Kakuryū Rikisaburō

Kakuryū Rikisaburō
鶴竜 力三郎
Personal information
Born	Mangaljalavyn Anand (1985-08-10) August 10, 1985 Mongolia
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	157 kg (346 lb; 24.7 st)
Career
Stable	Izutsu
Current rank	Yokozuna
Debut	November, 2001
Highest rank	Yokozuna (March, 2014)
Championships	3 (Makuuchi) 1 (Sandanme)
Special Prizes	Technique (7), Outstanding Performance (2)
* Up to date as of July 12, 2017.

Kakuryū Rikisaburō (born August 10, 1985, as Mangaljalavyn Anand, Mongolian: Мангалжалавын Ананд) is a professional sumo wrestler from Sükhbaatar Province, Mongolia. He has been a member of the top makuuchi division since November 2006 and has earned nine special prizes, seven of those for technique. He reached the third highest sekiwake rank in July 2009, and in March 2012 he secured promotion to the second highest rank of ōzeki after finishing runner-up to yokozuna Hakuhō and accumulating a total of 33 wins in his previous three tournaments. After scoring 14 wins against one loss in both of the first two tournaments of 2014, and claiming the yūshō in the second, he was promoted to yokozuna.^[1][2] He won his second tournament as a yokozuna, a playoff win over Terunofuji in September 2015, but did not win more than 12 bouts in a tournament at yokozuna rank until winning his third tournament in November 2016.^[3]

Early life and sumo background

Kakuryū Rikisaburō was born August 10, 1985, as Mangaljalavyn Anand.^[4] His father was a university professor and he grew up dreaming of professional basketball, not sumo. At age 14, he decided to devote himself to sumo after seeing a tournament featuring fellow Mongolians Kyokutenhō and Kyokushūzan on TV. He wrote a letter about his desires and had a friend translate it into Japanese. He then mailed the letter to several stables in Japan. Izutsu stable's head was impressed and invited Kakuryū to Japan.^[5] Kakuryū's family had no background in Mongolian wrestling, and he had no experience in wrestling before coming to Japan.

Career

When Kakuryū joined Izutsu stable, he weighed just 65 kg (143 lb) and his oyakata former sekiwake Sakahoko joked he was better suited to be the stable's tokoyama (hairdresser) than a wrestler.^[5] Kakuryū made his professional debut at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament in November 2001, then weighing 82 kg (181 lb).^[6][7] After reaching the fourth highest sandanme division fairly quickly, he struggled, being demoted back to jonidan twice. After 17 tournaments, he finally won the sandanme championship in July 2004 with a 7–0 record and earned promotion to the makushita division.^[5]

Kakuryū first reached sekitori status in November 2005 upon promotion to the jūryō division but fell short with a 5–10 record, dropping back to makushita. He returned to the second division in March 2006 and reached the top makuuchi division that November, after scoring 9 wins at the rank of jūryō 1 in the previous tournament.^[7] He was the eighth Mongolian to make makuuchi after Kyokushūzan, Kyokutenhō, Asashōryū, Asasekiryū, Hakuhō, Harumafuji and Tokitenkū.^[8] He was the first (and to date only) wrestler from the stable to make the top division since the current stablemaster took control in 1994. One of seven wrestlers to be promoted to makuuchi for that tournament, he made his debut halfway up the maegashira ranks at number 8, the highest since Miyabiyama began at maegashira 7 in March 1999. He came through with a solid 8–7 record.

After a strong 11–4 record in January 2008, which earned him his first sanshō for technique, Kakuryū was promoted to maegashira 1.^[7] He was forced to withdraw during the November 2008 tournament after spraining his knee, marking the first time in his career that he had missed any bouts.^[9] In March 2009 he produced a fine 10–5 record from the maegashira 1 ranking, defeating three ōzeki. He won his last eight matches after standing at 2–5 on the seventh day. He was awarded his second Technique Prize. Kakuryū made his san'yaku debut in the following tournament in May 2009 at the rank of komusubi. In a similar fashion to his previous tournament he recovered from 2–5 down to win seven of his last eight bouts and was rewarded with another Technique Prize.^[7]

Kakuryū in May 2009

In July 2009 Kakuryū was promoted to sekiwake.^[7] He was the 144th wrestler to earn the rank, and the first from his stable since Terao in 1989.^[8] He was only able to win five bouts in his sekiwake debut and fell back to the maegashira ranks. He responded with a strong 11–4 score, earning his third Technique prize in four tournaments and fourth overall. He returned to the sekiwake rank for the November tournament and finished with a 7–8 record that kept him in the san'yaku ranks. Disappointing performances in his next three tournaments saw him slip to maegashira 6, but he responded by winning eleven bouts in July 2010, finishing as joint runner-up and winning his fifth Technique award. He returned to komusubi in September 2010 and moved up to sekiwake in November. On the final day of that tournament, he was defeated by fellow sekiwake Tochiōzan to finish 7–8.^[7]

Ranked at komusubi in the May 2011 "technical examination" tournament, Kakuryū finished runner-up for the second time with a 12–3 record, winning his sixth Technique prize. Promoted to sekiwake for the July tournament, he defeated three ōzeki and finished 10–5. In a strong position for possible promotion to ōzeki, Kakuryū started that next tournament 3–4. His final record of 9–6 was insufficient to earn a promotion.^[7]

In the January 2012 tournament, Kakuryū defeated yokozuna Hakuhō for the first time, and was awarded his first Outstanding Performance Prize.^[10] It was his first victory over a yokozuna in 27 attempts (previously he had been 0–20 against Hakuhō and 0–6 against Asashōryū).

Ōzeki

In the March 2012 tournament held in Osaka, Kakuryū defeated Hakuhō for the second time in a row on Day 9, and entered the final day of the tournament one win ahead of the yokozuna at 13–1, his only loss thus far being to Kisenosato on Day 8. However, he was defeated by Gōeidō, and Hakuhō's defeat of Baruto ensured a playoff between the two Mongolians. Hakuhō gained revenge on Kakuryū to claim his 22nd tournament title. Although he missed out on his first championship, Kakuryū received prizes for Outstanding performance and Technique.^[11] Kakuryū said that inexperience cost him in his playoff against Hakuhō and that a tournament victory was "too soon for me."^[12] Kakuryū's 33 wins over three tournaments was, however, enough to grant him a promotion to ōzeki. The promotion marked the first time there were six active ōzeki simultaneously.^[13] It took him 62 tournaments from his professional debut to make ōzeki, which was the tenth slowest in sumo history, and the slowest of the nine foreigners who have made the rank.^[14]

Yokozuna

After an unremarkable 2013, in which he scored no better than ten wins in any of the six tournaments, Kakuryū surprised many observers with a 14–1 performance in January 2014, defeating Hakuhō in their regulation match and only losing the title in a playoff against him on the final day. It was the fourth runner-up title of his career.^[7] He followed it up with a 14–1 record in March 2014, defeating both Hakuhō and Harumafuji en route to the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament title. It was his first top division yūshō.^[2] Having satisfied the minimum requirement of two consecutive championships or "the equivalent", the Yokozuna Deliberation Council unanimously recommended his promotion on 24 March, which was confirmed by the Japan Sumo Association on 26 March.^[15] Kakuryū was the first to achieve the rank since Harumafuji in 2012, the fourth Mongolian to do so, the sixth foreign-born yokozuna, and 71st overall. "I am determined to focus all my efforts to train even harder and be certain to give all my strength not to defile the yokozuna name," he remarked.^[2] His first tournament as a yokozuna ended in disappointment as he gave up an early kinboshi to Endō on Day 4 and lost his last three matches to finish on 9-6. He fared better in subsequent tournaments in 2014, scoring at least 11 wins in each, and was in contention for the November 2014 tournament championship before losing to Hakuhō in the final bout. This was his fifth career runner-up performance.

Kakuryū was forced to withdraw on the eve of the March 2015 tournament, after suffering a torn rotator cuff in his left shoulder.^[16] This was his first absence as a yokozuna and came so late that his opening match had already been drawn up and had to be forfeited. He also sat out the summer Natsu basho in May as the injury had not fully healed, the first time a yokozuna has missed two full tournaments in a row since Musashimaru missed three in 2003.^[16] He made a respectable comeback in the July tournament, scoring 12-3 and being in contention for the championship until his defeat to Hakuhō on the final day. With Harumafuji absent and Hakuhō pulling out on the third day, Kakuryū was the only yokozuna for most of the September tournament. He recovered from losses to Yoshikaze on day 2 and Myōgiryū on day 10 to enter the final day on 12-2, one win ahead of the ōzeki Terunofuji. In the final scheduled match of the tournament, he was beaten by Terunofuji but won the ensuing playoff by uwatedashinage to take his second championship and his first since his promotion to yokozuna. After the playoff he commented; "The fact that I have long been away from a title has weighed on me. It was tough... I thought I might lose a title once again, but then I came to think that all I needed to do was to execute my style of sumo... I feel rewarded for continuing to work hard without getting down on myself."^[17] Despite his success he received some criticism for using the henka, a side-stepping technique, during the tournament, notably against Kisenosato on the penultimate day.^[18] In November he never looked likely to win the tournament but ended with a 9-6 record after beating Hakuhō on the final day.

Kakuryū began 2016 with 10-5 records in January and March, and did slightly better in May with an 11–4 record. He withdrew from the July 2016 tournament in Nagoya after suffering injuries to his lower back and left ankle.^[19] He returned in September and recorded ten wins. In the November tournament he won his first ten matches before losing to Kisenosato on day 11. He rebounded to beat Kotoshōgiku and Hakuhō before securing his third yūshō with a win over Gōeidō on day 14.^[20] After rounding off his tournament with a win over Harumafuji on the final day he commented "It’s really pleasing, I’ve been struggling with injuries for the past one, two years and physically and mentally things didn’t come together, but I didn’t sulk and it’s great that things turned out like this. I feel I’m finally getting to wrestle my way, relaxed. I’ll not forget how I’m feeling now and keep working."^[3]

2017 began disappointingly as Kakuryū suffered five defeats in the first ten days, including three kinboshi given up to maegashira ranked wrestlers. Kakuryū withdrew after Day 10 from the tournament with an injury to his right leg.^[21] He returned with ten wins in the Osaka tournament in March. He pulled out of the May 2017 tournament after three losses in the first four days, citing a left ankle injury.^[22] He also withdrew from the following tournament in July on Day 4, this time with an injury to his right foot.^[23] His stablemaster Izutsu said that Kakuryū would not pull out of a tournament upon his return and would have to retire instead – "If he can’t win next time he steps on the dohyo, there will be no option to pull out midway. He would have to take the decision (to retire from the sport) as a man."^[23]

Fighting style

In 2006, at the beginning of his top division career, Kakuryū was one of the lightest men in the division at around 130 kg (290 lb). He makes use of his agility by frequently employing henka (sidestepping) to outwit his opponents. He has steadily put on weight, however, and at the time of his yokozuna promotion was around 154 kg (340 lb). He prefers yotsu-sumo, a style which involves grabbing the opponent's mawashi, or belt, and forcing or throwing him to the edge of the ring. His favoured grip is migi-yotsu, with his left hand placed outside and right hand inside his opponent's arms. His three most common winning techniques are yori-kiri, the force out, oshi-dashi, the push out, and hataki-komi, the slap down. He is also fond of shitatenage, the underarm throw.^[24] As a yokozuna, he performs the Unryū-gata style.^[2]

Personal life

In January 2015 Kakuryū announced his engagement to a fellow Mongolian, Dashnyam Munkhzaya.^[25] Their first child, a daughter, was born in May 2015, and their second, a boy, in June 2017.

Career record

See also

• List of yokozuna
• List of sumo tournament top division champions
• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers
• List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kakuryū Rikisaburō.

• Kakuryū Rikisaburō's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage