Daishōmaru Shōgo

Early life and sumo experience

Shōgo Kawabata began participating in amateur sumo from his fourth grade in primary school as part of his city's sumo league. In that same year, he came in third in a city-wide tournament. In his sixth year of primary school his performance earned him the title of children's sumo yokozuna. From middle school he moved away from his parents to be a boarding student at Meitoku Gijuku, a school known for its strong sports program, so he could further his sumo training. In his third year there, at a national tournament, he took the championship in the individual category. As the coach who had scouted him for his junior high school retired that year, he decided not to continue on to Meitoku High School and instead opted to enter Kanazawa Gakuin High School. As a regular member of his team, his school had a number of championships, but an individual title remained elusive until the last tournament of his high school years. He matriculated to Nihon University, which had a prestigious amateur sumo pedigree, joining the economics department. In his second year there, he suffered an injury to his left knee and was benched from his team. After making a recovery in his fourth year, he became the co-captain of his sumo team. That year his team came in third in the national school championship, though he only managed to make the best 16 in the individual category. However, following this in a national amateur sumo tournament, he found his stride and in the semi-finals he defeated his own upper-classman at Nihon University, then went on to take the championship by beating the captain of his own sumo team at Nihon University to take the championship. This achievement would allow him to meet the prerequisite to join professional sumo at the elevated rank of makushita tsukedashi.

Career

In February 2014 he followed in the footsteps of his Nihon University teammate, the well-known Endō to join Oitekaze stable. (His stablemaster Oitekaze Oyakata, ex-Daishoyama, is also a Nihon University alumni.) This was the first time that two amateur yokozuna had joined the same stable two years in a row. He stepped onto the dohyō as a professional in March of the same year, with an impressive start. He beat the up-and-coming Dewahayate in his first appearance, and in his third match beat Tochinosato, his senior by two years at his alma mater. He then suffered his first two losses, then went on to win his final three matches of that tournament to post a strong 5-2 pro debut. He posted two winning tournaments in the following May and July, but had two setbacks in a row in September and November, posting two consecutive losing tournaments. His fortunes turned in 2015, where two strong performances of 6-1 and 5-2 in January and March in the upper ranks of makushita would allow him to join the salaried ranks of jūryō. As is the tradition for many sumo wrestlers, on the occasion of his promotion to jūryō he changed his ring name from his surname to Daishōmaru. The characters for his ring name consisted of the character for large, the first character in his given name, and the character for circle, which can also can signify a win. His jūryō debut in May 2015 did not meet expectations however, and a 6-9 result sent him back to makushita. This relegation seemed to put a fire under him, and in the following July tournament he took the always strongly contested makushita championship with a perfect 7-0 record with two days remaining in the tournament. He re-entered jūryō in September at a higher rank than previously, jūryō 8. Though he only managed to repeat his 6-9 record of his previous appearance, his higher ranking allowed him to avoid relegation as had happened previously. In his next two tournaments in November 2015 and January 2016 he gave very strong performances of 12-3 and 10-5 and was promoted to the top flight makuuchi division for the March tournament. Though many wrestlers have a losing record in their top division debut, he managed an 8-7, followed by a 9-6 performance for the May tournament. It remains to be seen whether he can continue his performance and become a makuuchi regular.

Fighting style

Daishōmaru is an oshi-sumo specialist who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to using grips on the mawashi or belt. About half his career victories have been via the straightforward kimarite of oshi-dashi, or push out.