Hoshikaze Yoshihiro

Hoshikaze Yoshihiro - 星風 芳宏 (born December 15, 1983) is a former Mongolian professional sumo wrestler from Töv Province. He made his debut in November 2002 and wrestled for Oguruma stable. He reached the juryo division in January 2011. His highest rank was juryo 3 and he was dismissed in May 2011.

## **Early Life**

Boldo Amaramend was born and raised in Töv Province. He attended Tottori Johoku High School in Japan and was member of the school's strong sumo club. He was classmates and teammates with fellow Mongolian Shironoryu. After graduation he joined Oguruma stable in November 2002 and was given the shikona "Hoshikaze" (星風).

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Hoshikaze produced a strong 6-1 record in his debut and his only loss came to future ozeki Kotooshu. He defeated Kotooshu in the following tournament and finished with a perfect 7-0 record which earned him the jonidan yusho. He breezed through sandanme in three tournaments and was promoted to makushita in November 2003.

He gradually climbed the ranks of makushita and reached the top quarter of makushita in March 2006. In July 2008, Hoshikaze won his first six matches at the rank of makushita 12 and was set to face Yamamotoyama on the 13th day. In the match, Hoshikaze hit Yamamotoyama with two blatantly hard false starts, but still need up losing the match. He received a harsh warning for the severeness of his false starts from the Sumo Association. In July 2009, Hoshikaze produced a 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 2 which earned him a promotion to juryo in September 2009.

### **Juryo Career**

Hoshikaze made his sekitori debut at the rank of juryo 12 and he produced a 7-8 record in his first tournament. He followed with a solid 9-6 record, but was demoted back to makushita in March 2010 after posting a 5-10 record. He immediately returned to juryo after a strong 6-1 performance. In September 2010, Hoshikaze produced a decent 8-7 record, but was promoted to a career-best juryo 3 in November 2010. However, he could only manage 5 wins at that rank.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

### **Match-fixing Scandal and Dismissal**

After the January 2011 tournament, Hoshikaze was ordered to submit his retirement papers after he was found guilty of match-fixing. Originally, he was not part of the 23 sumo wrestlers who were forced to retire due to match-fixing, but he and Sokokurai were later added to the list. Hoshikaze refused to hand in papers and said, “You can’t just decide the fate of someone’s life without conducting an investigation properly. I am not buying this and won’t be handing in my papers.” As a result, he was dismissed from sumo on April 14, 2011. On Hoshikaze filed an injunction with the Tokyo District Court seeking his re-instatement to sumo, arguing that he had been given an unfair dismissal. He reached a settlement with the Japan Sumo Association where they offered to pay him a one year salary, but Hoshikaze was dissatisfied and wanted to be reinstated. The court decision concluded ended on March 5, 2012, and his dismissal was finalized.

### **MMA Career**

After his lengthy battle with the Japan Sumo Association, Hoshikaze gave up on his chances in reinstatement on October 29, 2013. On February 24, 2014, it was announced that Hoshikaze would compete in the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). He made his debut on April 5, 2014, where he defeated Atsushi Sawada by unanimous decision.

## **Personal Life**

* Hoshikaze is married and has two kids. His older brother was also an MMA fighter who fought under the name Baru Harn.
* Hoshikaze's hobbies are painting and poetry.

## **Fighting Style**

Hoshikaze was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who favors grappling techniques as opposed to pushing and slapping his opponent. Like most Mongolians, Hoshikaze was a technician and was fond of employing throws. His most common kimarite is uwatenage (overarm throw) which is followed by shitatenage (underarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 225-182/407 (50 basho)
* **Juryo:** 58-62/120 (8 basho)
* **Makushita:** 126-105/231 (33 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 28-14/42 (6 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Jonidan** Championship (March 2003)

## **Shikona History**

* Hoshikaze Yoshihiro (2002.11 - 2011.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Hoshikaze Yoshihiro - 2009 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hoshikaze's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Hoshikaze in the unsalaried ranks (c. 2008)Hoshikaze (c. 2009)Hoshikaze after promotion to Juryo (c. 2009)Hoshikaze defeats Tokushino (c. 2010)Hoshikaze (c. 2010)Hoshikaze after being found guilty of match-fixing (c. 2011)Hoshikaze pleads his innocence (c. 2012)Hoshikaze joins MMA after dismissal from sumo (c. 2012)

## **Sources**

* Hoshikaze Yoshihiro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hoshikaze Yoshihiro Rikishi Information