Chiyotaikai Ryūji

千代 大海 龍 二
Chiyotaikai Ryūji

Personal data
real name	Hiroshima Ryuji
Born	April 29, 1976
place of birth	Chitose, Hokkaido Prefecture
size	1.81 m
Weight	145 kg
Career
Heya	Kokonoe
Career record	771-528-115 597-402-115 (makuuchi)
debut	November 1992
Highest rank	Ōzeki (March 1999)
Tournament victories	3 (Makuuchi) 2 (Juryo) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonokuchi)
resignation	January 2010

Chiyotaikai Ryūji , ( Japanese 千代 大海 龍 二 ; born April 29, 1976 in Chitose , Hokkaidō as Hiroshima Ryūji ( 廣 嶋 龍 二 )) is a former Japanese sumo wrestler .

Life

Chiyotaikai Ryūji, whose family moved to Oita after the untimely death of his father in 1982 , was an avid baseball and soccer player and a successful fighter in karate and judo from an early age . He had an extremely wild youth and was involved in brawls and petty crime as a member of a street gang. According to one story, he once beat dozens of opponents with a baseball bat in a backyard. After graduating from school, he worked briefly as a construction worker, but then accepted one of the offers that various sumo stables had made him and, following his mother's suggestion, became a rikishi in the Kokonoe Beya of the former yokozuna Chiyonofuji . He is said to have rejected him at his first audition because of Chiyotaikai's bleached hair and sent him to the hairdresser. When he appeared the second time, he had shaved it off and was accepted.

Chiyotaikai made his debut in 1992, bearing his ring name in honor of Chiyonofuji, and in 1995 he entered the juryo division. It was another two years before he had fought his way into the makuuchi division. In May 1998, Chiyotaikai was named komusubi . The sanyaku -Ränge has not left it since then. In the next tournament he was sekiwake . Until his final promotion to Ōzeki in March 1999, he won three awards for outstanding fighting technique; In the January 1999 tournament, he not only celebrated his first tournament win in the top division, but also won awards for fighting spirit and special achievement after defeating Wakanohana twice on the last day of the tournament. In the next tournament he broke his nose and had to give up, which, however, probably saved him from a worse result in view of the performance he had shown in the tournament.

In the next few years Chiyotaikai settled on a level that was rather mediocre for a wrestler in his position. It wasn't until 2001 and 2002 that he got some of his best results. His success culminated in a near-win in January 2002, which Tochiazuma chased him off at the last second, and in the brilliant 14-1 tournament victory the following July. After an injury, he continued his streak of success and won his third and so far last tournament in the makuuchi on the last day of the tournament in a duel against Asashōryū in March 2003 .

Chiyotaikai, who weighed 158 kg with a height of 1.81 m, preferred the quick decision in the fight by Oshi-sumō (thrusting techniques). His tsuppari (blows) gave an idea of ​​the former karate fighter.

Like his no longer active colleagues Kaio and Tochiazuma , Chiyotaikai held the rank of Ōzeki for several years without ultimately being able to record the decisive success that would have been necessary for the promotion to yokozuna. With 65 tournaments he is next to Kaio the wrestler with the most tournaments in this rank. Chiyotaikai also holds the record for being the most frequently relegated Ōzeki ( kadoban ) since the rule was introduced in July 1969. In November 2009 he lost the Ōzeki rank and was demoted to Sekiwake. After a 0-4 record in the subsequent tournament in January 2010, Chiyotaikai finally resigned. Today he is still a member of the sumo association as Sanoyama Oyakata .

Web links

Commons : Chiyotaikai Ryūji  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Info page of the Japanese Sumo Association

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Chiyotaikai is the family name, Ryūji the first name.