Wakaazuma Yoshinobu

Wakaazuma Yoshinobu - 若東 吉信 (born April 21, 1976) is a former Brazilian professional sumo wrestler from Sao Paulo. He made his debut in September 1991 and last wrestled for Tamanoi stable. He reached the juryo division in May 2001. His highest rank was juryo 13 and he retired in May 2003.

## **Early Life**

Fernando Yoshinobu Kuroda was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is of Japanese descent. He started sumo wrestling at the age of four, and in addition to sumo wrestling, he also took part in swimming and soccer. In junior high school, he visited Fujishima stable in Japan and took part in sumo practice. After graduating from junior high school, he and three other Brazilians joined Tamanoi stable in September 1991.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Wrestling under the shikona "Wakaazuma" (若東), he weighed only 75 kg (165 Ib) in his debut, but managed to produce a 6-1 record in his debut and even took part in a playoff for the jonokuchi yusho. He was promoted to sandanme in November 1992 at the age of 16 and makushita in March 1994 at the age of 17. Due to his small frame, Wakaazuma struggled to climb the ranks of makushita and fell back down to sandanme on multiple occasions. In March 2001, Wakaazuma produced as 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 4 after defeating juryo-ranked wrestler Senshuyama. This result was strong enough to earn him a promotion to the salaried juryo division.

### **Juryo Career**

It took Wakaazuma 58 tournaments which was the slowest progress to sekitori for a foreign wrestler (the record has since been overtaken by Oniarashi who took 71 tournaments). Wakaazuma was the third Brazilian to become a sekitori after his stablemates Ryudo earned promotion in March 1994 and Kuniazuma in September 2000. In his juryo debut, Wakaazuma defeated Wakatoba on the first day, but he went on to lose his following ten matches. He finished with a poor 4-11 record and was demoted back down to makushita. He never managed to return back to juryo.

### **Later Career**

Wakaazuma never managed to make it back to sekitori status and remained mainly in the makushita division for majority of his later career. After five consecutive losing records, Wakaazuma was demoted back down to sandanme in March 2003 for the first time since November 1995.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After falling back down to sandanme due to injury, Wakaazuma continued to struggle and produced a 3-4 record. He announced his retirement after the May 2003 tournament at the young age of 27.

After retiring, Wakaazuma returned back to Brazil and opened up a highly successful Japanese restaurant in Pinheiros, Sao Paulo, called Izakaya Kuroda. He is also the chairman of the local amateur sumo association. Furthermore, he also helped recruit future sekiwake Kaisei for Tomozuna stable.

## **Personal Life**

* Prior to joining sumo, Wakaazuma met the future ozeki Tochiazuma while he was on a trip to Brazil. They became good friends and Tochiazuma persuaded Wakaazuma to join his father's stable, which he did in September 1991.
* Wakaazuma's father tried out for professional sumo, but failed the initial physical exam since he did not meet the height requirement.

## **Fighting Style**

Wakaazuma was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He specialized in kuisagari, a tactic used by smaller wrestlers which involved pushing his head against the opponent's chest while pushing on the front part of the mawashi. His most common winning kimarite were yorikiri (force out), oshidashi (push out), and shitatenage (underarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 251-217-30/468 (71 basho)
* **Juryo:** 4-11/15 (1 basho)
* **Makushita:** 171-163-2/334 (48 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 33-23-21/56 (11 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 37-19-7/56 (9 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Kuroda (1991.09 - 1991.09)
* Wakaazuma Yoshinobu (1991.11 - 2003.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Wakaazuma Yoshinobu - 2001 (Retrieved from the JSA)Wakaazuma's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Kuroda wears a kesho mawashi for his maezumo debut (c. 1991)Wakaazuma with his fellow Brazilian stablemates (c. 1998)Wakaazuma's early career in the unsalaried ranks (c. 1999)Wakaazuma dons the oichonmage (c. 2001)Wakaazuma with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2001)Wakaazuma with his other kesho-mawashi (c. 2001)Wakaazuma makes his way into Ryogoku Kokugikan (c. 2001)Wakaazuma gives a fan his autograph (c. 2001)Wakaazuma (c. 2001)Wakaazuma throws salt into the ring (c. 2001)Wakaazuma during the juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2001)Wakaazuma's retirement ceremony (c. 2003)Wakaazuma cooks at his successful restaurant, Izakaya KurodaWakaazuma with fellow Brazilian, Kaisei, who he helped mentor

## **Sources**

* Wakaazuma Yoshinobu Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Wakaazuma Yoshinobu Rikishi Information