Tochinohana Choo

Tochinohana Choo - 栃ノ華 朝王 (born September 5, 1962) is a former Taiwanese professional sumo wrestler from Taipei. He made his debut in May 1980 and wrestled for Kasugano stable. He reached the juryo division in May 1985. His highest rank was juryo 4 and he retired in May 1988.

## **Early Life**

Liu Zhao Hui was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. He was always a big child and prior to joining sumo, he did not know what he wanted to do when he grew up. His father, who operated a sewing machine business in Taipei, travelled to Japan often and was big sumo fan. His father recommended that he try sumo and Liu, who was a practitioner of judo at the time, agreed.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He joined Kasugano stable in May 1980 and was given the shikona "Tochinohana" (栃ノ華). He was the first Taiwanese sumo wrestler in eight years since Gyokuzan who retired in March 1972. Weighing 150 kg (331 Ib), he was already heavier than some of the top division wrestlers and was promoted to sandanme in March 1981 and makushita in September 1982. After three years in a makushita, Tochinohana was promoted to juryo in May 1985 after six consecutive winning records.

### **Juryo Career**

Tochinohana was the first and only sekitori from Taiwan. In his juryo debut, Tochinohana finished with a 7-8 record, but kept his sekitori status. In the following six tournaments, he produced winning records, with the only losing record being a 7-8 record and he was promoted to the rank of juryo 4 in July 1986. He got off to a decent start in the tournament and his record was 4-3 by the end of the 7th day. However, he went on to lose his following remaining eight matches to finish with a poor 4-11 record. In addition, he made his only makuuchi appearance on the 12th day against Kirinishiki in which he lost. In March 1987, Tochinohana injured his lower back on the 12th day and subsequently withdrew from the tournament. Finishing with a 3-10-2 record at the rank fo juryo 12, he was demoted after twelve straight tournaments as a sekitori. Nevertheless, he returned to juryo two tournaments later in September 1987, but could only manage a 5-10 record.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After his last juryo appearance, Tochinohana remained in makushita for another four tournaments before announcing his retirement after the May 1988 tournament. After retiring, he went to a cooking school in Shinjuku and opened up a Chinese restaurant. He also works as a part-time coach for the national Taiwan sumo team.

## **Fighting Style**

Tochinohana was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He favored a hidari-yotsu (right hand outside, left hand inside) position when gripping his opponent's mawashi (belt). His most common kimarite was yorikiri, or force out. Due to his judo experience, he was also fond of employing was kainahineri, or two-handed arm twist down.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 224-207-9/430 (49 basho)
* **Juryo:** 88-105-2/192 (13 basho)
* **Makushita:** 78-62-7/140 (21 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 32-31/63 (9 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 21-7/28 (4 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Gallery**

Tochinohana becomes the first ever Taiwanese sekitori (c. 1985)Tochinohana returns to Taiwan after Juryo promotion (c. 1985)Tochinohana wins a match during a training session (c. 1985)Tochinohana (right) defeats Iwatefuji (c. 1987)Tochinohana's retirement ceremony (c. 1988)Tochinohana after retirement as a coach for the Taiwanese sumo teamTochinohana's signature

## **Sources**

* Tochinohana Choo Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tochinohana Choo Rikishi Information