Iwakiyama Ryūta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

岩木山竜太
Iwakiyama Ryūta
Personal information

Birth name	Ryūta Tsushima
Date of birth	March 2, 1976 (1976-03-02) (age 32)
Place of birth	Aomori, Japan
Height	1.84 m (6 ft +¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	174 kg (380 lb)
Career*
Heya	Sakaigawa, formerly Nakadachi
Current rank	Maegashira 11
Record	330-289-21
Debut	July, 2000
Highest rank	Komusubi (November 2003)
Yusho	2 (Jūryō) 1 (Sandanme)
Special Prizes	Fighting Spirit (1) Technique (1)
Gold stars	1 (Asashōryū)
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Iwakiyama Ryūta (born March 2, 1976 as Ryūta Tsushima in Aomori Prefecture, Japan), is a sumo wrestler. The highest rank he has reached is komusubi.

1 Career
2 Top division record
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Career

He was born in Hirosaki, Nakatsugaru District. After a successful start in amateur sumo at Aomori University, Tsushima worked as a member of staff at Aomori Yamada High School after graduating, not joining the professional sport until the age of 24 in July 2000.

Iwakiyama had makushita tsukedashi (promising amateur) status and so began in makushita (the third division), but an injury in his second tournament saw him demoted to sandanme. He recovered by winning the sandanme championship in March 2001 and by March 2002 was promoted to jūryō. He reached the top makuuchi division in November 2002. A long-standing lower back problem forced him to withdraw from the March 2003 tournament but in September of that year he produced an 11-4 record, his best score in the top division to date, which earned him promotion to the titled sanyaku ranks for the first time.

Iwakiyama has twice been ranked as komusubi on the banzuke and has one yokozuna upset and two special prizes to his credit but because of poor results he was demoted to jūryō for the 2007 Nagoya basho. However he won the jūryō yusho for this tournament so he fought again in the highest division in September 2007. He could only manage a 4-11 record and slipped to the Jūryō 1 ranking for November, but he produced a strong 11-4 record to earn immediate promotion back to the top division. On this occasion he produced a comfortable 9-6 score. After struggling to a 2-7 start in March 2008, he won five out of his last six matches to preserve his top division status once again.

Iwakiyama is one of the heaviest men in the top division and so prefers straightforward force-out techniques, using his bulk to his best advantage.

Iwakiyama announced his engagement in December 2007 and was married in April 2008. Former yokozuna Wajima was among the guests.

[edit] Top division record

Iwakiyama Ryūta^[1]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2002	x	x	x	x	x	West Maegashira #11 10–5 F
2003	West Maegashira #5 7–8	East Maegashira #6 6–5–4	West Maegashira #9 7–8	East Maegashira #10 8–7	East Maegashira #5 11–4 T	West Komusubi #1 6–9
2004	East Maegashira #2 6–9	West Maegashira #5 7–8	West Maegashira #6 10–5	West Maegashira #1 7–8	East Maegashira #2 7–8 ★	East Maegashira #3 9–6
2005	East Maegashira #1 8–7	East Komusubi #1 4–11	West Maegashira #4 5–10	West Maegashira #8 9–3–3	East Maegashira #4 7–8	West Maegashira #4 7–8
2006	East Maegashira #5 8–7	West Maegashira #3 4–11	East Maegashira #9 7–8	West Maegashira #10 9–6	West Maegashira #5 10–5	West Maegashira #1 2–13
2007	East Maegashira #10 7–8	East Maegashira #11 5–10	West Maegashira #15 6–9	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #10 4–11	(Jūryō)
2008	East Maegashira #13 9–6	East Maegashira #9 7–8	East Maegashira #11 8–7	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent Championship Retired Demoted from makuuchi Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira