Daiseiryu Yoshimoto

Daiseiryu Yoshimoto - 大成龍 喜悌 (born December 30, 1992) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hachinohe, Aomori. He made his debut in May 2011 and currently wrestles for Kise stable. He reached the juryo division in September 2017. His highest rank as of 2023 is juryo 12.

## **Early Life**

Sasayama started sumo wrestling during his first year at Hachinohe City Minato Elementary School. He later attended Aomori Prefectural Hachinohe Fisheries High School and was a member of their sumo club. He was top 8 in the National Sports Festival of Japan sports competition. After graduation, he was scouted by former maegashira Higonoumi who was a coach at Kitanoumi stable. His older brother, Sasayama, was already a wrestler at the stable. He made his debut in the May Technical Examination Tournament, which was the tournament right after the 2011 match-fixing scandal. He made his debut alongside Chiyotairyu, Terunofuji and Meisei.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Sasayama debuted under the new shikona of Sasanoyama. In his jonokuchi debut he won all seven matches and was put in a playoff with stablemate Sakumayama (future komusubi Jokoryu), however he lost by yoritaoshi. Sasanoyama continued to rise through the lower divisions. He achieved two consecutive 6-1 records and a 5-2 record which promoted him to makushita.

Even in makushita, Sasanoyama still rose steadily without any make-koshi. In April 1st 2012, Sasanoyama transferred from Kitanoumi stable to Kise stable, because the stable was revived (due to a number scandals, Higonoumi was forced to close down his stable with all wrestlers transferring to Kitanoumi stable). Sasanoyama continued to post winning scores, until November 2012, Sasanoyama sat out of the whole tournament due to a broken left toe and a backache.

After his demotion he recovered from his injury and continued to rise up the ranks. He rose to makushita 3 in the January 2015 tournament, but scored a 2-5 record. He started to go on slump and posted four consecutive make-koshi and was placed all the way down at makushita 50 in the May 2016 tournament. There was a period of time when Sasanoyama couldn't even jump due to a hernia, and his stablemaster decided to change his shikona to 'Daiseido' for a little change of luck.

After this shikona change, Daiseido produced two consecutive shikona and was regulated back to high level makushita. After three consecutive kachi-koshi, including a 5-2 record at makushita 3 and a win over juryo wrestler Rikishin, Daiseido earned promotion to juryo for the September 2017 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

Daiseido was the first wrestler from Kise stable who was not a university graduate or a foreigner to achieve promotion to sekitori status. In his juryo debut, he posted an 8-7 record and was promoted to a career high of juryo 12. Daiseido struggled this tournament and produced a disastrous 2-13 record which demoted him back down to the unsalaried makushita division.

In his return back to makushita he posted a 4-3 then a 1-6 make-koshi. After that he produced 5 consecutive kachi-koshi which promoted him back to juryo for the March 2019 tournament. In his first tournament back, he won his a total of 3 out of the first 5 matches. However he went on to lose the next ten matches and finished with a poor 3-12 record. This would demote back down to makushita.

### **Later Career**

After his demotion, Daiseido continued to produce mixed results in makushita. In September 2021, Daiseido was given the new shikona "Daiseiryu" (大成龍). In an unexpected turn of events, Daiseiryu won the makushita championship in September 2022 with a perfect record, as the favorite to win, Asanoyama, had lost on day 11 to Yuma.

## **Personal Life**

* Daiseiryu's older brother, Sasayama (birth name: Kazuma Sasayama), was also a professional sumo wrestler who belonged in the same stable. He is two years older than Daiseiryu and his highest rank was makushita 21. He retired in January 2019 and moved back to Aomori and is currently employed at a local restaurant.
* Daiseiryu's favorite talent/entertainer is Rei Okamoto who is a model and actress.

## **Fighting Style**

Daiseiryu is an oshi-sumo specialist who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to grabbing the opponent's mawashi. His most common winning kimarite is oshi-dashi, or push out. In the September 2017 tournament, Daiseiryu won by the rare tokkurinage (two handed head twist down) against Terutsuyoshi.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 277-258-7/535 (75 basho)
* **Juryo:** 13-32/45 (3 basho)
* **Makushita:** 236-219-7/455 (66 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 15-6/21 (3 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (September 2022)

## **Shikona History**

* Sasanoyama Yoshitomo (2011.05 - 2016.07)
* Daiseido Yoshitomo (2016.09 - 2020.03)
* Daiseido Masaru (2020.07 - 2020.11)
* Daiseido Daishi (2021.01 - 2021.01)
* Daiseido Yoshitomo (2021.03 - 2021.07)
* Daiseiryu Yoshitomo (2021.09 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Daiseiryu Yoshitomo - 2017 (Retrieved from the JSA)Daiseiryu Yoshitomo - 2017 (Retrieved from the JSA)Daiseiryu's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Sasanoyama joins professional sumo (c. 2011)Daiseido after promotion to Juryo (c. 2017)Daiseido celebrates promotion to Juryo (c. 2017)Daiseido presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2017)Daiseido defeats Terutsuyoshi (c. 2017)Daiseido defeats Gokushindo (c. 2018)Daiseido ensures re-promotion to Juryo (c. 2019)Daiseido with his older brother Sasayama (c. 2019)Daiseido defeats Takanosho (c. 2019)Daiseido during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2019)Daiseiryu defeats Yuma to win the Makushita Yusho (c. 2022)Daiseiryu battles Ochiai (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Daiseiryu Yoshimoto Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Daiseiryu Yoshimoto Rikishi Information