Miyabiyama Tetsushi
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Real name | Masato Takeuchi | |
| Date of birth | July 28, 1977 | |
| Place of birth | Ibaraki, Japan | |
| Height | 187.0cm (6'2") | |
| Weight | 182.0kg (401lb) | |
| Career* | ||
| Heya | Musashigawa | |
| Rank | Maegashira 3 | |
| Record | 416-310-53 | |
| Debut | July 1998 | |
| Highest rank | Ozeki (July 2000) | |
| Yushos | 2 (Juryo) 2 (Makushita) |
|
| Special Prizes | Outstanding Performance (2) Fighting Spirit (4) Technique (1) |
|
| Gold stars | 1 (Asashoryu) | |
|
* Career information is correct as of March 2007. |
||
Miyabiyama Tetsushi (born July 28, 1977) is a sumo wrestler from Ibaraki, Japan. His highest rank has been ozeki.
Miyabiyama, a former collegiate sumo champion, joined Musashigawa stable in July 1998 and quickly worked his way through the ranks, reaching the top makuuchi division in March 1999 after taking two consecutive juryo championships. He won a fighting spirit prize in his first makuuchi tournament, and was promoted to komusubi in January 2000. In that tournament he delivered an impressive 12-3 record, finishing as runner up to stablemate Musoyama. He followed that up with two 11-4 marks at sekiwake rank in March and May 2000. After that tournament he was promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ozeki.
Miyabiyama's promotion was controversial. There was said to be disagreement behind the scenes at the Sumo Association, with Sakaigawa Oyakata (ex yokozuna Sadanoyama) in particular feeling it was too soon as he had only been in makuuchi for just over a year, and had not yet won a top division title. In the end the doubters were proved correct as Miyabiyama lasted just eight tournaments in the rank, never scoring more than 9 wins, before being demoted in the wake of two consecutive losing records. He was one of the most short-lived ozeki on record (not counting of course, rikishi who have quickly been promoted to yokozuna).
Miyabiyama sat out the two tournments following his demotion with an injury, and so had to start all over again from the maegashira ranks. He returned to the sanyaku ranks on several occasions but could not mount a sustained challenge for promotion until May 2006, where at sekiwake rank he produced a superb 14-1 record, only losing the championship on the last day in a playoff to ozeki Hakuho. There was speculation that another strong performance in July would see him return to ozeki, but he got off to a poor start, winning only three bouts in the first seven days, and though he recovered somewhat to post a 10-5 score, it was not considered good enough. In January 2007 his run of five tournaments at sekiwake came to an end when he could only manage a 5-10 record. In March he earned his first ever kinboshi or gold star by defeating yokozuna Asashoryu on the second day. Prior to this bout Miyabiyama had lost thirteen in a row to Asashoryu. However on the 7th day he picked up a hamstring injury and had to withdraw from the tournament.
At 182 kilograms, Miyabiyama is currently the heaviest man in the top division.
