Chiyonoumi Meitaro

Chiyonoumi Meitaro - 千代の海 明太郎 (born January 11, 1993) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kuroshio, Kochi. He made his debut in May 2015 and currently wrestles for Kokonoe stable. He reached the juryo division in July 2018. His highest rank as of 2023 is juryo 8.

## **Early Life**

Hamamachi was born in Kuroshia, a small town in Kochi Prefecture. He attended Kochi Prefectural Sukumo High School and belonged to their sumo club. He enrolled in Nippon Sport Science University and joined their sumo club. His most memorable college match was against Endo, a future makuuchi division wrestler, who he beat in a team competition. Endo was a 4th year student (senior), and Hamamachi was only a 2nd year student (sophomore). As a senior, Hamamichi was team captain in the National Student Sumo Championship tournament and led them to a team championship.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Hamamachi announced his intention to enter professional sumo and joined Kokonoe stable in April, 2015. He made his professional debut on May 2015 and took both jonokuchi and jonidan championships in his first three tournaments. He was promoted to sandanme, and upon this promotion he changed his shikona to Chiyonoumi.

He lost his first match on the eight day in the November 2015 tournament and finished with a 4-3 record. The following tournament he took the sandanme yusho with another perfect record of 7-0 this earned him promotion to makushita. However he pulled out before the tournament even started, because he had an operation on his right elbow. He sat out for three consecutive tournaments and was demoted to the bottom of sandanme.

He would bounce back with 5 consecutive kachi-koshi or winning records and remained in mid-makushita for around a year. In the March 2018 tournament, Chiyonoumi faced off against juryo wrestler Enho on the last day and defeated him. He finished with a 5-2 record and this earned him promotion to the top of makushita. He produced a 4-3 record and this earned him a promotion to juryo.

### **Juryo Career**

Chiyonoumi made his juryo debut in the July 2018 tournament. He produced an 8-7 record and was promoted to juryo 11 west. The following tournament he produced another 8-7 record and was promoted only promoted to the east side of juryo 11.

He then produced a 6-9 record and was demoted to the bottom of juryo. He bounced back with 8 wins and 4 losses in the next tournament, but pulled out on the 13th day due to collateral ligament injury on his left knee. The following tournaments he produced two consecutive 7-8 records and was slowly falling towards the bottom of juryo. In the September 2019 tournament, he produced a disastrous 2-13 record and was demoted back down to the unsalaried makushita division.

After the demotion he produced two winning records in the makushita division and this earned him a promotion back to sekitori status. However his second juryo run didn't last as long and after two straight make-koshi or losing record, he was demoted back down to makushita. Chiyonoumi was promoted to juryo for a third time in November 2020, after a 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 2. Upon his return to juryo, Chiyonoumi finished with a career-best 9-6 record. Chiyonoumi was forced to sit out of the January 2021 after a wrestler in his stable tested positive for COVID-19. After two losing records, Chiyonoumi was demoted back down to makushita in July 2021.

After two years in makushita, Chiyonoumi secured a promotion back to juryo for the July 2023 tournament. However, his juryo return was short-lived as he was demoted back down to makushita in September 2023.

## **Personal Life**

* Chiyonoumi's hobbies include playing games. According to the Japan Sumo Association's YouTube channel, Chiyonoumi said that he enjoys cleaning the room as a way of spending time at home.

## **Fighting Style**

Chiyonoumi is a oshi-sumo specialist and prefers to thrusting and slap down attacks rather than fighting on the mawashi. Most of Chiyonoumi's wins come from oshidashi (front push-out) and hatakikomi (slap-down). Chiyonoumi rarely wins on the mawashi and he only uses yorikiri (force-out) 4% the time (the average is around 25%).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 231-194-45/424 (51 basho)
* **Juryo:** 89-119-17/207 (15 basho)
* **Makushita:** 100-68-21/168 (27 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 28-7-7/35 (6 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Sandanme** Championships (January 2016)
* 1 **Jonidan** Championship (September 2015)
* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (July 2015)

## **Shikona History**

* Hamamachi Meitaro (2015.05 - 2015.09)
* Chiyonoumi Meitaro (2015.11 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Chiyonoumi Meitaro - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Chiyonoumi Meitaro - 2018 (Retrieved from the JSA)Chiyonoumi's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Chiyonoumi gets recruited into Kokonoe stable (c. 2015)Chiyonoumi gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2015)Chiyonoumi defeats Homarenishiki in Maezumo (c. 2015)Chiyonoumi with the original Chiyonoumi (c. 2016)Chiyonoumi ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2018)Chiyonoumi after promotion to Juryo (c. 2018)Chiyonoumi's Juryo promotion party (c. 2018)Chiyonoumi defeats Wakatakakage (c. 2018)Chiyonoumi defeats Daiseiryu (c. 2019)Chiyonoumi pushes out and defeats Ura (c. 2020)Chiyonoumi prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2021)Chiyonoumi loses the Makushita Yusho match (c. 2022)Chiyonoumi ensures promotion back to Juryo (c. 2023)Chiyonoumi defeats Hidenoumi (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Chiyonoumi Meitaro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Chiyonoumi Meitaro Rikishi Information