Takakeishō Takanobu
Takakeishō Takanobu is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Ashiya, Hyōgo. He made his professional debut in September 2014, and reached the highest makuuchi division in January 2017 after 14 tournaments. He won his first championship in the top division in November 2018, four years after his debut. Takakeishō wrestled for Tokiwayama stable, and his highest rank was ōzeki, which he first reached in May 2019. He earned seven special prizes and three gold stars for defeating yokozuna. He won his second championship in November 2020, his third one in January 2023, and his fourth one in September 2023. Consecutive losing tournaments in 2024 resulted in his demotion to sekiwake. He withdrew from the September 2024 tournament after a series of losses, and subsequently announced his retirement. He is now a coach under the elder name Minatogawa.
Early life and sumo experience
Satō's given name of Takanobu was derived from the name of yokozuna Takanohana, who would eventually become his stablemaster. Growing up in Ashiya, Hyōgo, Satō competed in full-contact karate in early primary school, and was runner up for the championship in a national competition. However, his father was determined that his son would become a sumo wrestler, and in Satō's third year he began participating sumo at a local dojo. After primary school, he entered Hotoku Gakuen Junior High School, known for its sumo program. In his third year there he won a national championship and took the title of junior high school yokozuna, or grand champion.Encouraged by his father to eat hamburgers and French fries, his weight increased from 30 kilos in the third grade to 80 kilos by sixth grade. He then moved to eastern Japan and entered the private high school Saitama Sakae, which had an athletics course. During his time at Saitama Sakae, Satō won two successive championships, the Kantō regional high school sumo tournament and the National Junior Sumo Tournament, wrestling in the free weight category. In total Satō won 10 national titles in his high school years. In his third year, he was also champion in the free weight category of the World Junior Sumo Tournament held in Taiwan.
Career
Satō was quite eager to join the professional sumo world, so after high school, he decided to forego university in favor of competing in national sumo tournaments and quickly joined Takanohana stable. Though it is common practice for wrestlers to take on a ring name upon entering this particular stable, he chose to use his real name. Because of his strong desire to join the professional ranks as quickly as possible, he participated in maezumo in September 2014 while still a high school student, a very rare occurrence. His coach, the former yokozuna Takanohana, made an arrangement with Sato's high school that he would continue to attend school when not participating in official tournaments. Later news reports however stated that he had dropped out of high school.Satō officially entered the sumo ring as a professional rikishi in November 2014, and in his debut won the lowest division, or jonokuchi, championship with a perfect 7–0 record. He added on another championship, again with a perfect 7–0 record in his next tournament in the next highest division jonidan. In the following March tournament in Osaka, competing in the sandanme division, he finally lost his first bout on the third day, ending his successive win record at 15 bouts. In the following May 2015 tournament, in the makushita division, he had a perfect 6–0 record up until his last bout, but he lost this one to the future, who took the championship. This happened again two tournaments later, where he chalked up another six wins in his first six bouts, only to lose to veteran Azumaryū. This was still a good enough record to compete in an eight-man playoff. He defeated two opponents to make it to the final round, but then lost the last round for the championship to future sekitori Chiyoshōma. In the following November 2015 tournament after winning three bouts in a row, he lost his next four and got his first make-koshi or losing tournament. He would bounce back two tournaments later, in March of the following year, winning all of his bouts and defeating former sekitori in his final bout to clinch his first makushita championship. This was a decisive championship that would, in the next tournament, propel him into the salaried ranks of jūryō.
In his first jūryō tournament he became only the sixth wrestler in history, and the first ever in his teens to win eight consecutive bouts in his debut. He however went on to lose four bouts and ended with an 11–4 record for that May 2016 tournament. He spent the next few tournaments rising steadily up the ranks of jūryō recording only one make-koshi, his second up to that point. This culminated in his fourth tournament in jūryō where he chalked up a 12–3 record in the ultra-competitive upper ranks of this division and earned his first championship as a salaried wrestler. In January 2017, he was promoted to the top flight makuuchi division. On this occasion he chose to adopt the ring name Takakeishō Mitsunobu. The first character in his shikona surname comes from the first character in the shikona of his stablemaster, Takanohana, and the second two characters are taken from the given name of the Japanese historical figure, Kagekatsu Uesugi.
In Takakeishō's top division debut he only managed a 7–8 record. However, he followed up with eleven wins against four losses in the March 2017 tournament and was awarded his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. Another 11–4 record in May saw him promoted to maegashira 1, but he struggled at his new rank and recorded only five wins in July. Ranked at maegashira 5 in September 2017, he earned his first kinboshi or victory over a yokozuna by defeating Harumafuji, who went on to win the tournament. Takakeishō was awarded the Outstanding Performance Prize on the final day. In November he again recorded eleven wins, earning two further kinboshi with victories over Harumafuji and Kisenosato and receiving a second consecutive prize for Outstanding Performance.
In January 2018 Takakeisho made his san'yaku debut at komusubi, the first member of Takanohana stable to reach this rank since his stablemaster established the stable in February 2004. He fell short with a 5–10 record, and withdrew from the following tournament in March with only three wins due to pain in his right ankle. He returned to the komusubi rank in September 2018 and secured a winning record. Shortly after this tournament his stable was dissolved and he moved to Chiganoura stable, now renamed Tokiwayama stable.
First tournament championship and ''ōzeki'' promotion
The 2018 Kyushu tournament in November saw many withdrawals due to injury. Neither yokozuna Hakuhō nor yokozuna Kakuryū competed. Komusubi Kaisei also withdrew from contention with an injury. Takakeishō started the tournament well going undefeated the first six days including wins over yokozuna Kisenosato on Day 1, and ōzeki Gōeidō on Day 2. He suffered his first loss on Day 7 to sekiwake Mitakeumi. He then proceeded to win the next six days including a win over ōzeki Tochinoshin on Day 9, before suffering his second loss to ōzeki Takayasu on Day 14, with the result that both rikishi entered the final day tied with two losses each. Takakeishō won his final bout against Nishikigi, ensuring that he was either assured victory or a playoff with Takayasu if the ōzeki won his final bout. But instead Takakeishō watched as the same wrestler who handed him his first loss, Mitakeumi, guaranteed him his first top division championship by defeating Takayasu in the final bout. With just 26 career tournaments under his belt, this victory tied him with yokozuna Akebono for fourth fastest all time from debut to winning a top division championship. At 22 years of age he was the sixth youngest top division championship winner since the six tournaments per year system began in 1958. The win also meant that Takakeishō has won championships in all but the sandanme division in his career.Takakeishō followed up with an 11–4 record in January 2019, winning the Technique Prize. This gave him a record of 33 wins over the last three tournaments, but he was not promoted to ōzeki due to a combination of his failure to win more than nine victories in September, and his one-sided loss to ōzeki Gōeidō on the final day. In March he entered the penultimate day with a record of 9–4, including wins over Kakuryū and Takayasu, but was quickly defeated by Ichinojō. On the final day he was matched against Tochinoshin who needed a win to preserve his ōzeki rank. Takakeisho dominated the bout and pushed his opponent out to win by oshi-dashi. Reports in Japan declared it a certainty that he would be promoted to ōzeki, and at a press conference in Higashiōsaka he spoke of his relief at earning promotion after missing out in January. The Sumo Association made the ōzeki promotion official on 27 March 2019, and delivered the news to Takakeishō at a press conference in Osaka. "I will respect the bushidō spirit," he said in his acceptance speech, "and be thoughtful and thankful at all times while devoting myself to the way of the sumo." After his promotion ceremony, Takakeishō thanked his parents Kazuya and Junko Sato for supporting him, and promised to repay them through sumo. He said that reaching the rank of ōzeki is "a childhood dream," but that "there's a higher rank in the banzuke." He made ōzeki in 28 tournaments after his professional debut, which is the sixth fastest rise since the six-tournament a year system was established in 1958. At 22 years and seven months he was also the ninth youngest to be promoted to ōzeki.