Asasekiryū Tarō

Early life and sumo background

Dashnyam was the second son of a successful Mongolian wrestler who achieved the same level as komusubi. From the ages of six to twelve he attended the Naadam festival, where he was also schooled in horse training. He did not continue his training, however, and in 1997 chose to accompany his friend, future yokozuna Asashōryū who was moving to Japan to attend high school. It was understood it was largely to keep his friend from becoming homesick. They were accepted by Meitoku Gijuku high school, known for its strong sumo program. They were seniors to later stars Kotoshōgiku and Tochiōzan.

Career

After high school he followed his friend Asashōryū to Wakamatsu stable (now Takasago stable) and fought his first professional sumo bout in January 2000. Asasekiryū would later often served as a tachimochi or sword bearer during Asashōryū's dohyō-iri or ring entering ceremony. His shikona or fighting name literally means morning red dragon, very similar to Asashoryu's morning blue dragon (in both cases, the Asa character is taken from his stablemaster's fighting name of Asashio, who was a classmate at Kinki University of Asashōryū and Asasekiryū's high school sumo coach).

Asasekiryū won the tournament championship or yūshō in the jonidan division in May 2000 with a perfect 7-0 record. He earned promotion to the jūryō (second division) in July 2002, and to the top makuuchi division in March 2003, following his 11-4 score which won the jūryō championship.

He made little impact in the top division until March 2004, when he won his first twelve bouts, including a defeat of ōzeki Kaiō. He finished as tournament runner-up with a 13-2 record and earned two special prizes for Technique and Outstanding Performance. In May 2006 he scored ten wins at maegashira 2 and won the Fighting Spirit prize. He was promoted to komusubi for the July 2006 tournament, but was forced to withdraw partway through this tournament due to injury and had some mixed results after that.

In May 2007, fighting from the mid maegashira ranks, he produced an outstanding 12-3 record. This gave him runner-up honours once again, and his second Technique prize. In July 2007 Asasekiryū had his first chance to fight a yokozuna and earn a gold star when he met new yokozuna Hakuhō, as sumo rules prevented him from being matched against his stablemate Asashōryū. He lost, but the eight wins he managed in this tournament at maegashira 1 were enough to earn him promotion to sekiwake for September, his highest rank to date. He held his rank in that tournament, but after a disappointing 3-12 score in November 2007, he was demoted back to the maegashira ranks for the January 2008 tournament.

Asasekiryū produced two good performances in the first two tournaments of 2008. In January he scored ten wins and in March he defeated two ōzeki, and tournament runner-up Baruto to finish 8-7. This performance returned him to the titled san'yaku ranks for the May 2008 tournament, at komusubi. However he was unable to maintain his ranking, only scoring six wins against nine losses. He was again ranked at komusubi in September 2008, but turned in a poor 4-11 record. He became his stable's top rikishi in February 2010, following the retirement of Asashōryū. He continued to move up and down the division, reaching maegashira 1 in July 2010 but falling back to maegashira 9 by May 2011. In the May 2012 tournament, ranked at maegashira 14, he stood at only 3–7 after ten days, and although he rallied somewhat to finish on 6–9, this was not enough to prevent demotion back to jūryō for the first time. He returned to makuuchi in September after just one tournament away, but then was injured on just the second day of the November 2012 tournament and had to withdraw, resulting in another demotion to jūryō. Since then he became somewhat of a second division regular, doing enough to maintain sekitori status while never achieving enough success for repromotion. A 10-5 record in July 2015 however, saw his promotion to makuuchi after a near three-year hiatus. He maintained his position in the top division despite a 7-8 record in September but was relegated after recording only 3 wins in November. His run of 86 consecutive tournaments ranked as a sekitori ended in November 2016 when he could score only 4-11 at jūryō 9. This result left the Takasago stable without any wrestlers in the top two divisions for the first time since it was founded in 1878.

Fighting style

Asasekiryu is a yotsu-sumo (grappling) wrestler, preferring a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt. His most common winning technique is a straightforward yorikiri or force out. He is also fond of throws, most often employing uwatenage (outer arm throw) and uwatedashinage (pulling outer arm throw).

Family

His father was a Mongolian wrestler, holding a rank roughly equivalent to sumo's komusubi.