Seiro's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Seiro after promotion to Juryo (c. 2013)Seiro's Juryo promotion party (c. 2013)Seiro defeats Oiwato (c. 2013)Seiro defeats Amuru (c. 2014)Seiro after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2015)Seiro serves as Yokozuna Kakuryu's flag bearer (c. 2015)Seiro defeats Endo (c. 2016)Seiro prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2017)Seiro defeats Takanoiwa (c. 2018)Seiro's last tournament as a sekitori (c. 2019)Seiro defeats Hoshoryu after falling to Makushita (c. 2019)Seiro's retirement ceremony (c. 2022)

## **Sources**

* Seiro Takeshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Seiro Takeshi Rikishi Information