Hishofuji Hiroki

Hishofuji Hiroki - 飛翔富士 廣樹 (born July 14, 1989) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kobe, Hyogo. He made his debut in March 2005 and wrestled for Azumazeki stable. He reached the juryo division in September 2011. His highest rank was juryo 13 and he retired in January 2017.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Hiroki was always a large boy and by the time he had graduated from Hyogo junior high school he was already 190 cm tall and weighted 120 kg. Hiroki was also a notable judoka at the prefectural level. This along with his exceeding size garnered him an invitation to join Nakamura stable. He made his debut in March 2005 and made steady progress up the banzuke. This continued until he reached Sandanme in March 2007 recording a mere three losing records on his way there. After a few losing records and bouncing between sandanme and Jonidan he returned to steady progress and was promoted to Makushita. This is where he would spend most of his career. He was helped along by the 2011 match fixing scandal which saw many wrestlers forced to retire, and in September 2011 was promoted to his career high rank of Juryo 13 and become a sekitori.

### **Juryo Career**

In his juryo debut, Hishofuji defeated future sekiwake Kotoyuki on the first day. However, he could only produce three more wins in the tournaments and finished with a poor 4-11 record. He was demoted back down to makushita and he never returned back to the salaried divisions.

### **Later Career**

In November 2012 with his stable master Fujizakura reaching the mandatory retirement age and closing down the stable he transferred to Azumazeki stable. In late 2013 Hiroki suffered a major right knee injury which would see him sit out for over a year and drop off the banzuke. He would return to the dohyo in January 2015 and start an impressive 22 win streak picking up two lower division yusho (Jonokuchi and Sandanme) in the process. After this though he would put up mediocre records having been troubled by a left ankle issue.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After three consecutive losing records and losing his opening bout of the January 2017 basho he decided to retire. On January 25th 2017, it was announced by the Japan Sumo Association that Hishofuji was retiring from the sumo wrestling association. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony was held on March 5th, 2017.

After retirement, he worked as a salesman for a company during the daytime and a restaurant manager during the night time. In July 2018 he started coaching for Kobe University's sumo club. On March 15th, 2019, he announced on Facebook that he was moving to Los Angeles to develop a company that he established in February of the same year.

### **Professional Wrestling Career**

He made his professional wrestling debut under his real name of "Hiroki Sumi" at the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble (held on April 27th, 2018, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) where he was the 7th entrant but, was quickly eliminated by Mark Henry. Rumors are that he was added to the royal rumble, because Vince McMahon wanted someone who resembled the late wrestler Yokozuna.

### **Entertainment Career**

In July 2020 he appeared on *Game On!* with Bobby Lee. He also made a guest appearance in Buzzfeed's video called "We Made A Giant 25-Pound Ramen Bowl For A Sumo Wrestler • Tasty". He appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden on September 11th, 2019. He also participated in the 2019 US Sumo Open where he won 3rd place in the heavyweight division.

### **Acting Career**

In 2023, he made his debut as an actor in the Netflix series “Sanctuary”. He plays Shizuuchi, a junior wrestler with a bright future, but that has a dark past. He appears alongside many other former rikishi, fighting in the series with the former Chiyonoshin.

## **Personal Life**

* Hishofuji's favorite food is chocolate and ice scream. Weighing at 212 kg (467 Ib) at his heaviest, Hishofuji has always had a big appetite. When he was promoted to makushita in September 2008, his stable's support group brought him out for dinner and he ate 238 pieces of sushi in one sitting. He has a YouTube channel called "飛翔富士channel / Hiroki Sumi" where he videotapes himself eating a variety of different foods
* On December 19th, 2020, Hishofuji's silk mawashi was stolen in Los Angeles.

## **Fighting Style**

Hishofuji is a yotsu-sumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques to pushing and thrusting. His most common winning kimarite is a straightforward yorikiri, or force out, and he uses a hidari-yotsu grip on the mawashi or belt, with his right hand outside and left hand inside his opponent's arms.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 234-197-47/431 (69 basho)
* **Juryo:** 4-11/15 (1 basho)
* **Makushita:** 113-114-19/227 (35 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 50-34-14/84 (14 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 56-35-7/91 (14 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 11-3-7/14 (3 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (March 2015)
* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (July 2015)

## **Shikona History**

* Sumi Hiroki (2005.03 - 2007.05)
* Hishofuji Hiroki (2007.07 - 2017.01)

## **Gallery**

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

Hishofuji Hiroki - 2011 (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Hishofuji's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Hishofuji after promotion to Juryo (c. 2011)Hishofuji's Juryo promotion party (c. 2011)Hishofuji defeats Kotoyuki (c. 2011)Hishofuji wins the Sandanme Yusho (c. 2015)Hishofuji prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2017)Hishofuji's retirement ceremony (c. 2017)Hishofuji (Hiroki Sumi) at the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble (c. 2018)

## **Sources**

* Hishofuji Hiroki Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hishofuji Hiroki Rikishi Information