Koboyama Daizo

Koboyama Daizo - 高望山 大造 (born August 15, 1957) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tsukidate, Miyagi. He made his debut in March 1973 and wrestled for Kumagatani stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 1981 and has two special prizes. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in November 1990.

## **Early Life**

Yomogida was born the third son of a rancher in the town of Tsukidate (currently Kurihara) in Miyagi Prefecture. He attended Tsukidate Junior High School where he was a member of the school's sumo club. He was a Prefectural Junior School Sumo Champion.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He joined Takashima stable at the age of 15 in March 1973, recruited by former ozeki Mitsuneyama. There were a large number of new recruits in that tournament because of a rule change. Also among them was the future top division wrestler Chikubayama. He was promoted to sandanme in November 1975 and makushita in March 1977. In July 1977, he changed his shikona from his surname to "Koboyama" (高望山). In March 1981, he produced a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 4 and was promoted to juryo in the following May 1981 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

Koboyama posted a strong 11-4 record in his first tournament as a sekitori and was promoted to juryo 5 in the following July 1981 tournament where he posted a 9-6 record. As a result, he was promoted to the top of juryo and he finished with an 8-7 record which earned him a promotion to makuuchi in November 1981.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He reached the top makuuchi division for the first time in November 1981, although he was demoted back to juryo after three tournaments. In May 1982 he took part in a playoff for the juryo division championship or yusho and although he was defeated (he would never win a championship in any division) he was promoted back to the top division. He was transferred to Kumagatani stable in the same year upon the retirement of his stablemaster. He was runner-up to Chiyonofuji in July 1982, earning his first special prize for Technique. In November 1983 he won his second Technique prize and was promoted all the way from maegashira 7 to sekiwake, because of the failure of the men above him in the rankings to obtain winning records. This was to be his highest rank. He won only two bouts in this tournament and made the sanyaku ranks only one more time, at komusubi in September 1985. He struggled against the top ranked wrestlers, failing to defeat a yokozuna in 17 attempts, and beating an ozeki only twice in 35 attempts (Asashio and Hokutenyu once each). Nevertheless he was ranked in the top division for 42 straight tournaments from re-entering makuuchi in March 1983, before being finally demoted to the juryo division after the January 1990 tournament.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Koboyama continued to fight in the juryo division until November 1990, when he announced his retirement after demotion to the unsalaried makushita division was certain. His top division record was 312 wins to 344 losses with 16 absences, a winning percentage of .453.

He became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association, and re-established the Takashima stable in 1993. The stable closed in June 2011 when its only remaining wrestler retired, and Takashima moved to Kasugayama stable to work as a coach there. After the closure of Kasugayama stable in October 2016 he moved briefly to Oitekaze stable before transferring to Miyagino stable. He had remained close to Miyagino stable's head coach Chikubayama, who he had made his debut alongside, and he had introduced the Mongolian wrestler Ryuo to Miyagino stable after Ryuo was unable to join Takashima stable due to there already being a foreigner present (Fudoyama).

Takashima ran for a seat on the Sumo Association's board of directors in January 2016, but was unsuccessful. However, he was elected on the next occasion in January 2018. After serving for four years with two terms, he did not run for reelection in 2022, and reached the standard retirement age of 65 for oyakata in August of that year. He was re-hired as a consultant for a further five years, and in the same month he transferred to Isenoumi stable.

## **Personal Life**

* Koboyama served regularly as the tsuyuharai to Chiyonofuji for the yokozuna's dohyo-iri ceremony, even though the two were not members of the same stable or ichimon.
* Koboyama made his debut alongside Chikubayama and they remained close associates after retirement. Mongolian sumo wrestler Ryuo was initially scheduled to join Takashima stable, but the stable was already home to Mongolian Fudoyama. As a result, Takashima introduced Ryuo to Chikubayama's Miyagino stable.

## **Fighting Style**

He liked pushing and thrusting techniques. Unusually, instead of favouring a right or left hand grip he specialised in moro-zashi, or using two hands inside his opponent's arms to grab the mawashi, and was fond of the rare  kimarite or technique of tottari, the arm bar throw.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 579-606-21/1182 (107 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 312-377-16/687 (47 basho)
* **Juryo:** 85-75-5/159 (11 basho)
* **Makushita:** 92-76/168 (24 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 35-28/63 (9 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 51-47/98 (14 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Technique Prize (2)

## **Shikona History**

* Yomogida Kokichi (1973.03 - 1977.05)
* Koboyama Daizo (1977.07 - 1990.11)

## **Gallery**

Koboyama prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1983)Koboyama with one of his many sansho prizes (c. 1983)Koboyama poses with his kesho-mawashiKoboyama battles his opponent (c. 1985)Koboyama as Yokozuna Futahaguro's sword bearer (c. 1986)Koboyama serves as Asahifuji's flag bearer (c. 1988)Koboyama after retirement as Takashima Oyakata (c. 2018)Koboyama's tegata
## **Sources**

* Koboyama Daizo Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Koboyama Daizo Rikishi Information