[sumo] Fwd: [Sumo news] - Okinoumi- the story of a s sailor- another long one

[Jeff A]

Moti

Best regards,
Jeffrey Anderson
Gaijingai
For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these:
It might have been.
- John Greenleaf Whittier


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Moti Dichne <niramiai at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Aug 9, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Subject: [Sumo news] - Okinoumi- the story of a s sailor- another long one
To: Sumo Newsletter2 <sumo-newsletter2 at googlegroups.com>


Down time in sumo news, up time in nice stories?

The Heisei era ushered in an unprecedented boom in sumo. Today we introduce
Okinoumi, who entered the sumo world in an unexpected way and made his
presence felt as a top-ranked rikishi.  He was born in Saigo (now
Okinoshima), Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, in the Oki Islands, located
in the Sea of Japan, about 80 kilometers from the Shimane Peninsula and
originally dreamed of becoming a navigation officer. After graduating from
his local Oki Fisheries High School, he enrolled in the school's two-year
specialized course and sailed to the coast of Hawaii on a tuna fishing
training vessel. After completing approximately three months of training
and arriving at Miura Beach in Kanagawa Prefecture, he received a call from
his high school teacher saying, "Hakkaku Oyakata (former yokozuna
Hokutoumi) is here." He was a member of the sumo club in high school, and
the Oyakata had come to the island to scout other members of the same club.
He was introduced to the locals as "another kid with a big physique," and
this was the boy who would become Okinoumi. Only when there is a
celebration on the Oki Islands does a traditional event called Oki
Classical Sumo take place, with the entire island participating all night.
There are sumo dohyos all over the island, and Okinoumi had been putting on
a mawashi before he even started elementary school, and even competed in
the Oki Classical Sumo in middle school.

He had no intention of becoming a professional rikishi, but he was
captivated by the personality of  Hakkaku, and made his debut in the
January 2005 tournament at the age of 19. At the time of his debut, the
imposing young man stood 188 cm tall and weighed 122 kg. He possessed the
talent to rival his contemporaries, future Ozeki Goueidou, Sekiwake
Tochiouzan, and Makuuchi Toyohibikii, but he lagged behind them in terms of
promotion. He made his debut in Makuuchi in the March 2010 tournament, but
it wasn't until 2011 that he showed glimpses of his potential. Entering
the January basho of the same year as Maegashira 13, he started with a 2-2
record, but from the fifth day onwards, he won nine in a row. In the race
for the championship, he hung on till the end with Yokozuna Hakuhou, who
had one loss, but on the 14th day, he was soundly defeated by Sekiwake
Kisenosato, his first match against a sanyaku rikishi. He commented, "I was
overwhelmed (by the atmosphere)," and was "baptized" by the higher-ranked
opponents, losing out. Nevertheless, he recorded 11 wins, his first
double-digit wins in Makuuchi and won his first of three special prizes,
the Fighting Spirit Prize. After the March tournament was canceled due to a
match-fixing scandal, he made a sudden leap to Maegashira 4 in the "May
tournament for skill evaluation", where he defeated KaioU in his first bout
with an Ozeki, followed by the other Ozeki, Harumafuji and Kotooushuu, to
make his presence felt. However, in his first bout against Yokozuna Hakuhou
on the eighth day, he was completely unable to hold his own. Overwhelmed by
the atmosphere in his first bout, he commented that "coming from a shitty
countryside and experiencing that atmosphere was enough," suggesting that
his emotions outweighed his defeat. This future hopeful finished the
tournament with a record of 7 wins and 8 losses.

He continued to establish himself in the upper ranks of Makuuchi , and in
the November 2012 tournament, as the top Maegashira, he defeated new
Yokozuna Harumafuji with a kotenage on the second day to earn his first
kinboshi. Although he regretfully withdrew from this tournament on Day 10,
two bashos later, he was the only one who challenged an undefeated Hakuhou
for the yusho as a Maegashira 7. On Day 12, he defeated Aoiyama with a
left-handed grip yorikiri to maintain his two losses, and showed a rare
display of greed, saying, "I want to be ambitious now that I've come this
far. I'm looking forward to the next three days." After two straight losses
from Day 13, he was eliminated from the championship race, but with 11 wins
he was awarded his second Fighting Spirit Prize, the only prize of the
tournament. In the following May tournament, he was promoted to Komusubi, a
long-awaited new sanyaku wrestler. He was the first Shimane Prefecture
rikishi to achieve sanyaku status in 121 years, since Taninooto in the June
1892 tournament, but he lost his rank after just one tournament. In the
March 2015 tournament, he was promoted to Sekiwake. He returned to the
Sanyaku ranks many times after that, but was never able to establish
himself as a regular. As a talented rikishi with a blessed physique and a
large frame, fans were always hoping for better results and a higher status
from this unfinished talent who was moving between the sanyaku and
Maegashira ranks. The flip side of these expectations was that he was
eventually labeled as someone who "hates training." He himself once
responded to such comments from those around him, saying, "I was once told
at a bar to 'do more sumo squats,' but my physique is just the result of
the luxury I had as a child, not because I didn't train. I think it has
something to do with my physical make-up."

Eventually, the "laid-back" rikishi found himself in a situation where he
had no choice but to step up. On the first day of the September 2016
tournament, Okinoumi, who was ranked as the top Maegashira, was scheduled
to face off against Ozeki Kisenosato, who was aiming for Yokozuna. Up until
that point, his record against Kisenosato was 2 wins and 16 losses. "I was
browsing the internet and I saw something that said, 'Okinoumi is a duck.'
I looked it up and it said, 'A duck comes carrying an onion on its back.'
It's easy to manipulate because you can easily make it into a hotpot
(you're making it easy for your opponent when you do expected stuff)."
After a decisive victory by yorikiri, he went on to win two consecutive
ginboshi  against Kakuryuu and Harumafuji. His "giant killer wins" didn't
end there, as he also defeated Ozeki Terunofuji and Kotoshougiku, making it
six consecutive wins from day 1. He achieved the remarkable feat of
defeating two Yokozuna and three Ozeki, the first time a rank-and-file
wrestler had done that since Kitao in the July 1985 tournament. "It feels
like everyone around me is paying attention to me. If I get too worked up,
I'll lose," he said, trying to remain calm, but on the seventh day he was
defeated by Ozeki Goueidou, failing to become the first person in history
to sweep all six Yokozuna and Ozeki. It seemed he would be in the running
for the yusho, but from the ninth day he suffered five consecutive losses -
a major slowdown in the second half of the tournament, resulting in just
nine wins. Nevertheless, his performance was undoubtedly worthy of his
first Outstanding Performance Prize.

In the November 2017 tournament, he and fellow Hakkaku beya rikishi
Hokutofuji were chasing Yokozuna Hakuhou with two losses, just one behind
him, until the 13th day. On the 14th day, both lost , losing sight of
Hakuhou. Despite this, he still received his third Fighting Spirit Prize
with 11 wins. In the September 2019 tournament, he won eight straight
matches from the first day, a first for him, and competed for the Cup until
the final day, earning his fourth Fighting Spirit Prize with 11 wins. It's
been 18 years since he unexpectedly jumped into the ocean of sumo. He
retired during the January 2023 tournament at the age of 37, but despite
being tossed about by rough waves at times, he made it across the ocean. He
was said to "hate training," but the beaming smile on his face at his
retirement press conference, a man who had competed for the championship
countless times, was proof that he had given his all during his active
career.

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