Hananoumi Ken

Hananoumi Ken - 花乃湖 健 (born December 6, 1960) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ikawa, Akita. He made his debut in May 1976 and last wrestled for Hanaregoma stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 1985 and has two special prizes as well as four kinboshi. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in July 1989.

## **Early Life**

Sawaishi was born in the town of Ikawa in Akita Prefecture to rice farmers. He initially played baseball in elementary school, but was invited to join the sumo club in junior high school due to his size. Even though he practiced sumo intently, he was still more interested in baseball and wanted to play on the professional level, but was persuaded by his father to become a professional sumo wrestler.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He joined the original Hanakago stable in May 1976, and for five years he was a tsukebito or personal attendant to yokozuna Wajima Hiroshi, until the latter′s retirement in 1981. The two spent much of their spare time tinkering with Wajima′s luxury American automobile, a Lincoln Continental. Sawaishi began competing under his own surname, although he went through a number of different shikona, including Otowadake, Sawakaze and Onoumi, before finally settling on Hananoumi, meaning ′lake or sea of flowers.′

### **Juryo Career**

In July 1983 he took the makushita division championship with a perfect 7–0 record and was promoted to the juryo division, becoming a fully fledged sekitori for the first time. In November 1984, Hananoumi produced a strong 11-4 record, but missed out on the yusho after losing to Kotochitose in the playoff. Nevertheless, he followed with a 9-6 record at the rank of juryo 1 and was promoted to makuuchi in the following tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He reached the top makuuchi division in March 1985 and just one tournament later won his first sansho or special prize, for Technique. In November 1985 he had his first victory over a yokozuna, earning a kinboshi for defeating tournament winner Chiyonofuji. In March 1987 he beat Chiyonofuji again, scored ten wins at maegashira 1 and won his second Technique Award, and with it promotion to what was to be his highest rank of komusubi. In September 1987 he achieved the feat of winning a majority of wins against losses (kachi-koshi) despite missing four days and having to return for the last seven – the first time this had been done in the top division for 22 years. On the seventh day of the May 1988 tournament he was defeated by Chiyonofuji, the first bout in Chiyonofuji's post-war record winning streak of 53 consecutive matches.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In March 1989 Hananoumi returned to the komusubi rank but had a disastrous tournament, losing his first nine bouts before withdrawing injured on Day 10. In May he defaulted on Day 5 after losing his first four matches due to a herniated disk and was never to appear on the dohyo again, retiring after missing the July 1989 tournament altogether. He remained in sumo for a short time as an elder under the name Hanakago Oyakata (formerly used by his old boss Wajima), but left the Sumo Association in June 1990.

After leaving the sumo world, he opened up a chanko restaurant called "Chanko Hananoumi" (ちゃんこ花乃湖) in Akita City, Akita Prefecture, but the restaurant has since closed. After the restaurant closure, he opened up a hotel called "Plaza Hotel Nigohan" (プラザホテル 二合半) in Nanporo, Hokkaido.

## **Fighting Style**

Hananoumi had an unusual fighting style, preferring to come in low at the tachi-ai and push up against the opponent′s armpits, known as hazu–oshi. He also liked the throat thrust, or nodowa. When fighting on the mawashi he used a double inside grip, or morozashi. His two most common winning kimarite were yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 402-369-70/766 (80 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 164-185-41/345 (26 basho)
* **Juryo:** 71-61-18/131 (10 basho)
* **Makushita:** 65-51-10/116 (18 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 51-33/84 (12 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 46-37-1/83 (12 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (July 1983)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Technique Prize (2)
* **Kinboshi:** 4: (2) Chiyonofuji, (2) Hokutoumi

## **Shikona History**

* Sawaishi Ken (1976.05 - 1978.05)
* Otowadake Ken (1978.07 - 1978.09)
* Sawakaze Ken (1978.11 - 1979.05)
* Sawaishi Ken (1979.07 - 1980.05)
* Kai Ken (1980.07 - 1980.11)
* Onoumi Ken (1981.01 - 1982.03)
* Hananoumi Ken (1982.05 - 1989.07)

## **Gallery**

Hananoumi poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1986)Hananoumi awarded with a sansho prize (c. 1987)Hananoumi after promotion to Komusubi (c. 1987)Hananoumi serves as Onokuni's flag bearer (c. 1987)Hananoumi (c. 1988)Hananoumi's tegata
## **Sources**

* Hananoumi Ken Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hananoumi Ken Rikishi Information