Ryuo Noboru

Ryuo Noboru - 龍皇 昇 (born March 11, 1983) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in March 2000 and wrestled for Miyagino stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 2007. His highest rank was maegashira 8 and he retired in July 2013.

## **Early Life**

Sanchirbold's sister, who was studying abroad in Japan, knew Mongolian sumo pioneer Kyokushuzan and helped introduce him to Miyagino stable. He dropped out of high school in Ulaanbaatar in his third year and went to Japan in October 1999. He joined Miyagino Stable in March 2000 shortly before his seventeenth birthday. He was given the shikona "Ryuo" (龍皇).

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Ryuo breezed through the bottom two divisions of jonidan and jonokuchi and was promoted to sandanme by his fifth professional tournament. After around two years in sandanme he was promoted to makushita in November 2002. He took part in a seven way playoff for the yusho in the third makushita division in January 2003, but his progress was slowed by a neck injury that forced him to sit out the November 2003 tournament. He rose through the ranks of makushita and reached sekitori status in July 2006.

### **Juryo Career**

Ryuo produced a satisfactory 9-6 record in his juryo debut and followed it with an 8-7 record. He posted his first losing record in November 2006, but bounced back with two winning records which sent him to the top makuuchi division in May 2007.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He entered the top makuuchi division in May 2007, producing a 10-5 record at maegashira 14. However he could manage only five wins in the next tournament and was demoted back to the second division after a 3-12 score in September 2007. An 8-7 mark at the rank of juryo 2 in January 2008 was enough to return him to the top division but he could not manage a winning score and so was demoted once again.

### **Later Career**

In May 2008 he turned in a disappointing 5-10 score at juryo 5. In July he recovered from a poor 1-6 start to finish 8-7. However a 4-11 mark at juryo 10 in November 2008 saw him fall back to the unsalaried makushita division for the January 2009 tournament. He withdrew from that tournament with an injury after recording only one win and two losses, and produced another losing score of 3-4 in March 2009. For the rest of his career, he remained firmly stuck in the mid-to-lower makushita ranks, without even coming close to a return to juryo.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Ryuo retired from sumo in July 2013 after falling back down to sandanme. His danpatsu-shiki was held on September 1, 2013. He was presented with a specially-made “kantosho” trophy by Hakuhõ to make up for the fact that he missed out on the Fighting Spirit Award in his top division debut despite ten wins.

He has maintained his connection with Hakuho by working as his personal manager, and marrying the daughter of Hakuho’s aunt.

In 2023, Ryuo has opened a chankonabe restaurant in Tokyo's Sumida district, named "Chanko Dining Ryu". The restaurant houses multiple memorabilia from Ryuo's career as well as from his stable. The stable also employs former wrestlers from Miyagino stable, as the main chankonabe served at the restaurant is Miyagino's chankonabe recipe.

## **Personal Life**

* Ryuo was from the same stable as yokozuna Hakuho, and as he was the only other wrestler with sekitori experience in the stable, he was Hakuho's main training partner. After losing sekitori status he also served as the yokozuna's personal attendant or tsukebito. He is exactly two years older than Hakuho as they were both born on March 11th.
* In September 2010 he was rebuked by the Japan Sumo Association for visiting the locker room of Hakuho's opponent, Aran, prior to the match.

## **Fighting Style**

Unlike most of his Mongolian compatriots, Ryuo specialized in pushing rather than throwing techniques and he was noted for his strong tachi-ai, or opening charge at the beginning of matches. Like many pusher-thrusters, however, he was vulnerable to throws by opponents more skilled on the mawashi if he was unable to win in the first few seconds.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 340-322-11/661 (80 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 23-37/60 (4 basho)
* **Juryo:** 81-84/165 (11 basho)
* **Makushita:** 168-150-11/317 (47 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 49-42/91 (13 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 15-6/21 (3 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

## **Gallery**

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

Ryuo Noboru - 2006 (Retrieved from the JSA)Ryuo Noboru - 2006 (Retrieved from the JSA)Ryuo's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Ryuo during his time in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2003)Ryuo after promotion to Juryo (c. 2006)Ryuo after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2007)Ryuo prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2007)Ryuo pushes out defeats Takamisakari (c. 2007)Ryuo serves as Hakuho's dew sweeper (c. 2007)Ryuo battles future Ozeki Goeido (c. 2007)Ryuo serves as Hakuho's flag bearer (c. 2007)Ryuo during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2008)Ryuo after announcing his retirement (c. 2013)Ryuo's retirement ceremony (c. 2013)Ryuo awarded his unofficial sansho prize (c. 2013)

## **Sources**

* Ryuo Noboru Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Ryuo Noboru Rikishi Information