Aoiyama Kōsuke

Aoiyama Kōsuke (Japanese: 碧山 亘右, born 19 June 1986 as Daniel Ivanov (Bulgarian: Даниел Иванов)) is a Bulgarian professional sumo wrestler or rikishi from Elhovo. He made his debut in 2009, reaching the top division two years later, debuting in the November 2011 tournament. He has won three Fighting Spirit awards, one Technique award and one kinboshi for defeating a yokozuna. His highest rank has been sekiwake. He is one of the heaviest competitors in sumo, weighing around 200 kg for most tournaments.

In this Japanese shikona name, the surname is Aoiyama.
Aoiyama Kōsuke
碧山 亘右
Aoiyama in the January 2012 tournament
Personal information
BornDaniel Ivanov
(1986-06-19) 19 June 1986
Elhovo, Bulgaria
Height1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in)
Weight194 kg (428 lb; 30.5 st)
Career
StableTagonoura, Kasugano stable
Current ranksee below
DebutMay, 2009
Highest rankSekiwake (Nov 2014)
Championships1 (Makushita)
1 (Jonidan)
1 (Jonokuchi)
Special PrizesFighting Spirit (3)
Technique (1)
Gold Stars1 (Harumafuji)
* Up to date as of August 2, 2020.

Early life and sumo background

After wrestling for ten years and doing amateur sumo for three, he entered the professional sumo world at the introduction of fellow countryman, ōzeki Kotoōshū, becoming only the second Bulgarian rikishi. He joined Tagonoura stable, run by former maegashira Kushimaumi. When asked by his coach whether he preferred mountains or rivers, he chose mountains and so was given the shikona of Aoiyama, meaning "blue mountain".

Career

Early career
Aoiyama in his debut tournament

In his professional debut as Aoiyama Kiyohito in the September 2009 tournament, he won the jonokuchi championship with a perfect 7–0 record. He subsequently changed his name to Aoiyama Kōsuke for his jonidan debut in the following November tournament, which he also won with a 7–0 record followed by a playoff win against the sole Kazakhstani wrestler Kazafuzan. In the following January 2010 tournament at sandanme he finally lost his first bout, having won all of his previous 16 matches. This would be his only loss though, and his 6–1 record was enough to propel him into the makushita division in the following March tournament. He again posted a perfect record and took the 'makushita championship. His meteoric rise would slow starting with his next tournament however. He only managed two wins in his next makushita tournament. This was his first losing tournament. In contrast to his previous successes, he struggled somewhat for several more tournaments at this level. He eventually had enough winning tournaments in upper makushita to allow his promotion into the professional jūryō ranks for the July 2011 tournament. He was promoted to the high rank of jūryō 4 due to the high number of vacancies left by wrestlers forced to retire due to involvement in match-fixing. At this high level he only managed a 7–8 record and moved down two ranks to jūryō 6 for the following September tournament. Suffering from a herniated disc, he was forced to sit out the first two days of the tournament, but managed to make a remarkable recovery and pulled out an impressive 10–3 record for his remaining bouts of the tournament.

Makuuchi career

Aoiyama's record was enough to allow him promotion to the top makuuchi division for November 2011. He posted an impressive 11–4 record and received a Fighting Spirit award for his efforts. He did, however, share this record with his rival, Wakakōyū having lost to him on the final day of the tournament.

In February 2012 Aoiyama's stablemaster died and Tagonoura stable was dissolved, with Aoiyama moving to the affiliated Kasugano stable. After an 8–7 score in the March tourney, he reached his highest rank to date of maegashira 6 in the May tournament, where he produced a fine 11–4 record. In the July tournament he faced all the top ranked wrestlers for the first time. Although he was 1–6 down after seven days, he recovered to clinch his kachi-koshi on the final day. In September he made his san'yaku debut at komusubi, which was just 18 tournaments after his professional debut, the seventh fastest since 1958.[1] However, he could only win four matches. He was forced to withdraw from the November 2012 tournament on Day 9 with a knee injury. He picked up his first kinboshi or gold star for defeating yokozuna Harumafuji in September 2013.

He earned promotion to sekiwake with a strong 10–5 performance in September 2014 in which he went 4–3 against wrestlers ranked in the san'yaku. He then secured a winning record in the subsequent November tournament to remain at sekiwake for the start of 2015. A 5–10 record in January 2015 saw him lose his san'yaku status was followed by another ten losses in March, but he showed some return to form to post winning records in May and July. Between September 2015 and March 2016 he recorded four consecutive 7–8 records at the top end of the maegashira rankings before a 6–9 in May.

He remained in the upper-to-mid maegashira for the next few tournaments but a 4–11 in May 2017 saw him drop to maegashira 8, his lowest rank for three years. Aoiyama responded to the less challenging schedule by producing a career-best performance in July 2017 – he entered the final day as the only wrestler left in a position to deny Hakuhō his 39th championship. He defeated komusubi Yoshikaze in his last match but was denied the chance to take part in a play-off for the yūshō when Hakuhō also won his final match.[2] Nevertheless, Aoiyama finished in second place on 13–2, winning his second Fighting Spirit prize in the process. He was promoted to maegashira 2 but was forced to miss the first week of the September 2017 tournament due to a "bone contusion" in his left knee.[3] He entered the tournament on Day 8 and was immediately put up against a yokozuna, Harumafuji, the first time this has happened to a late entrant to a tournament since Kitanonada faced a yokozuna in his first bout back at the Nagoya tournament in 1961.[4] He also faced the rest of the san'yaku he was eligible to meet due to his high rank (though spared from facing the top-performing maegashira around him in rank) and managed only 3 wins in the 8 days he competed. He was forced to withdraw from the November 2017 tournament on Day 3 after injuring ligaments in his right knee in a defeat to Okinoumi the previous day. However, he returned to the tournament on Day 8. Although he won two of his remaining matches this was not enough to prevent him from being demoted to jūryō for the January 2018 tournament. He scored 9–6 in this tournament, which was enough for an immediate return to makuuchi, albeit at the very bottom rank of maegashira 17 East. In March 2019 he produced his second best score in the top division to date of 12–3, and won the Fighting Spirit Prize. This performance returned him to komusubi for the May 2019 tournament, his first appearance in san'yaku since January 2015 when he was ranked at sekiwake. By March 2020 he had fallen to maegashira 13, but won eleven out of his first twelve matches to be the outright tournament leader on Day 12.[5] He then lost his last three bouts to Takanoshō, Hakuhō and Ishiura to finish out of the running on 11–4. He was however given his first Technique Prize.[6]

Fighting style

Aoiyama was a yotsu-sumo specialist who preferred grabbing the opponent's mawashi and grappling rather than pushing or thrusting. However, after gaining significant weight following his Makuuchi debut, he started to predominantly use pushing, thrusting and back-step pulling attacks as this has proven extremely effective due to his upper body strength. As of March 2015, 62% of his wins have come by mean of either hatakikomi, oshidashi and tsukidashi, all of which involved pushing and thrusting.[7]

Family

Aoiyama is married to Violeta, an architect from the same area of Bulgaria as himself. They met in 2015 when both were in Bulgaria, and began living together in Japan from July 2016. The marriage was registered in August and the wedding reception was held in a Tokyo hotel in February 2017 with around 230 guests including fellow Dewanoumi group members such as Ura and Mitakeumi.[8][9] In a May 2015 interview in Bulgaria, Aoiyama stated that he identifies as a Christian.[10]

Career record
Aoiyama Kōsuke[11]
Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo		 March
Haru basho, Osaka		 May
Natsu basho, Tokyo		 July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya		 September
Aki basho, Tokyo		 November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2009 x x x (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #30
7–0
Champion
 		 East Jonidan #25
7–0–P
Champion
 
2010 East Sandanme #30
6–1
 		 East Makushita #48
7–0
Champion
 		 West Makushita #5
2–5
 		 West Makushita #15
4–3
 		 West Makushita #9
5–2
 		 East Makushita #3
3–4
 
2011 West Makushita #5
4–3
 		 East Makushita #1
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0		 East Makushita #1
5–2
 		 West Jūryō #4
7–8
 		 East Jūryō #6
10–3–2
 		 East Maegashira #16
11–4
F
2012 West Maegashira #7
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #10
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #6
11–4
 		 East Maegashira #2
8–7
 		 East Komusubi #1
4–11
 		 East Maegashira #5
6–3–6
 
2013 West Maegashira #6
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #8
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #4
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #9
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #2
6–9
★		 East Maegashira #5
10–5
 
2014 East Maegashira #3
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #5
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #1
8–7
 		 West Komusubi #1
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #3
10–5
 		 East Sekiwake #1
8–7
 
2015 East Sekiwake #1
5–10
 		 West Maegashira #3
5–10
 		 West Maegashira #6
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #2
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #1
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #2
7–8
 
2016 West Maegashira #2
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #3
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #3
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #6
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #5
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #1
4–11
 
2017 West Maegashira #7
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #6
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #3
4–11
 		 East Maegashira #8
13–2
F		 West Maegashira #2
3–5–7
 		 East Maegashira #11
3–8–4
 
2018 West Jūryō #2
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #17
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #13
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #11
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #10
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #12
11–4
 
2019 East Maegashira #5
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #7
12–3
F		 East Komusubi #1
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #2
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #1
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #5
6–9
 
2020 East Maegashira #8
4–11
 		 West Maegashira #13
11–4
T		 West Maegashira #4
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0		 West Maegashira #4
5–10
 		 x x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira
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See also

References
  1. "2012 September Grand Sumo Tournament Banzuke Topics" (PDF). Japan Sumo Association. September 2012. Retrieved 7 October 2012.
  2. "SUMO/ Hakuho extends his career tournament title record to 39". Asahi Shimbun. 23 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  3. "Sole competing yokozuna Harumafuji starts Autumn Basho with victory". Japan Times. 10 September 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  4. "休場明け碧山いきなり横綱戦　56年ぶり" (in Japanese). Nikkan Sports. 19 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  5. "Sumo: Aoiyama takes sole Day 12 lead after Hakuho loses to Shodai". The Mainichi. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  6. "SUMO/ Hakuho's 44th title caps 1st 'empty' tourney after war". Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  7. Sumo Kyokai, Nihon. "Aoiyama profile". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  8. "碧山が披露宴「運命」新婦トドロバさんに一目ぼれ" (in Japanese). Nikkan Sports. 19 February 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  9. "碧山が披露宴！同郷の姉さん女房・トドロバさんに一目ぼれ「ホントに運命です」" (in Japanese). Hochi Sports. 19 February 2017. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  10. "Reader Content – An Interview With Aoiyama". Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  11. "Aoiyama Kosuke". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
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