Hokuseihō Osamu

He was born Ariunaa Davaaninj on 12 November 2001 in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.[4] He moved to Sapporo, Hokkaido at the age of five.[5] On his way to a temporary return trip to Mongolia he met yokozuna Hakuhō by chance at an airport in South Korea, who encouraged him to try sumo.[6][7] From his fourth to sixth year of elementary school he took part in wanpaku sumo competitions, and studied sumo at junior high school in Tottori City. Hokuseihō quit the sumo club after he found the training too intense, but Hakuhō persuaded him to return. After graduating Hokuseihō enrolled at Tottori Jōhoku High School, known for its strong sumo program, again at Hakuhō's recommendation. Previous attendees of this school are Terunofuji and Ichinojō. He won several high school sumo competitions,[5] and after graduating, he joined Hakuhō at Miyagino stable. Although born in Mongolia, as he had been residing in Japan since five years old, he was able to obtain Japanese nationality and so did not need Miyagino's one foreigner spot (sumo rules allow for only one foreign-born wrestler per stable).[8]

He listed Hokkaido as his birthplace on the banzuke ranking sheets and was given the shikona of Hokuseihō. His debut was in March 2020, at a tournament with no spectators to due coronavirus restrictions.[9] There he made his debut at the same time as Shishi, the first Ukrainian to join professional sumo, and Hōzan Takamori, the second son of former sekiwake Takatōriki and older brother of Ōhō.[10] With the May 2020 tournament being cancelled altogether, his first official tournament with a ranking was in July 2020. In his first three tournaments he won all 21 of his matches, to equal the fifth longest record start to a professional career in sumo history.[11] He won the yūshō or championship in each of the jonokuchi, jonidan and sandanme divisions.[4] He had to sit out the January 2021 tournament, which would have been his debut in the makushita division, due to Hakuhō testing positive for COVID-19 and his whole stable being withdrawn from competition.[12] Upon his return in March 2021 he lost his first bout in professional sumo to Tokisakae to bring his winning streak to an end, but recovered to post a 5–2 record.[13] A 6–1 record in May was followed by a 7–0 yūshō in July which saw him promoted to the jūryō division.[4] He became the fifth wrestler to win championships in every division from jonokuchi to makushita, and the first since Tochiazuma (now Tamanoi Oyakata).[14] He told reporters that he was pleased to have reached jūryō in just six tournaments and while still in his teens, and said that he was aiming for double-digit wins in his first tournament as a sekitori or salaried wrestler. He said he wanted to be a yokozuna by the age of 21, like his mentor Hakuhō.[15]

He was unable to compete in his jūryō debut after he tested positive for COVID-19, which forced the whole of the Miyagino stable to sit out the September 2021 tournament.[16] He kept his rank for the following tournament in November 2021, but was forced to pull out on the second day with a right knee ligament injury.[17] This resulted in his demotion back to makushita.[4] By May 2022 he had reached makushita 2, and was a favorite to compete for the third division championship and promotion back to jūryō.[3] After a 5–2 record, his promotion to jūryō was confirmed on May 25.[18]

Original tegata (autograph and handprint) of sumo wrestler Hokuseiho

On the second day of the July tournament he defeated Chiyosakae, and spoke afterwards of his relief at finally getting his first win as a sekitori in his third tournament ranked in jūryō, and the encouragement of Magaki Oyakata (the former Hakuhō), who he had once again been assigned to as an attendant after dropping to makushita.[19] He finished the tournament with an 11–4 record, the best of his career to date.[20] Hokuseihō's 9–6 record in the January 2023 tournament was his fourth straight winning record in jūryō, ensuring promotion to the top makuuchi division for the first time.[21][22] His promotion was confirmed with the release of the March 2023 banzuke on February 27, and Hokuseihō told reporters he was aiming for promotion to sanyaku within the year.[23] His previously reported height of 200 cm was also updated to 204 cm, making him the tallest wrestler ever in the top division since official measurements began in September 1953, alongside Akebono.[24]

During the July 2023 tournament, Hokuseihō recorded a negative score (make-koshi) for the first time with an eighth defeat on day thirteen against Kotoshōhō.[25] This score was worsened by a ninth defeat (the third in a row) against former sekiwake Meisei the next day.[26] After finishing this tournament with a score of 5–10, Hokuseihō was relegated to maegashira 6. At the September 2023 tournament, he and Daieishō remained neck-and-neck with tournament leaders Atamifuji and Takakeishō, recording only one more defeat than the latter and being able to force his way into a kettei-sen (playoff).[27] Hokuseihō was also promised the Fighting Spirit award if he recorded an eleventh victory. On the final day of the tournament, however, Hokuseihō was defeated by ōzeki Hōshōryū, effectively taking him out of the title race and removing his hopes of receiving the award.[28][29]

At 204 cm (6 ft 8 in) Hokuseihō is the tallest sekitori,[1] and with his big height advantage he was able to overwhelm most of his early opponents by quickly grabbing their mawashi and forcing them out of the dohyō.[30] He wins most of his matches by yorikiri (force out) and prefers a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) position.[31] In the run-up to the Nagoya tournament in July 2023, he also confided that he was beginning to practise pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi) in order to diversify his fighting style, taking particular inspiration from the matches of former yokozuna Akebono.[32]

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

• Hokuseihō Osamu's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage