Sakigake Takeshi

Sakigake Takeshi - 魁 猛 (born April 5, 1986) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in May 2003 and last wrestled for Shibatayama stable. He reached the juryo division in January 2014. His highest rank was juryo 10 and he retired in March 2022.

## **Early Life**

Yagaanbaataryn was born the youngest of four siblings in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on August 5th, 1986. His parents ran a road construction company. Prior to coming to Japan, Yagaanbaataryn had no experience with sumo and played basketball and soccer. He at first wanted to become a doctor, but his father was acquaintances with former-komusubi Kyokushuzan who encouraged Yagaanbaataryn to try out sumo. As a result, he went to a sumo tryout and was ultimately accepted by Hanaregoma stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Yagaanbaataryn made his professional debut in May 2003 under the shikona "Wakatora" (若虎). Wakatora had a rather slow start in his sumo career. He spent two years in jonidan where he did not produce spectacular results. He reached sandanme in 2005 and became a sandanme regular for close to four years. In the January 2008 tournament, he changed his shikona to "Sakigake" (魁). After a 6-1 and a 4-3 record, Sakigake was promoted to makushita for the March 2009 tournament.

Sakigake would bounce back and forth between the makushita and sandanme divisions for a year. He would not establish himself as a makushita mainstay until November 2010. Sakigake would remain in makushita for another three years. In January 2013, Sakigake's stablemaster Hanaregoma Oyakata retired after reaching the mandatory retirement age. Hanaregoma stable closed down as a result and all wrestlers were transferred to Shibatayama stable. Sakigake had more experienced training partners in Shibatayama stable and started to produce stronger results. After two consecutive 6-1 records, Sakigake was promoted to the highly competitive makushita 2 rank in May 2013. He was 3-3 on the final day, but sadly lost to juryo-ranked Kizenryu on the last day. He would remain in the highly competitive makushita ranks and in September 2013, he was promoted to the rank of makushita 1. He repeated his May 2013 record by losing to another juryo-ranked wrestler, Kitaharima, on the final day to finish with a 3-4 record. He would be regulated down to makushita 4 for the following tournament and in this tournament, Sakigake defeated juryo-ranked wrestler Akiseyama and finished with a 4-3 record. As a result, Sakigake was promoted to the salaried juryo division.

### **Juryo Career**

The 63 tournaments it took Sakigake to reach juryo was the third slowest progress for foreign sekitori. Sakigake made his juryo debut in January 2014 and produced a losing record of 6-9. He was regulated bak down to the makushita division where he would only spend one tournament there and immediately earn promotion back to juryo. In his return back to juryo, Sakigake produced a 6-9 record and was again demoted back down to makushita. He produced a strong 6-1 record and was promoted back to juryo for the September 2014 tournament. He would remain in juryo for three tournaments before getting demoted back down to makushita in March 2015.

Sakigake would remain in makushita for another five years where he would produce mixed results. In 2018, Sakigake started to slump and almost fell out of the makushita divison. He would bounce back by producing some winning results and in November 2019, Sakigake was promoted back to the top of makushita. In this tournament he defeated juryo-ranked and ex-komusubi Gagamaru and finished with a 4-3 record. He was promoted back to juryo for January 2020 after a 30 tournament absence. However, he finished with a 6-9 record and was demoted back to makushita for the following tournament. In January 2021, Sakigake won a nine-man playoff for the makushita yusho.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After winning the makushita yusho in January 2021, Sakigake's sumo declined and he was eventually demoted down to sandanme in March 2022. He finished with a poor 2-5 record in this tournament and announced his retirement on March 30, 2022. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on April 17, 2022, and he plans to be engaged in trade-related work after retirement from sumo.

## **Personal Life**

* Sakigake's favorite food is curry and his hobby is watching soccer. The sumo wrestlers that he admires are Kisenosato and Wakanosato.
* Sakigake served as yokozuna Kisenosato's tsukebito, or personal servant, from January 2017 to Kisenosato's retirement in January 2019.
* In his return to juryo in January 2020, there were three other sekitori who also had one kanji shikona: Ikioi (勢), Kagayaki (輝), and Irodori (彩). This was the first time in sumo history where there were four sekitori ranked in the top two divisions with a one-kanji shikona.
* In 2012, Sakigake felt that his sumo was not going anywhere and was contemplating on retirement. This news leaked back to his home country and as a result, Sakigake's brother encouraged him to "try sumo for another year". This advice proved useful as Sakigake would earn a promotion to juryo two years later.

## **Fighting Style**

According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, Sakigake is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. However, his most common winning kimarite or technique is yorikiri or a straightforward force out, which accounts for 50% of his total victories, while oshidashi, or push out (the technique that pusher/thrusters prefer), only accounts for 6% of his total victories.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 417-408/825 (112 basho)
* **Juryo:** 35-55/90 (6 basho)
* **Makushita:** 232-223/455 (65 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 106-97/203 (29 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 40-30/70 (10 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (January 2021)

### **Achievements**

* **Record:** **3rd** Slowest progress to the juryo division for a foreign wrestler (63)

## **Shikona History**

* Wakatora Takeshi (2003.05 - 2007.11)
* Sakigake Takeshi (2008.01 - 2022.03)

## **Gallery**

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

Sakigake Takeshi - 2015 (Retrieved from the JSA)Sakigake Takeshi - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Sakigake Takeshi - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Sakigake's Tegata
### **Career Overview**

Sakigake defeats Higoarashi (c. 2013)Sakigake after promotion to Juryo (c. 2014)Sakigake battles Tochihiryu (c. 2014)Sakigake after losing a match (c. 2015)Sakigake wins a match in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2017)Sakigake prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2019)Sakigake loses to future Yokozuna Terunofuji (c. 2020)Sakigake defeats the future Oho (c. 2020)Sakigake wins a 9-man playoff to win the Makushita Yusho (c. 2021)Sakigake wins is first Makushita Yusho (c. 2021)Sakigake celebrates his Makushita Yusho (c. 2021)Sakigake's final win against Rao in Sandanme (c. 2022)Sakigake's retirement ceremony (c. 2022)

## **Sources**

* Sakigake Takeshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Sakigake Takeshi Rikishi Information