Yoshiazuma Hiroshi

Yoshiazuma Hiroshi (Japanese: 芳東 洋, born 26 May 1977 as Hiroshi Ishihara (石原 洋)) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kashima, Kumamoto. He made his professional debut in January 1996 and reached the top division in September 2011. His highest rank has been maegashira 12. The fifteen years it took him to reach the top division is the third-slowest progress ever, in the history of professional sumo wrestling.

In this Japanese shikona name, the surname is Yoshiazuma.

Yoshiazuma Hiroshi
芳東 洋
Yoshiazuma in 2011
Personal information
BornHiroshi Ishihara
(1977-05-26) 26 May 1977
Kashima, Kumamoto, Japan
Height1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Weight170 kg (370 lb)
Career
StableTamanoi
Current ranksee below
DebutJanuary, 1996
Highest rankMaegashira 12 (January, 2012)
* Up to date as of July 31, 2020.

Early life and sumo background

In his early years Ishihara was more interested in soccer, and was a member of the kendō team in middle school. He started sumo in high school, and in his third year contributed to his team taking the championship in a national tournament. He chose to join Tamanoi stable when he graduated high school.

Career

Upon joining professional sumo in March 1996, he took the ring name of Yoshiazuma, taking the first character from a benefactor's name and the second character following the convention of taking the character of azuma from the current and previous stable owners, former Tochiazuma II, and Tochiazuma I. Yoshiazuma's career started out very successfully and in only his second tournament he almost took the jonidan division championship, losing a three-man playoff to Akiyama. He actually beat Akiyama in the second round, but lost to him in the fourth and final round. His career after this was lackluster however, and for the next fifteen years he would struggle in the unsalaried ranks, through a series of setbacks, ever so slowly working his way up through the ranks.

He finally achieved promotion to the salaried ranks of jūryō in January 2011. He scored only 6–9 in his jūryō debut, but after the cancellation of the March tournament he enjoyed a big promotion up the division from jūryō 13 to jūryō 2 despite only scoring a bare majority of 8–7 in the May 2011 "technical examination" tournament. He benefitted from a large number of retirements in the jūryō division following a match-fixing scandal, with the Sumo Association needing to over-promote to fill the gaps. However he took advantage of his good fortune by putting in a strong 9–6 score in July and was promoted to the top division for the September 2011 tournament. This feat took him fifteen years and 93 tournaments from his professional debut, the third slowest rise to the top division in the history of sumo. He was also the second oldest wrestler since World War II to earn promotion to makuuchi for the first time at 34 years, 3 months.[1] However, he only lasted this one tournament, being relegated after a 5–10 record. His second tournament in makuuchi was also unsuccessful, a 3–12 in January 2012. After three winning records in the next four tournaments he earned promotion to makuuchi for a third time in November 2012, but was again demoted straightaway, after another 3–12 score. Yoshiazuma lost sekitori status altogether after the September 2014 tournament. He earned his 500th career win in the March 2016 tournament, and he has a career winning record of just under 50 percent, having fought 1008 matches up to that time. He was demoted to the sandanme division after this tournament, but was still active as of July 2018 at the age of 41, and he is the oldest active former sekitori.

He has not missed a bout since his debut and has the longest streak of consecutive career bouts amongst active wrestlers. July 2018 was his 135th career tournament with no absences over a period of 22 years, equal to Aobajo, although Yoshiazuma has fought around 500 bouts fewer than Aobajo's record of 1630 consecutive bouts, having spent only 21 of those tournaments in the sekitori ranks fighting a full 15 days.[1]

Fighting style

Yoshiazuma is a solidly yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. His favoured grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt is migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position. He wins about half of his bouts with a straightforward yori-kiri, or force out. Another kimarite he regularly uses is hataki-komi, the slap down.

Career record

　

Yoshiazuma Hiroshi[2]
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
1996 (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #48
5–2
 		 East Jonidan #155
7–0–PPP
 		 East Sandanme #97
2–5
 		 West Jonidan #23
4–3
 		 West Jonidan #4
6–1
 
1997 East Sandanme #49
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #64
2–5
 		 East Sandanme #97
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #78
4–3
 		 East Sandanme #59
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #42
5–2
 
1998 East Sandanme #14
2–5
 		 West Sandanme #39
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #55
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #39
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #24
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #36
4–3
 
1999 West Sandanme #23
4–3
 		 East Sandanme #11
4–3
 		 East Makushita #60
5–2
 		 West Makushita #40
4–3
 		 East Makushita #30
4–3
 		 East Makushita #24
1–6
 
2000 West Makushita #43
5–2
 		 West Makushita #26
3–4
 		 West Makushita #37
4–3
 		 East Makushita #29
3–4
 		 West Makushita #36
4–3
 		 East Makushita #27
2–5
 
2001 East Makushita #42
6–1
 		 East Makushita #18
4–3
 		 East Makushita #15
2–5
 		 East Makushita #31
5–2
 		 East Makushita #18
5–2
 		 West Makushita #11
2–5
 
2002 West Makushita #25
4–3
 		 West Makushita #21
4–3
 		 East Makushita #16
5–2
 		 East Makushita #9
4–3
 		 West Makushita #5
3–4
 		 East Makushita #11
3–4
 
2003 West Makushita #14
4–3
 		 East Makushita #10
3–4
 		 West Makushita #15
4–3
 		 East Makushita #10
3–4
 		 East Makushita #16
4–3
 		 East Makushita #13
3–4
 
2004 West Makushita #19
5–2
 		 West Makushita #9
4–3
 		 East Makushita #7
4–3
 		 East Makushita #1
3–4
 		 West Makushita #6
3–4
 		 East Makushita #10
3–4
 
2005 West Makushita #15
3–4
 		 East Makushita #23
4–3
 		 West Makushita #18
4–3
 		 East Makushita #14
3–4
 		 East Makushita #19
5–2
 		 East Makushita #10
4–3
 
2006 East Makushita #7
3–4
 		 West Makushita #13
4–3
 		 West Makushita #10
2–5
 		 East Makushita #23
5–2
 		 East Makushita #15
3–4
 		 West Makushita #21
4–3
 
2007 East Makushita #17
4–3
 		 West Makushita #13
5–2
 		 West Makushita #5
4–3
 		 West Makushita #4
4–3
 		 West Makushita #3
4–3
 		 West Jūryō #14
4–11
 
2008 East Makushita #5
1–6
 		 East Makushita #24
6–1
 		 East Makushita #9
4–3
 		 East Makushita #7
3–4
 		 East Makushita #13
4–3
 		 East Makushita #9
4–3
 
2009 West Makushita #6
4–3
 		 East Makushita #4
5–2
 		 East Makushita #1
3–4
 		 East Makushita #6
3–4
 		 West Makushita #10
3–4
 		 West Makushita #14
4–3
 
2010 East Makushita #13
4–3
 		 East Makushita #9
5–2
 		 West Makushita #4
3–4
 		 West Makushita #6
4–3
 		 East Makushita #1
3–4
 		 East Makushita #4
5–2
 
2011 West Jūryō #11
6–9
 		 West Jūryō #13
Tournament Cancelled
––		 West Jūryō #13
8–7
 		 East Jūryō #2
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #13
5–10
 		 West Jūryō #1
10–5
 
2012 East Maegashira #12
3–12
 		 East Jūryō #6
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #3
6–9
 		 East Jūryō #5
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #1
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #15
3–12
 
2013 West Jūryō #7
6–9
 		 East Jūryō #10
5–10
 		 West Makushita #1
4–3
 		 East Jūryō #14
9–6
 		 West Jūryō #10
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #6
5–10
 
2014 East Jūryō #10
7–8
 		 West Jūryō #10
6–9
 		 West Jūryō #13
6–9
 		 West Makushita #2
5–2
 		 West Jūryō #11
4–11
 		 East Makushita #2
3–4
 
2015 West Makushita #4
3–4
 		 East Makushita #9
1–6
 		 East Makushita #35
1–6
 		 West Sandanme #2
5–2
 		 East Makushita #42
5–2
 		 West Makushita #23
3–4
 
2016 West Makushita #31
2–5
 		 West Makushita #49
2–5
 		 East Sandanme #12
2–5
 		 West Sandanme #35
5–2
 		 West Sandanme #13
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #28
6–1
 
2017 West Makushita #47
2–5
 		 East Sandanme #11
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #29
4–3
 		 East Sandanme #14
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #34
2–5
 		 East Sandanme #57
3–4
 
2018 West Sandanme #72
5–2
 		 East Sandanme #41
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #55
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #72
5–2
 		 West Sandanme #42
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #51
3–4
 
2019 East Sandanme #69
5–2
 		 West Sandanme #35
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #53
4–3
 		 East Sandanme #37
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #23
2–5
 		 West Sandanme #50
2–5
 
2020 West Sandanme #77
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #57
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #76
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0		 East Sandanme #76
1–6
 		 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. "「鉄人」超えた４１歳の三段目力士　２２年間休場ゼロ" (in Japanese). Asahi Shimbun. 18 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  2. "Yoshiazuma Hiroshi Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
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