Kiyoseumi Takayuki

Kiyoseumi Takayuki - 清瀬海 孝行 (born August 16, 1983) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nagoya, Aichi. He made his debut in January 2007 and wrestled for Kise stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2008. His highest rank was maegashira 13 and he retired in May 2011.

## **Early Life**

He started sumo wrestling at a local sumo club during his second year of junior high school. In 1999, he became the junior high school yokozuna in his third year at Nagoya Shiritsu Mita Junior High School. In 2001, he became high school yokozuna in his second year at Saitama Sakae High School.

He was an amateur sumo champion at Nihon University, where he won eleven national titles. At the 2005 World Games, he won silver in the men's heavyweight division and gold in the men's open division. He won the Japan Games and the National Amateur Championships and was runner-up in the Japanese university championship. He was crowned the "Amateur Yokozuna" of 2006. He joined Kise stable, run by another former Nihon University champion, the ex-maegashira Higonoumi.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Because of his amateur achievements, Ichihara was able to make his professional debut at the rank of makushita 10, the first makushita tsukedashi entrant to begin as high as the tenth rank. After steady scores of five wins to two losses in his first two tournaments in January and March 2007, followed by 4-3 in May and July, he was promoted to the second juryo division in November 2007 after a 6-1 at makushita 1 in September.

### **Juryo Career**

He scored 13 wins to 2 losses, although he lost a playoff for the championship on the final day, and was immediately promoted to the top makuuchi division for January 2008. He was the first wrestler to make his makuuchi debut after spending only one tournament in juryo since Daikiko in January 1991.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In his top division debut Ichihara won five of his first seven bouts but tired in the second week of the tournament, finishing with an 8-7 score. He injured his right knee on the opening day of the March 2008 tournament after losing to Homasho and had to withdraw. As a result, he was demoted all the way down to the rank of juryo 11 for the May tournament.

### **Later Career**

He participated in the May tournament with his knee heavily strapped, and struggled to a make-koshi 7-8 score. In July he recovered from 0-5 down to post eight wins but withdrew on the final day after a recurrence of the injury.

He announced in December 2008 that he would be changing his shikona from his family name to Kiyoseumi for the January 2009 tournament. He produced a 9-6 score in his first tournament under his new name, but only a poor 4-11 in March. He managed a bare majority of wins in his next two tournaments, and remained near the bottom of the juryo division for the rest of 2009. He was suspended along with over a dozen other wrestlers from the July 2010 tournament after admitting involvement in illegal betting on baseball. As a result, he fell to the makushita division in September. After two 4-3 scores in makushita he returned to the juryo division in January 2011.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Kiyoseumi was ordered to retire by the Japan Sumo Association in April 2011 after being found guilty of match-fixing (see controversy section). Following his retirement Ichihara opened a bar, Snack Ai, in Tokyo. However, the bar closed in the end of September 2015. After that, he went on to work at a sumo event company. He was appointed director of the Nihon University Tohoku High School in April 2017.

## **Controversy**

### **Gambling Scandal**

He was suspended along with over a dozen other wrestlers from the July 2010 tournament after admitting involvement in illegal betting on baseball. As a result, he fell to the makushita division in September.

### **Match-fixing Scandal**

In February 2011, it was revealed that text-messages discovered on confiscated mobile phones implicated Kiyoseumi in match-fixing, as they appeared to show him agreeing to throw bouts in exchange for money. Unlike Kasuganishiki (the wrestler with whom the texts were exchanged), Chiyohakuho and Enatsukasa who admitted their involvement, Kiyoseumi denied the allegations.However, the independent panel investigating the match-fixing claims stated that it could not deny his involvement based on the evidence. Of the 46 text messages discovered by the Metropolitan Police Department that mention match-fixing, 19 were either sent or received by Kiyoseumi. After an investigation by the Japan Sumo Association, he was one of 23 wrestlers found guilty of fixing the result of bouts and he was forced to retire in April 2011.

## **Fighting Style**

Kiyoseumi was an oshi-sumo specialist, preferring pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi). His most common winning kimarite was hatakikomi, the slap down. He was one of the largest wrestlers in sumo, at 180 kg or 400 lb. Being so large, he lacked speed and mobility, and there were concerns that his knee injury further hampered his movement and held him back.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 157-129-33/283 (25 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 8-9-13/16 (2 basho)
* **Juryo:** 117-103-20/218 (16 basho)
* **Makushita:** 32-17/49 (7 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Ichihara Takayuki (2007.01 - 2008.11)
* Kiyoseumi Takayuki (2009.01 - 2011.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Ichihara Takayuki - 2008 (Retrieved from the JSA)Ichihara Takayuki - 2007 (Retrieved from the JSA)Ichihara's tegataKiyoseumi's Tegata
### **Career Overview**

Ichihara during his college sumo daysIchihara gets recruited into Kise stable (c. 2006)Ichihara in sumo school (c. 2007)Ichihara after promotion to Juryo (c. 2007)Ichihara after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2008)Ichihara loses to college classmate, Yamamotoyama (c. 2008)Kiyoseumi defeats his opponent (c. 2011)Kiyoseumi after being found guilty of match-fixing (c. 2011)
## **Sources**

* Kiyoseumi Takayuki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kiyoseumi Takayuki Rikishi Information