Oho Konosuke

Oho Konosuke - 王鵬 幸之介 (born February 14, 2000) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Koto, Tokyo. He made his debut in January 2018 and currently wrestles for Otake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2022. His highest rank as of 2023 is maegashira 6.

## **Early Life**

Konosuke Naya was born the third of four sons and his father was the active (now retired) makuuchi wrestler Takatoriki and his mother is the daughter of the 48th yokozuna Taiho. He attended Arima Elementary School in Tokyo, Japan, and was a member of the local sumo dojo. In his fourth year of elementary school, he was the runner-up in the national tournament.

He entered Saitama Sakae High School, which is known for its strong sumo program, and was classmates with the future Kotoshoho. He was a key member of the sumo team and in his third year won both the group and individual championships on the national level. Upon graduation from high school, he entered Otake stable, which was founded by his grandfather. He officially joined the stable on December 19th, 2017, and was set to make his debut alongside Hoshoryu, who was the nephew of yokozuna Asashoryu. Due to this occurrence, they both garnered significant media attention.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

In December 2017, Naya officially began training at Otake stable, which was founded by his grandfather Taiho and formerly owned by his father Takatoriki. He began training with sandanme and makushita ranked wrestlers while he was set to compete in the lowest division, jonokuchi. At the entrance exam for new recruits, he was both the tallest and heaviest recruit. He made his professional debut in January 2018, competing under his own name Naya (納谷). During the presentation ceremony for new recruits, Naya presented himself wearing a kesho-mawashi that had belonged to his grandfather. During his first fights in maezumo (pre-sumo), he defeated his three opponents, including fellow debutant Hoshoryu. In his first official tournament on the banzuke in March 2018, he won the jonokuchi division championship with a perfect 7–0 record, defeating Hoshoryu again and inflicting on him his only defeat of this tournament. Since then, he and Hoshoryu have maintained a certain rivalry.

Naya reached the makushita division in September 2018, and competed exclusively in makushita in 2019 and 2020. He steadily climbed the rankings, achieving winning records in nine of eleven tournaments. In the March 2019 tournament, Naya was in contention for the makushita championship but was defeated in his seventh match by eventual champion Churanoumi. In November 2020, he achieved a record of 6-1 from the top makushita rank which earned him a promotion to juryo.

### **Juryo Career**

His promotion to sekitori status saw him adopt the shikona "Oho" (王鵬). Otake-oyakata (former juryo wrestler Dairyu), Oho's stablemaster, commented that he had considered giving Oho the shikona Taiho (大鵬), but this was not possible because Taiho was also the name of a non-transferable elder share (ichidai toshiyori) within the Sumo Association. He therefore replaced the character Dai (大) with o (王) as a bit of wordplay to evoke the memory of Taiho and the solid mentality of Oho. The character O (王) can be pronounced the same as the character Dai (大) which is commonly used by wrestlers of Otake stable in deference to both the founder's (Taiho) and the current stablemaster's (Dairyu) shikona. The character Ho (鵬) is taken directly from Taiho's shikona.

Oho's juryo debut in January 2021 ended with a 5–10 record and he was demoted back to makushita; however, he quickly returned to juryo by achieving a winning record in March. On his return to juryo, Oho scored eight victories but injured his right ankle and had to leave the competition on the final day, handing a victory by default to his opponent Wakamotoharu. This injury absence was the first of his career. He posted double-digit winning records in two of the next three tournaments. His 11-win performance at juryo 7 in November 2021 was enough to promote him to the top makuuchi division for the January 2022 tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

After the banzuke for the January 2022 tournament was announced, confirming him at maegashira 18, Oho spoke to reporters and said he was looking forward to competing in the top division,  that he had visited his grandfather's grave, and he thought his grandfather, who died aged 72 in 2013, was cheering him on in heaven. In his makuuchi debut Oho began well with seven wins from his first ten bouts, but he lost his last five to finish with a record 7–8. Oho attributed this late fade to a lack of concentration. That losing record sent him back down to juryo for the March 2022 tournament, but he returned to makuuchi in May 2022 at the rank of maegashira 14 following a 10–5 record. He competed in makuuchi for the remainder of 2022, alternating winning and losing records.

Oho achieved his first double-digit win performance in the top division in November 2022. On Day 12 he defeated Sekiwake Hoshoryu to improve to 10–2, sharing the lead with Hoshoryu and Takayasu. However, he lost to Takayasu the following day and finished with a 10-5 record.

Over the course of 2023, Oho was able to cement his status in the top division but struggled with consistency, posting losing scores in four of six tournaments but also achieving a career-best score of 11-4 in the May tournament. In August of that year, after his rival Hoshoryu was promoted to the rank of ozeki, Oho commented on how far he still had to go after achieving mixed results in the first half of the year and mentioned his regret at not being able to compete at the sanyaku level.

### **Family**

His father is former sekiwake Takatoriki and his grandfather is the 48th yokozuna Taiho. His oldest brother Yukio is a professional wrestler for the promotion DDT. His second oldest brother, Takamori, joined the same stable in 2020 after an amateur career at Chuo University. His younger brother, Kosei, joined the stable in 2019.

## **Fighting Style**

Oho is a tsuki/oshi specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite or technique is oshidashi or a straightforward push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 209-165/373 (35 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 79-86/165 (11 basho)
* **Juryo:** 51-39/89 (6 basho)
* **Makushita:** 56-35/91 (13 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 10-4/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (March 2018)

## **Shikona History**

* Naya Konosuke (2018.01 - 2020.11)
* Oho Konosuke (2021.01 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Oho Konosuke - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oho Konosuke - 2022 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oho Konosuke - 2021 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oho Konosuke - 2021 (Retrieved from the JSA)Oho's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Naya gets recruited into Otake stable (c. 2017)Naya gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2018)Naya wins the Jonokuchi Yusho (c. 2018)Naya ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2020)Naya becomes Oho upon promotion to Juryo (c. 2020)Oho presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2020)Oho visits the statue of Yokozuna Taiho (c. 2020)Oho defeats Takagenji (c. 2021)Oho after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2021)Oho pushes out Kaisei (c. 2022)Oho prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Oho defeats former Ozeki Asanoyama (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Oho Konosuke Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Oho Konosuke Rikishi Information