Onosato Daiki

Onosato Daiki - 大の里 泰輝 (born June 7, 2000) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tsubata, Ishikawa. He made his debut in May 2023 and currently wrestles for Nishonoseki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2024. His highest rank as of 2024 is maegashira 15.

## **Early Life**

Daiki Nakamura was born in Tsubata, Ichikawa Prefecture. He began wrestling in a sumo club at his elementary school in first grade. As a child he was fascinated by professional sumo and admits that one of his favourite books was the magazine Sumo published by Baseball Magazine.

In August 2014, he participated in the Openweight competition at the Sumo World Championships held in Taiwan and finished third, behind Ukrainian wrestler Oleksandr Veresiuk and Mongolian Baasansuren Turbold, who won that year's tournament. Nakamura then attended Itoigawa City Nou Junior High School and Niigata Prefectural Marine High School. During his years at Itoigawa, he won the 2016 Junior High School competition at the Hakuho Cup.

In 2019, he entered Nippon Sport Science University, a university famous for its strong sumo club. During his first year, he first won the individual competition in the adult division of the National Athletic Meet, hence becoming the second best individual champion in the history of the competition and allowing him to become professional at the rank of makushita tsukedashi 15. He then took part in the National Student Sumo Tournament in Sakai as a freshman and won the individual tournament. This victory, over Kindai University's Koshiro Tanioka, marked the first time in 29 years that a freshman won the tournament, since Luis Go Ikemori (who later became a professional wrestler under the shikona of Ryuko) won in 1990. In May 2021, he participated to the 70th All Japan Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan and became amateur yokozuna after defeating Kindai University's Kanzaki Taiga in the final, again qualifying for the makushita tsukedashi system. During that same tournament, he defeated Tottori Johoku High School's Tetsuya Ochiai during the team competition.

In January 2022, Nakamura took part in the World Games' sumo competition held that year in Birmingham, Alabama. Competing in the Openweight and Over 115kg categories, he won the former and finished runner-up in the latter. In October of the same year, he participated in the National Athletic Meet in Otawara and won the amateur yokozuna title for the second consecutive time in this tournament. With his victory at the 70th All Japan Sumo Championships, Nakamura became the fourth person since the introduction of this system in 2000 to be eligible to join professional sumo at the rank of makushita tsukedachi 10. This victory was also the fifth time that Nakamura had won the championship title in a tournament counting towards makushita tsukedashi status. Overall, during his time as an amateur wrestler at university level, Nakamura won no less than 13 titles, placing him tying him for the greatest number of amateur titles won by a wrestler. His dominance of amateur sumo in Japan was such that sumo columnist John Gunning declared that he saw in Nakamura's sumo a continuous display of "calm smooth style reminiscent of Hakuho in his younger days."

In March 2023, Nakamura made the decision to become a professional wrestler (rikishi) by joining Nishonoseki stable under the guidance of former yokozuna Kisenosato. At the time of his recruitment, he expressed his intention to achieve sekitori status as quickly as possible. Moreover, his entry into the professional world a few months after the record-breaking promotion of Hakuoho (then known as Ochiai) did not fail to raise the interest of commentators as to the hypothesis of a rivalry between these two dominant wrestlers of the amateur world. On the subject of choosing to join this particular stable, Nakamura expressed his interest in being trained by a former yokozuna and that the stable, located in Ami, Ibaraki, offered him a healthy working environment "to eliminate any temptations and be able to concentrate on sumo." Since he turned professional in May 2023, Nakamura was the last wrestler to be promoted to makushita tsukedashi 10 due to his amateur prowess, the system for promotion to the top of the makushita division having been abolished in September 2023.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

In April 2023, it was announced that Nakamura would now fight under the shikona, or ring name, Onosato (大の里), with the kanji "大", meaning 'great', to accentuate his talent and the kanji "の里" to establish Nakamura in the line of Yokozuna Takanosato (隆の里) and Kisenosato (稀勢の里). This name, chosen to represent his master's expectations, was chosen in particular because this shikona had been proposed to Kisenosato when he was still an active wrestler when his promotion to the rank of ozeki had been certain. Coincidentally, the shikona has the same pronunciation as a Taisho era-ozeki, Onosato Mansuke and Nakamura's father declared "I am deeply moved by the honor of my son being named after a former ozeki with such a long history." On the announcement of his entry as a professional wrestler, his former coach at Niigata Kaiyo High (Tetsuya Tomi) declared his satisfaction and compared him to "a Shohei Ohtani of sumo," announcing that Nakamura had the potential to become the monster of the new era (新時代の怪物). On the occasion of his passage to the new apprentice examination, the now-Onosato, obliged to comply with professional wrestlers dress rules, received an obi belt that his master had used.

Having logically received the Japan Sumo Association approval to compete, Onosato logically began his career at the rank of makushita tsukedashi 10. His first professional match was against Takasago stable wrestler Ishizaki, a senior of Onosato during their time at NSS University. Ishizaki however defeated Onosato by tsukiotoshi in what Ishizaki later describes as a "fluke match". Nonetheless, Onosato finished the tournament with a score of 6–1, missing out, however, on promotion directly to the juryo division, which some observers had been expecting.

During the July tournament, Onosato logically competed again in the makushita division, this time ranked as makushita 3. He won his first two matches, but suffered his first defeat in his third match against Tokihayate. On the seventh day of the tournament, Onosato faced amateur scene rival and upper-division wrestler, Kiho. Kiho had never managed to beat Onosato on the amateur scene, and Onosato even won the college yokozuna title from him at the 2022 championships. Kiho nevertheless managed to defeat Onosato by hatakikomi and thus inflicted on him his second consecutive defeat. At the time, this defeat was thought to delay even further Onosato's promotion to juryo. Nevertheless, Onosato still managed to record a positive score of 4 wins by beating in his last match juryo-wrestler Hidenoumi. Because of this barely achieved kachi-koshi record, he also shared he felt sick on the last days of the tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

When the rankings for the September tournament were announced, however, it was confirmed that Onosato's score was sufficient to promote him to juryo, professional sumo's second-highest division. This promotion, acquired at the same time as stablemate and NSSU senior classmate Takahashi, allowed Nishonoseki stable to simultaneously receive two new sekitori, and the first two raised by Kisenosato alone since he had become master in 2019. Furthermore, this double promotion marks the first time since July 2012 that two stablemates have gained sekitori status at the same time. After his promotion, Onosato went to his hometown of Tsubata, Ishikawa to officially announce his promotion to his local fans. After a conference attended by around 600 people, he was presented with a stock of 600 kg (1,300 lb) of rice. During the August jungyo, he took part in public training series and competed against his juryo peers. He was also honored to be trained later by current and former ozeki Takakeisho and Takayasu, the latter having been stablemate of Onosato's master, and was praised for his attitude toward training.

During his first juryo tournament, Onosato first recorded seven consecutive wins in seven matches with a victory over Kiho, placing him at the top of this competition. On Day 8, Onosato maintained his lead with an eighth consecutive victory, making him the seventh juryo wrestler in the history of the sport to win eight in a row from day one of the competition and the first to achieve this since Takakeisho (then known as Sato) at the May 2016 tournament. Since he also followed this up with a ninth victory in a row, Onosato became the juryo wrestler to win the most victories since the first day of a competition, tied with Naruyama at the January 1953 tournament and Shotenro at the November 2008 tournament. Onosato's winning streak ended at 9 consecutive victories, however, after he was defeated by Ichiyamamoto on the tenth day of the competition. Onosato managed to keep himself in the title race with Ichiyamamoto, with the championship set to be decided on the final day. Onosato nevertheless lost his final match to Roga and finished just one defeat behind Ichiyamamoto, who won that month's tournament.

During the November 2023 tournament, he won his first match against a wrestler who had been ranked in the sanyaku ranks by defeating former sekiwake Aoiyama on the eighth day of the competition. Onosato was then able to maintain his lead throughout the tournament, recording eleven wins on day fourteen, tied with Kotoshoho, with the championship to be decided on the final day. Although Onosato won his final match against Mitoryu, Kotoshoho also kept himself in the title race by also claiming a twelfth victory. The championship was thus decided in a playoff, which Kotoshoho won by beating Onosato by uwatenage, causing Onosato to miss out on the championship for the second consecutive tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

After competing in just four tournaments, Onosato's promotion to the top makuuchi division was announced for the January 2024 tournament. The promotion made him the first recruited by the former Kisenosato to be elevated to the top division. He is also the third-fastest to reach the top division since 1989 (after Endo and Hakuoho), doing so in four tournaments under the old tsukedashi system. Onosato told reporters after his promotion that he was happy to see his name in big letters at the top of the banzuke, while his stablemaster asked him to win 10 matches and the Fighting Spirit special prize in January as a reward for his arrival in the top division.

## **Personal Life**

* Onosato is the eldest in his family and has a little sister.

## **Fighting Style**

Onosato is proficient in both yotsu-sumo (grappling) and oshi-sumo (pushing and thrusting) techniques. His most often used winning kimarite is yorikiri (force out), and oshidashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 34-10/44 (4 basho)
* **Juryo:** 24-6/30 (2 basho)
* **Makushita:** 10-4/14 (2 basho)

## **Gallery**

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

Onosato Daiki - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Onosato Daiki - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Onosato's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Onosato gets recruited into Nishonoseki stable (c. 2023)Onosato gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2023)Onosato pushes out and defeats Mukainakano (c. 2023)Onosato ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Onosato after promotion to Juryo (c. 2023)Onosato presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2023)Onosato prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Onosato pushes out and defeats Tohakuryu (c. 2023)Onosato after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Onosato Daiki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Onosato Daiki Rikishi Information