Kakuryū Rikisaburō

鶴 竜 力 三郎
Kakuryū Rikisaburō

Personal data
real name	Mangaljalavyn Anand
Born	August 10, 1985
place of birth	Süchbaatar-Aimag, Mongolia
size	1.86 m
Weight	161 kg
Career
Heya	Izutsu -> Michinoku
rank	Yokozuna
Career record	768-483-132 628-380-132 (Makuuchi)
Highest rank	Yokozuna (March 2014)
Tournament victories	6 (Makuuchi) 1 (Sandanme)
Status: Natsu Basho 2019.

Kakuryū Rikisaburō ( Japanese 鶴 竜 力 三郎 ; born August 10, 1985 in Süchbaatar-Aimag as Mangaljalavyn Anand , Mongolian Мангалжалавын Ананд ) is a Mongolian sumo wrestler in the Japanese Makuuchi division.

Beginning of the sumo career

Kakuryū played his first tournament in January 2002. Due to good results he made his debut in the fourth highest division ( Sandanme ) in the same year . There he could not prevail at the beginning and was briefly demoted to the Jonidan division twice in 2003 . In July 2004, Kakuryū was unbeaten for the first time and won his first yusho . This meant promotion to the Makushita division. After a failed debut, six kachi-koshi followed , which Kakuryū had arrived in November 2005 in Jūryō .

Career as a sekitori

He also ended his Jūryō debut with a clear make-koshi (5-10). From March 2006, however, he achieved a positive score of 9-6 four times in a row. In November 2006 he was therefore able to make his debut in the Makuuchi Division and also successfully complete it (8-7). He then quickly established himself in the maegashira ranks. In January 2008 he achieved his best result to date with an 11-4 and was awarded the Ginō-shō . He finished the Haru Basho 2009 with a score of 10-5, although he had already suffered five defeats in the first seven days. In this tournament he defeated Ōzeki Kaiō , Chiyotaikai and Harumafuji , the future 70th yokozuna, as well as the future Ōzeki Gōeidō (then Komusubi ), Baruto (then Sekiwake ), Kotoshōgiku (then Maegashira 2 ) and the future 72nd Yokozuna Kisenosato (at that time also Sekiwake ). After the tournament, Kakuryū was given a second Ginō-shō and promoted to Sanyaku for the first time . In the following tournaments he shuttled between the upper maegashira - and lower sanyaku -Rängen. In July 2010, Kakuryū was due to another 11-4 record for the first time tournament runner-up (Jun-Yusho). Then he finally settled in sanyaku . With a 12-3 in May 2011 followed by a 10-5 in July, he quickly became a Ōzeki candidate, but couldn't get enough wins for a promotion in the following tournament (9-6).

Promotion to Ōzeki

Sekiwake Kakuryū finished both the 2011 Kyushu Basho and 2012 Hatsu Basho with a 10-5. Then he had his greatest chance of a yusho in the makuuchi division when he had a 13-1 record in March 2012 after 14 days of the tournament. However, he lost on the last day against Gōeidō (then Maegashira 6 ) and then the yusho playoff against Yokozuna Hakuhō , whom he had previously defeated in the course of the tournament. After the tournament, Kakuryū was promoted to Ōzeki . In his first tournaments with the rank of Ōzeki he achieved quite positive results, but was never able to intervene in the events for the tournament victory.

Promotion to yokozuna

That changed in January 2014 when he won his remaining 14 fights after losing on Day 1. On the last day he brought Yokozuna Hakuhō his first defeat and thus forced a yusho playoff, in which Kakuryū was then defeated. Although he could not win the tournament, his promotion to yokozuna was then made conditional on winning the upcoming Haru Basho, which Kakuryū also succeeded. With another 14-1 record, he triumphed for the first time in the Makuuchi division in March 2014 and was subsequently named 71st yokozuna . He finished his first tournament as a yokozuna only 9-6. Then his results improved. In November 2014, Kakuryū was ten days without defeat. On the last day he could have forced another playoff for the overall victory by defeating Yokozuna Hakuhō, but lost the fight. In 2015 he missed both the Haru Basho and the Natsu Basho due to a shoulder injury.

In July 2015 he made a successful comeback with a 12-3 balance. He won the Aki Basho in September 2015 in a playoff - both 12-3 - against Ōzeki Terunofuji , who on the 11th day had already led 11-0 with 2 wins more than Kakuryū (9-2).

In 2016 he was able to complete the first three tournaments with double-digit wins before he had to retire from the Nagoya Basho after 4 days of injury in July. The tournament in Fukuoka he was able to win at the end of the year, with which he achieved his 3rd tournament victory in the Makuuchi Division (2nd victory as yokozuna ).

2017 was a difficult year for him. Due to an injury, he was only able to fully contest one tournament (Haru Basho / Osaka, March), which he finished with a decent win record of 10-5. In January he had to sit out with back pain after the 10th day of the tournament. In May he was absent after only 4 days of competition due to an ankle injury, in July after just 3 days with a toe injury. The first calls were loud that suggested the end of his career. He did not return to the ring until the end of the year.

After a difficult year without a single tournament success, 2018 should be Kakuryū's most successful year as a rikishi. In January he started with a 10-0 winning streak before losing four fights in a row. He finished the tournament with a good 11-4 record. He started the tournament in March with an 11-0 series before losing to Tochinoshin on the twelfth day of the fight . However, he was able to win the following two fights, so that on the penultimate day he was able to perfect the tournament victory. He lost the last fight after a Torinaoshi (repetition) against Takayasu , so that the tournament ended with a 13-2 and the fourth tournament victory. Kakuryū was also able to win the summer tournament in May, this time with a 14-1. It was the 71st yokozuna’s first successful title defense . At the end of the year, Kakuryū had to contend with injury concerns again. The autumn tournament could still be concluded with a decent 10-5 balance, in November it was missing as in the previous year.

At the New Year's tournament in 2019, Kakuryū was only able to achieve two wins due to his physical problems. In the following tournaments his performance stabilized with 10 and 11 wins. In Nagoya, the yokozuna performed well and won its first twelve fights. On the 13th day he surprisingly lost against Maegashira 7 Tomokaze, on the final day Kakuryū met his only remaining pursuer, Yokozuna Hakuhō with two defeats. Kakuryū decided the fight for himself, prevented a playoff and secured his sixth tournament victory in the Makuuchi division.

Combat Statistics

year	Hatsu basho, Tokyo (January)	Haru basho, Osaka (March)	Natsu basho, Tokyo (May)	Nagoya basho, Nagoya (July)	Aki basho, Tokyo (September)	Kyushu basho, Fukuoka (November)
2001						Maezumo
2002	Jonokuchi 32 West 5-2	Jonidan 97 West 4-3	Jonidan 74 East 5-2	Jonidan 32 West 6-1	Sandanme 70 East 5-2	Sandanme 40 West 1-6
2003	Sandanme 76 West 2-5	Jonidan 4 East 4-3	Sandanme 87 East 3-4	Jonidan 5 East 5-2	Sandanme 70 West 3-4	Sandanme 86 West 6-1
2004	Sandanme 25 East 4-3	Sandanme 13 West 4-3	Sandanme 3 East 3-4	Sandanme 17 W 7-0 Y	Makushita 14 West 1-6	Makushita 35 West 4-3
2005	Makushita 27 West 4-3	Makushita 21 West 5-2	Makushita 12 West 4-3	Makushita 7 West 4-3	Makushita 5 East 5-2	Juryo 14 West 5-10
2006	Makushita 3 East 5-2	Juryo 11 West 9-6	Juryo 8 West 9-6	Juryo 4 East 9-6	Juryo 1 West 9-6	Maegashira 8 West 8-7
2007	Maegashira 8 East 6-9	Maegashira 11 West 9-6	Maegashira 5 West 6-9	Maegashira 8 East 9-6	Maegashira 2 West 7-8	Maegashira 3 East 4-11
2008	Maegashira 8 East 11-4	Maegashira 1 West 6-9	Maegashira 3 West 5-10	Maegashira 7 West 8-7	Maegashira 5 East 7-8	Maegashira 6 East 5-6-4
2009	Maegashira 8 West 9-6	Maegashira 1 West 10-5	Komusubi 1 East 9-6	Sekiwake 1 East 5-10	Maegashira 3 West 11-4	Sekiwake 1 West 7-8
2010	Komusubi 1 West 7-8	Maegashira 1 East 6-9	Maegashira 3 East 6-9	Maegashira 6 East 11-4 y	Komusubi 1 West 9-6	Sekiwake 1 West 7-8
2011	Komusubi 1 West 8-7	called off	Komusubi 1 East 12-3 y	Sekiwake 2 West 10-5	Sekiwake 2 East 9-6	Sekiwake 1 West 10-5
2012	Sekiwake 1 East 10-5	Sekiwake 1 East 13-2 D	Ozeki 3 West 8-7	Ozeki 3 West 9-6	Ozeki 3 West 11-4	Ozeki 1 East 9-6
2013	Ozeki 1 West 8-7	Ozeki 2 East 8-7	Ozeki 1 West 10-5	Ozeki 2 East 10-5	Ozeki 1 West 9-6	Ozeki 2 East 9-6
2014	Ozeki 1 West 14-1D	Ozeki 1 East 14-1 Y	Yokozuna 2 East 9-6	Yokozuna 2 East 11-4	Yokozuna 1 West 11-4	Yokozuna 1 West 12-3 yrs
2015	Yokozuna 1 west 10-5	Yokozuna 2 East 0-1-14	Yokozuna 2 East 0-0-15	Yokozuna 2 East 12-3 yrs	Yokozuna 1 West 12-3 Y	Yokozuna 1 East 9-6
2016	Yokozuna 2 East 10-5	Yokozuna 2 East 10-5	Yokozuna 1 West 11-4	Yokozuna 1 West 2-2-11	Yokozuna 2 East 10-5	Yokozuna 1 West 14-1 Y
2017	Yokozuna 1 East 5-6-4	Yokozuna 1 west 10-5	Yokozuna 1 West 1-4-10	Yokozuna 2 West 2-2-11	Yokozuna 2 West 0-0-15	Yokozuna 2 West 0-0-15
2018	Yokozuna 2 East 11-4	Yokozuna 1 East 13-2 Y	Yokozuna 1 East 14-1 Y	Yokozuna 1 East 3-3-9	Yokozuna 1 East 10-5	Yokozuna 1 West 0-0-15
2019	Yokozuna 2 East 2-4-9	Yokozuna 1 west 10-5	Yokozuna 1 West 11-4	Yokozuna 1 East 14-1 Y	x	x
2020	Yokozuna 1 West 1-4-10	Yokozuna 1 West 12-3	called off
INFO	Green = tournament victory	Red = resignation

Source: Kakuryu combat statistics on sumodb.sumogames.de

Oddities

Kakuryū won the Gino-shō seven times. No other active rikishi did this more often.

In both January and March 2014, Kakuryū only lost to Maegashira Okinoumi.

In 2017, Kakuryū did not take part in 55 fights due to injury. He played 32 fights that year, of which he could only win 18.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?shikona=kakuryu&heya=-1&shusshin=-1&b=-1&high=-1&hd=-1&entry=-1&intai=-1&sort=1 Data on Kakuryu
2. ↑ www.cibersumo.com: Appointment to yokozuna
3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20160714155713/http://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20160713/p2g/00m/0sp/086000c Kakuryo suffers a back injury
4. ↑ https://tachiai.org/2017/01/ Kakuryu's injury-related tournament
5. ↑ https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2017/07/12/sumo/basho-reports/yokozuna-kakuryu-pulls-nagoya-basho-amid-talk-retirement/#.WrBKj8PwbIV injury and words about possible end of career
6. ↑ Champion Tochinoshin finishes New Year Basho in style . In: The Japan Times Online . January 28, 2018, ISSN  0447-5763 ( japantimes.co.jp [accessed July 22, 2019]).
7. ↑ lksumo: Haru Wrap-up and Predictions for Natsu. March 25, 2018, Retrieved July 22, 2019 (American English). 
8. ↑ SUMO / Kakuryu beats Hakuho, wins 2nd tournament in a row ： The Asahi Shimbun. Accessed July 22, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Kakuryu beats fellow yokozuna Hakuho on final day to clinch sixth title . In: The Japan Times Online . July 21, 2019, ISSN  0447-5763 ( japantimes.co.jp [accessed July 22, 2019]).
10. ↑ 71st Yokozuna Kakuryu Rikisaburo ( English ) sumodb.sumogames.de. Retrieved June 1, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Kakuryū Rikisaburō  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Info page of the Japanese Sumo Association
• Profile on Sumo Reference