Takuya Hidenoumi

Background

Takuya Iwasaki was born on 11 June 1989 in Edogawa, Tokyo, the older of two brothers.

Education

Upon graduation, he was scouted by stables, but chose to enter Nihon University, where he joined its well-known sumo program

Career

He made his debut in 2012 and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in July 2015. His highest rank is maegashira 12. He first started sumo in primary school from the age of 10 and was soon a regular on the team

He went on to join his junior high school"s sumo team, also as a regular.

The dojo where he practiced was also used by that later Chiyotairyū, one year his senior, and had also been used by the later Daidō, seven years his senior. In high school, his interest and success in sumo continued.

He transferred to Saitama Sakae high school, which was known for its strong sumo program In his second year he took the championship at a high school tournament in Kanazawa.

He was in the same year as the future Daikihō and one year behind the later Jōkōryū.

He was not as successful or motivated in university and was not able to take a championship in his four years there. Upon graduation, he was scouted by the head of Kise stable, the former Higonoumi, who was also from his alma mater, Nihon University. He began his career under his surname Iwasaki.

He faced stablemate fellow 7-0 stablemate Hamaguchi in a playoff for the championship.

The only situation in which stablemates are allowed to face one another. In September he recorded another perfect record in the jonidan division.

This was the first time in all sumo history that two stablemates had faced each other in a championship playoff in two consecutive tournaments. In November at Fukuoka he secured a third consecutive promotion when he recorded a 6-1 record in the sandanme division.

Foreign the next eleven tournaments, Iwasaki competed in the makushita recording more wins than losses (kachi-koshi) on all but two occasions.

Foreign the Fukuoka tournament in November 2014 he was promoted to the jūryō division and adopted the ring name (shikona) Hidenoumi. In his first appearance in the division he recorded seven wins and five losses, but missed three bouts through injury. After recording winning records in the next three tournaments he was promoted to the top makuuchi division for the Nagoya tournament in July 2015.

An identical record in September saw him return to the jūryō ranks for the November tournament where he posted an 8-7 record.

In January 2016 he recorded 11 wins to take the second-division championship. Hidenoumi"s most common winning techiniques (kimarite) are oshidashi or push-out which accounts for 40% of his wins and yorikiri or force-out (30%).

Achievements

• Not having achieved the requisite two championships in university, he was obligated to start pro sumo from the bottom of the ranks. He made his debut in the jonokuchi division at Nagoya in July 2012 and won all seven of his contests to win the division and ensure immediate promotion to jonidan. Notably, he again faced stablemate Hamaguchi in a playoff for the championship, which he won. On his debut in the top division Hidenoumi won only three of his first ten bouts but won three of his last five matches to end with a record of 6-9.

Membership

As a member of the sumo club there, he had a string of victories as an anchor member of his sumo team in a number of high school tournaments.