Tamashoho Manpei

Tamashoho Manpei - 玉正鳳 萬平 (born March 6, 1993) is a Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Ulaanbaatar. He made his debut in July 2011 and currently wrestles for Kataonami stable. He reached the juryo division in March 2023. His highest rank as of 2023 is juryo 1.

## **Early Life**

Erdenbileg Enkhmanlai was born on March 6, 1993, in Ulaanbaatar. His father was a Mongolian wrestling and judo coach. Many of his students include future sumo wrestlers such as Yokozuna Asashoryu and Harumafuji, Asasekiryu, Tokitenku, Hakuba, and Ryuo. Erdenbileg was not too enthusiastic about sumo at the start and preferred basketball and ice skating. However, shortly before his high school graduation, he became more interested in sumo and decided to pursue it. He arrived in Japan on June 2011 and was recruited into Takashima stable. However, the stable shortly closed after he arrived, so he decided to join Kasugayama stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He was given the shikona "Takakasuga" (高春日) and made his professional debut in July 2011. In his first tournament he produced a strong 6-1 record and was promoted to the jonidan division. He wrestled four tournaments in jonidan and was promoted to sandanme in September 2012. He was promoted to makushita in November 2013.

In March 2014, Takakasuga was ranked in sandanme, and he won all seven matches, but lost the playoff for the yusho against former sekitori Chiyoarashi. On October 19, 2016, Kasugayama stable closed down due to the resignation of his stablemaster (former maegashira Hamanishiki). As a result, he transferred and wrestled briefly in Oitekaze stable, before transferring to the newly opened Nakagawa stable in February 2017. He was given the new shikona "Tanegashima" (種子島) after transferring to Nakagawa, but changed it to "Kyokusoten" (旭蒼天) after three tournaments. In March 2020, he won his first six matches and was aiming for the makushita yusho, but he lost his last match to Nishikifuji. Nonetheless, he was promoted to makushita 6 for the following tournament. After the July 2020 tournament, Nakagawa stable closed down due to inappropriate disciplinary actions from his stablemaster. As a result, he transferred to Kataonami stable and changed his shikona to "Tamashoho" (玉正鳳). He was promoted to the rank of makushita 2 in January 2022, and fought his first match in juryo against Hiradoumi, however, he lost the match and finished with a 2-5 record. He had to withdraw from Day 15 of the July 2022 tournament after a COVID outbreak at Kataonami stable.

In the November 2022 tournament, Tamashoho surprisingly defeated former ozeki Asanoyama on the 11th day to remain undefeated. He went on to defeat Mineyaiba and claimed his first makushita yusho. With this result he was promoted to the top of makushita for the January 2023 tournament. In this tournament, Tamashoho finished with a 4-3 record and earned promotion to juryo for the March 2023 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

At the November 2022 tournament, Tamashoho won all 7 of his matches and went on to win the makushita tournament. During this tournament, he defeated the former ozeki Asanoyama and inflicted his only defeat of the tournament on him by hatakikomi. At the next tournament, in January 2023, he was promoted to the rank of East Makushita 1, being then in a situation of potential promotion in the juryo division. In his last match he won for the fourth time in seven matches, beating former maegashira and upper-division wrestler Terutsuyoshi. At the ranking preparation meeting on 25 January of the same year, it was confirmed that Tamashoho would be promoted to juryo for the March tournament in Osaka. This promotion makes Tamashoho the second slowest foreign wrestler, at 68 tournaments in professional sumo, to reach this rank behind fellow Mongolian Oniarashi and his 71 tournaments. He was also the third lightest sekitori at the time. At the time of his promotion, observers noted the unusual situation in which two of the four wrestlers in Kataonami stable wore white training mawashi, a privilege for wrestlers who have reached sekitori status. Tamashoho's promotion to juryo also posed a logistical problem, since a sekitori is supposed to have one or more tsukebito (assistant) depending on his rank and division. Tamashoho having been promoted to juryo, however, had to remain Tamawashi's tsukebito for some time to allow Tamawashi to recruit a new assistant. In preparation for his first tournament as a sekitori, Tamashoho worked on his weight gain and gained 8 kg (18 lb), something he had been struggling to work on.

Tamashoho inflicted his first defeat on Hakuoho (then known as Ochiai) on day 2 of the March 2023 tournament (in Osaka). On the sixth day of the same tournament he injured his leg after losing to Tomokaze. Nevertheless, he finished the tournament with a kachi-koshi of 8 wins and 7 losses, and maintained his juryo status. Following good results in the May tournament, Tamashoho was promoted to the rank of East Juryo 5.

## **Personal Life**

* Tamashoho's brother-in-law is stablemate Tamawashi as Tamawashi married his sister.
* Tamashoho has joined five different stables: Takashima stable (unofficial), Kasugayama stable, Oitekaze stable, Nakagawa stable, and Kataonami stable.
* Tamashoho's hobbies are watching anime, reading manga (his favorite is One Piece), and handicraft. He also participates in anime cosplay events, however, he does not dress up and still wears his traditional kimono. His favorite foods are Buuz (Mongolian dumplings), chocolate, and meat.
* Even though Tamashoho is on the lighter side of most sumo wrestlers, he eats around 4-5 meals a day and consumes a lot of protein and even eats a midnight snack.

## **Fighting Style**

Tamashoho is a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He favors a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) position when gripping his opponent's mawashi (belt). He won most of his bouts with a straightforward yorikiri, or force out. He was also fond of employing hatakikomi (slap down), uwatenage (overarm throw), and oshidashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 290-254/543 (73 basho)
* **Juryo:** 40-35/75 (5 basho)
* **Makushita:** 176-167/342 (49 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 53-38/91 (13 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 15-13/28 (4 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (November 2022)

## **Shikona History**

* Takakasuga Nozomi (2011.07 - 2017.03)
* Tanegashima Manrai (2017.05 - 2017.09)
* Kyokusoten Manrai (2017.11 - 2020.07)
* Tamashoho Manpei (2020.09 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Tamashoho Manpei - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamashoho Manpei - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamashoho's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Tamashoho gets measured upon joining sumo (c. 2011)Tamashoho defeats former Ozeki Asanoyama (c. 2022)Tamashoho wins his first Makushita Yusho (c. 2022)Tamashoho ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Tamashoho after promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Tamashoho defeats Ochiai (c. 2023)Tamashoho prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)

## **Sources**

* Tamashoho Manpei Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tamashoho Manpei Rikishi Information