Chiyonokuni Toshiki

Chiyonokuni Toshiki (Japanese: 千代の国 憲輝, born 10 July 1990 as Toshiki Sawada (澤田 憲輝)) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Iga, Mie. Making his professional debut in May 2006, he reached the top makuuchi division for the first time in January 2012. He has a highest rank of maegashira 1, but he has also been restricted by injuries, falling to the sandanme division in 2015 before staging a comeback. He is a member of Kokonoe stable.

In this Japanese shikona name, the surname is Chiyonokuni.

Chiyonokuni Toshiki
千代の国 憲輝
Chiyonokuni in 2012
Personal information
Born	Toshiki Sawada (1990-07-10) 10 July 1990 Iga, Mie, Japan
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 ^1⁄2 in)
Weight	145 kg (320 lb)
Career
Stable	Kokonoe
Current rank	see below
Debut	May, 2006
Highest rank	Maegashira 1 (May 2017)
Championships	2 Jūryō 2 Makushita 1 Sandanme 1 Jonidan
Special Prizes	1 Fighting Spirit
Gold Stars	1 (Kakuryū)
* Up to date as of July 31, 2020.

Early life and sumo background

Toshiki Sawada was born the son of a Buddhist temple head priest. From a very young age he had great interest in combat sports such as karate. He has said he was in the fourth grade when he first foretold he would be a professional sumo wrestler in the future. As a member of his judo team in junior high school he advanced to the best sixteen in a national tournament.

Career

Upon graduating from junior high school he joined former yokozuna Chiyonofuji's Kokonoe stable. He made his professional debut in May 2006. Though he recorded many winning tournaments in his career in the unsalaried ranks, he also missed four tournaments in this span, which would demote him each time and which he would have to fight back from in following tournaments. From the November 2008 tournament he missed two tournaments in a row, but he bounced back from this in the subsequent March 2009 tournament with a perfect 7-0 followed by a playoff win to take the jonidan championship or yūshō. His fortunes largely changed after this and he had a series of mostly winning tournaments culminating in a 6–1 record at makushita 41 and coming just short of the championship by losing a playoff to Tochitsubasa. He followed this with two strong 5-2 winning tournaments.

During this time, however the ramifications of the match-fixing scandal that would rock the sumo world were becoming apparent. Due to this, Chiyonokuni, along with many other upper makushita wrestlers was promoted to salaried ranks of jūryō for the July 2011 though his actual performance so far would not have not merited promotion. The expelled rikishi included his elder stablemate Chiyohakuho. Chiyonokuni was reported to have very mixed feelings about the scandal and admitted it felt surreal to be promoted to jūryō under such strange circumstances. He did however exceed expectations and about recorded three strong winning tournaments in a row to earn promotion to the top makuuchi division in January 2012.

Although he recorded a winning record in this tournament he had to withdraw due to a dislocated shoulder. In the following tournament in March he injured his shoulder again in a bout with Takanoyama on Day 11, which caused him to miss the May 2012 basho and drop down to the jūryō division. He won the jūryō championship on his comeback in July and returned to the top division in November. After scoring only 5–10 he was demoted to juryo again, but a 9–6 record at Juryo 2 in January 2013 ensured him of another top division return. Though he only managed 7–8 in March 2013 he managed to avoid relegation. He performed creditably in the May 2013 tournament, scoring 9–6, but was injured in the following tournament and withdrew with only two wins, resulting in another demotion to jūryō.

After four tournaments in the second division, he was again promoted to the top division, but another serious injury on only the second day in May 2014 would force him to sit out the rest of the tournament and guarantee his demotion to jūryō. Ranked at the bottom of the jūryō division in September 2014, he withdrew on Day 8 and did not return to competition until March 2015, by which time he had fallen to the fourth sandanme division. He began his comeback by winning the sandanme championship with a perfect 7–0 record, and in January 2016 he returned to sekitori status at jūryō 13 after four straight winning records in the makushita division. He marked ten years as a professional sumo wrestler by winning his second jūryō division championship in May 2016 with a 12–3 record, ensuring his return to the top division for the first time in two years. He achieved eight wins in the July 2016 tournament, his first kachi-koshi or winning record in makuuchi since 2013, although he withdrew because of injury on Day 13 meaning he had only completed three of his nine tournaments ranked in makuuchi.

He attained his highest rank to date of maegashira 1 in the May 2017 tournament, and on Day 2 defeated yokozuna Kakuryū to earn his first gold star or kinboshi.[1] However he was only able to win one other bout and dropped back to maegashira 11 for the July 2017 tournament, where he secured his majority of wins. In May 2018 he earned his first sansho award, for Fighting Spirit, after a career best 12–3 performance. In July he benefited from two yokozuna withdrawals, getting a default win over Hakuhō on Day 4 and Kakuryū on Day 6. However, he was himself injured in a match against Tamawashi on Day 12 and withdrew from the tournament on the following day.[2]

In January 2019 he was on the tournament leaderboard with just one loss up to Day 9 but damaged his left knee ligaments in losing to Ikioi on Day 10 and had to withdraw from the tournament.[3] He underwent surgery on January 28 and did not enter the following tournament in March.[4] He was demoted to jūryō for the May 2019 tournament, which he also missed. For the July Tournament, he was ranked East Makushita #6 but again withdrew from the tournament following surgery to his knee in January. He eventually returned in September and won the makushita division championship with a perfect 7–0 score, clinching the title with a victory over Terunofuji in his final match. He won his second makushita championship in July 2020 with a 7–0 score from Makushita 12, which guarantees a return to the jūryō division.

Fighting style

Chiyonokuni is an oshi-sumo specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite are hataki-komi, the slap down, and oshi-dashi, the push out.

Personal life

Chiyonokuni was married in April 2017 to 26 year-old Ai Hayashi from Sakai, with the reception planned for February 2018. The couple met in 2010 when Chiyonokuni was still ranked in the makushita division.[5]

His older brother Kensho Sawada was also a professional sumo wrestler under the shikona of Chiyonoshin and was a member of Kokonoe stable from 2002 until 2012, and fought one tournament in the makushita division. It was Chiyonoshin who introduced Chiyonokuni to sumo.[6] In 2018 he opened a restaurant in their home town of Iga, named Dining Makuni (after their shikona.)[7]

Career record

　

Chiyonokuni Toshiki[8]

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
2006	x	x	(Maezumo)	West Jonokuchi #38 6–1	West Jonidan #76 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7	East Jonokuchi #26 5–2
2007	West Jonidan #97 4–3	East Jonidan #71 6–1	East Jonidan #1 3–4	West Jonidan #16 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7	West Jonidan #87 5–2	East Jonidan #47 4–3
2008	East Jonidan #21 4–3	East Sandanme #100 4–3	West Sandanme #81 5–2	West Sandanme #51 5–2	East Sandanme #22 3–4	West Sandanme #34 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7
2009	West Sandanme #94 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7	West Jonidan #55 7–0–P Champion	East Sandanme #55 4–3	East Sandanme #41 6–1	East Makushita #54 2–5	East Sandanme #18 4–3
2010	East Sandanme #8 4–3	East Makushita #58 6–1	East Makushita #24 4–3	West Makushita #20 2–5	East Makushita #36 3–4	East Makushita #41 6–1–P
2011	West Makushita #17 5–2	Tournament Cancelled 0–0–0	East Makushita #9 5–2	East Jūryō #11 8–7	East Jūryō #9 10–5	East Jūryō #3 9–6
2012	East Maegashira #13 9–5–1	East Maegashira #8 3–10–2	West Maegashira #14 Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	East Jūryō #11 11–4 Champion	East Jūryō #3 10–5	West Maegashira #14 5–10
2013	East Jūryō #2 9–6	East Maegashira #14 7–8	East Maegashira #15 9–6	West Maegashira #10 2–3–10	West Jūryō #2 7–8	West Jūryō #3 7–6–2
2014	East Jūryō #5 7–8	East Jūryō #6 9–6	West Maegashira #16 0–2–13	West Jūryō #11 6–9	West Jūryō #13 3–5–7	East Makushita #8 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7
2015	West Makushita #48 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7	West Sandanme #28 7–0 Champion	West Makushita #18 4–3	West Makushita #14 4–3	East Makushita #10 5–2	West Makushita #4 5–2
2016	West Jūryō #13 10–5	East Jūryō #7 9–6	East Jūryō #3 12–3 Champion	East Maegashira #9 8–5–2	East Maegashira #6 8–7	West Maegashira #4 5–10
2017	West Maegashira #8 9–6	East Maegashira #6 9–6	East Maegashira #1 2–13 ★	East Maegashira #11 8–7	East Maegashira #7 9–6	East Maegashira #4 6–9
2018	West Maegashira #7 6–9	West Maegashira #10 7–8	West Maegashira #11 12–3 F	West Maegashira #2 6–7–2	East Maegashira #4 4–11	East Maegashira #11 5–10
2019	East Maegashira #15 8–3–4	East Maegashira #12 Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	West Jūryō #7 Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	East Makushita #6 Sat out due to injury 0–0–7	West Makushita #46 7–0 Champion	West Makushita #2 3–4
2020	East Makushita #6 3–4	East Makushita #10 3–4	West Makushita #12 Tournament Cancelled 0–0–0	West Makushita #12 7–0 Champion	Jūryō –	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

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• List of active sumo wrestlers
• List of active gold star earners

References

1. "Sumo: Kisensato rebounds for 1st win of summer tourney". Kyodo News. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
2. "Absent Rikishi Information". Japan Sumo Association. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
3. "SUMO/ Heavier wrestlers blamed for increase in serious injuries". Asahi Shimbun. 19 February 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
4. "Absent Rikishi Information". Japan Sumo Association. March 2019. Archived from the original on 11 March 2019. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
5. "角界一のイケメン、千代の国が結婚　お相手は航空会社勤務の愛さん" (in Japanese). Chunichi. 26 April 2017. Archived from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
6. Joy, Alicia (12 September 2017). "Sumo wrestler Chiyonokuni's road to victory". Culture Trip. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
7. "Akinomaki" (2 June 2018). "Former rikishi activities". Sumo Forum. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
8. "Chiyonokuni Toshiki Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 12 September 2012.

External links

• Chiyonokuni Toshiki's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage