Hakuyozan Ryosuke

Hakuyozan Ryosuke - 白鷹山 亨将 (born April 13, 1995) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Shirataka, Yamagata. He made his debut in May 2011 and currently wrestles for Takadagawa stable. He reached the juryo division in May 2018. His highest rank as of 2023 is juryo 3.

## **Early Life**

Saito had no sumo experience prior to becoming professional. However, while attending Ayukai Elementary School in Shirataka, he was in the judo club for six years as well as the baseball team. In his third year of junior high school, he was over 180 cm and 100 kg. While attending Shirataka Municipal Nishi Junior High School he was a member of the basketball team.

He also started participating in shot put. Under the influence of Sadogatake Oyakata (who was from the same area and also participated in shot put) and his father, he participated in the Yamagata Prefectural Junior High School General Athletic Meet. In his third year of junior high school, he won the Yamagata Prefectural Junior High School Athletic Meet shot put competition by setting a new record of 13.38 meters. He also participated in national junior high school shot put competitions in Japan.

Saito was going to continue with judo in high school, however his father recommended him to join professional sumo. Saito agreed and joined Takadagawa stable. According to Saito himself, his father wanted him to defeat a wrestler in Sadogatake stable who was Saito's main shot put rival in junior high school.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Hakuyozan was set to make his debut in March 2011, however, his tournament debut was delayed because the March tournament was cancelled in the wake of the Sumo match-fixing scandal gripping the world of sumo at the time. He made his debut in May 2011 and did fairly well for a rikishi with no past experience. He spent one tournament in jonokuchi and two in jonidan before earning promotion to sandanme. In sandanme he achieved two consecutive winning records before pulling out of the May 2012 tournament due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury. He would sit out this tournament and the two following tournaments. However he kept up a positive attitude during training and recovered. He returned in the November 2012 tournament and produced strong results. He was promoted to makushita a year later in the November 2013 tournament.

Hakuyozan rose through the makushita ranks rather steadily. He only suffered one make-koshi in 2014 and was promoted to makushita 11 for the January 2011 tournament. By then, Hakuyozan already established himself as an upper makushita level. In March 2016, Hakuyozan posted a 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 4 and was promoted to the top of makushita. However he suffered a 2-5 record and would produce mixed records for the next two years in makushita. In March 2018, Hakuyozan was ranked at the top of makushita and was in contention for the yusho, until he lost to eventual yusho recipient Higonojo. However, this guaranteed him a promotion to juryo for the May 2018 tournament. He was the first sekitori from Yamagata prefecture since Hokutokuni earned promotion in March 2008.

### **Juryo Career**

In Hakuyozan's juryo debut, he struggled and only won 5 out of his 15 matches. This record demoted him back down to Makushita 1. In his return to makushita, Hakuyozan won every single match and took the makushita yusho. He was promoted back to juryo in September 2018 and produced a double-digit 10-5 record. The following tournaments, he produced two consecutive 8-7 records and was promoted to juryo 3. In a match against Kyokushuho, Hakuyozan broke his left ankle and would sit out the rest of the tournament. He sat out the following tournament and was demoted back down to makushita.

Hakuyozan produced three consecutive winning records and earned promotion back to juryo for the March 2020 tournament. He produced a 9-6 record and was promoted to juryo 6 for the following March 2020 tournament. However due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was cancelled. There was an outbreak of the virus in his stable and he tested positive for COVID-19. Due to the COVID-19 exposure and the death of stablemate Shobushi, he struggled and produced 5-10 record and was demoted down to juryo 11. He won the juryo yusho with a strong 11-4 record in the March 2021 tournament. In July 2021, while ranked at juryo 3, Hakuyozan started out with a perfect 5-0 record, but lost his sixth match to Yutakayama. He suffered a tear to his anterior cruciate ligament on his left knee and subsequently withdrew from the tournament on the 7th day. He was demoted back down to makushita in May 2022. Hakuyozan returned to juryo in January 2023 where he remained for five tournaments before falling back down to makushita in November 2023.

## **Personal Life**

* On April 25th, 2020, Hakuyozan contracted the novel coronavirus due to an outbreak in his stable. He was the first active sekitori to contract the virus. Although he was asymptomatic, he was hospitalized after a PCR test confirmed that he tested positive. He was discharged from the hospital on April 30th.
* Hakuyozan suffers from diabetes.
* Hakuyozan's main sumo inspiration is 47th yokozuna, Kashiwado Tsuyoshi.

## **Fighting Style**

Asahisho is an oshi-sumo specialist who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to grabbing the opponent's mawashi. His most common winning kimarite is oshi-dashi, or push out. However he also frequently wins by yorikiri (frontal push out) which requires grabbing the opponent's mawashi.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 353-302-47/653 (75 basho)
* **Juryo:** 149-167-29/314 (23 basho)
* **Makushita:** 152-107/259 (37 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 26-19-4/45 (7 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 16-5-14/21 (5 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 10-4/14 (2 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (March 2021)
* 1 **Makushita** Championship (July 2018)

## **Gallery**

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

Hakuyozan Ryosuke - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hakuyozan Ryosuke - 2018 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hakuyozan's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Hakuyozan gets recruited into Takadagawa stable (c. 2011)Hakuyozan ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2018)Hakuyozan after promotion to Juryo (c. 2018)Hakuyozan's Juryo promotion party (c. 2018)Hakuyozan defeats Asabenkei (c. 2018)Hakuyozan wins the Makushita Yusho (c. 2018)Hakuyozan celebrates his Makushita Yusho (c. 2018)Hakuyozan defeats Ishiura (c. 2019)Hakuyozan defeats Yago (c. 2020)Hakuyozan defeats Chiyomaru to win the Juryo Yusho (c. 2021)Hakuyozan wins his first Juryo Yusho (c. 2021)Hakuyozan presented with a new kesho-mawashi (c. 2021)Hakuyozan defeats Enho (c. 2022)Hakuyozan prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2023)Hakuyozan defeats Takakento (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Hakuyozan Ryosuke Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hakuyozan Ryosuke Rikishi Information