Tenkoyama Yutaka

Tenkoyama Yutaka - 天凰山 豊 (born August 25, 1961) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Chiryu, Aichi. He made his debut in March 1977 and wrestled for Kasugayama stable. He reached the juryo division in September 1984. His highest rank was juryo 13 and he retired in July 1989.

## **Early Life**

In junior high school, Kondo was a member of the baseball club and won he won many local competitions. He dreamt of joining professional baseball team Chunichi Dragons. However, he was invited by an acquaintance to watch the July 1976 honbasho. He was also invited to Kasugayama stable for a meal, and was offered to visit the stable anytime he wanted to. During the winter of 1976, he visited the stable and began training and became accustomed to stable life. After graduating from junior high school, he officially joined the stable.

## **Career**

He made his professional debut in March 1977 and wrestled under the shikona "Tenko" (天凰). He later changed his shikona to "Tenkoyama" (天凰山) in July 1981 and was promoted to makushita in January 1982. He remained in makushita for two years and in July 1984, he produced a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 1, which included wins over juryo wrestlers Koryu and Maenoshin. He was promoted to juryo in the following September 1984 tournament.

In his juryo debut, Tenkoyama performed solid sumo and his record was 7-7 at the end of 14th day, but on the final day, he lost to makushita wrestler Ichinowatari in an exchange bout; Ichinowatari took his juryo spot and Tenkoyama was demoted back down to makushita as he was ranked at the bottom of juryo. He never managed to return back to the salaried ranks after his one lone tournament as sekitori.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After losing his sekitori status, Tenkoyama remained in the Makushita division for four years before falling down to sandanme in September 1988. He retired from sumo after the July 1989 tournament. After retiring, he ran a chanko restaurant in his hometown of Chiryu, Aichi, called "Tenkoyama" (天凰山).

## **Personal Life**

His son, Masamichi Kondo (born 1995), joined Shikihide stable in July 2014. During the maezumo introduction, he wore Tenkoyama's kesho-mawashi. He currently wrestles under the name Shoryudo and has not made it past the jonidan division as 2020.

## **Fighting Style**

Tenkoyama was an oshi-sumo wrestler who preferred pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi. However, his most common kimarite used was yorikiri, or force out, which requires a grip on the belt.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 269-257/526 (75 basho)
* **Juryo:** 7-8/15 (1 basho)
* **Makushita:** 132-134/266 (38 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 78-76/154 (22 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 47-37/84 (12 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Kondo (1977.03 - 1977.05)
* Tenko Yoshiaki (1977.07 - 1981.05)
* Tenkoyama Yutaka (1981.07 - 1987.07)
* Tenkoyama (1987.09 - 1989.07)

## **Gallery**

Tenkoyama presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1984)Tenkoyama (c. 1984)Tenkoyama's son sports his kesho-mawashi upon joining sumo (c. 2014)
## **Sources**

* Tenkoyama Yutaka Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tenkoyama Yutaka Rikishi Information