Hakuryu Hiroshi

Hakuryu Hiroshi - 魄龍 弘 (born April 12, 1954) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Fujishima, Yamagata. He made his debut in November 1969 and last wrestled for Kagamiyama stable. He reached the juryo division in May 1979. His highest rank was juryo 1 and he retired in May 1988.

## **Early Life**

Onuma practiced sumo since childhood, but he began focusing more on baseball during his time in junior high school. During his third year of junior high school, he decided to participate in the Yamagata Prefectural sumo tournament where he produced strong results and finished in second place. As a result, he was recruited by Isenoumi stable and recently retired yokozuna Kashiwado (Kagamiyama Oyakata) personally visited his hometown to inform Onuma's parents.

## **Career**

He made his professional debut in November 1969, wrestling under his surname Onuma. In 1970, he transferred to the recently established Kagamiyama stable. He was promoted to sandanme in May 1971 and makushita in November 1973. In November 1975, he changed his shikona to "Hakuryu" (魄龍). In March 1979, Hakuryu produced a 4-3 record and at the rank of makushita 3 and was promoted to juryo in the following May 1979 tournament.

Hakuryu was ranked in juryo for a total of 47 tournaments, but he never reached the makuuchi division. He has the most tournaments ranked in juryo for a wrestler who never made it to makuuchi. His highest rank was juryo 1 which he held on two occasions in November 1979 and January 1982. He was a makuuchi visitor on 24 different occasions and he defeated the makuuchi wrestler 14 times. From 1982 to 1983, he was ranked in the top ten ranks of juryo. After falling down to sandanme in May 1988, he announced his retirement at the age of 34.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Upon retirement from sumo, he remained in the Japan Sumo Association as a wakaimonogashira or youth leader. He was still known as Hakuryu, his shikona when active, but he changed the Haku kanji from 魄 (definition: soul/spirit) to 伯 (definition: senior). In April 2019, he reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 and subsequently left the Sumo Association.

## **Fighting Style**

Hakuryu was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He favored a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) position when gripping his opponent's mawashi (belt). His most common kimarite was yorikiri, or force out. He was also fond of employing uwatenage, or overarm throw, and tsuridashi, or lift out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 566-573-14/1139 (112 basho)
* **Juryo:** 334-371/705 (47 basho)
* **Makushita:** 138-128-7/266 (39 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 58-47-7/105 (16 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 32-24/56 (8 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Onuma (1969.11 - 1975.09)
* Hakuryu Hiroshi (1975.11 - 1988.05)

## **Gallery**

Hakuryu (left) in maezumo (c. 1969)Hakuryu warms up for his upcoming bout (c. 1979)Hakuryu pushes out Hawaiian Takamiyama (c. 1984)Hakuryu waits for his upcoming bout (c. 1987)Hakuryu after retirement as a wakaimonogashira (c. 2019)Hakuryu's tegata
## **Sources**

* Hakuryu Hiroshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hakuryu Hiroshi Rikishi Information