Daieishō Hayato

大栄翔 勇人 Daieishō Hayato
Daieishō in 2014
Personal information
Born	Hayato Takanishi (1993-11-10) November 10, 1993 (age 27) Asaka, Saitama Prefecture
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	164 kg (362 lb)
Career
Stable	Oitekaze
Current rank	see below
Debut	January, 2012
Highest rank	Sekiwake (September 2020)
Championships	1 (Jonokuchi) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jūryō) 1 (Makuuchi)
Special Prizes	3 (Outstanding Performance) 1 (Technique)
Gold Stars	3 (Kakuryū, Hakuho, Terunofuji)
* Up to date as of 20 September 2021.

Daieishō Hayato (Japanese: 大栄翔 勇人, born November 10, 1993 as Hayato Takanishi (高西 勇人, Takanishi Hayato)) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He began his professional career in 2012 at the age of eighteen and reached the top makuuchi division in September 2015. His highest rank to date has been sekiwake. He has three gold stars for defeating yokozuna, three special prize for Outstanding Performance and one special prize for Technique. He wrestles for the Oitekaze stable. In January 2021 he became the first wrestler from Saitama Prefecture to win the top-division championship.

Early life and education[]

Hayato Takanishi was born on 10 November 1993 in Asaka, a city in Saitama Prefecture. He started sumo after winning a local tournament during his first year in elementary school. At junior high he was a member of a sumo club in Iruma, where he first developed his thrusting attack.^[1] He attended  [ja], a school famous for its sumo club, and earned a place in the club's first team near the end of his second year. In his final year he contributed to the school finishing in second place in the team competition at national championships. After graduation he joined Oitekaze stable to pursue a professional sumo career.^[2] Coming from a single-parent family, he was keen to support his mother.^[1]

Career[]

Early career[]

Takanishi Hayato entered sumo under his birth name but adopted the ring name Daishoei for his first competitive tournament. He won the jonokuchi division with a 7–0 record in March 2012 and a 6–1 record in jonidan in May saw him promoted to sandanme where he recorded four wins in July. He then modified his ring name slightly and became Daieishō. After winning records in the next two tournaments he was promoted to makushita but struggled in higher division and was relegated back to sandanme. A perfect 7–0 in May 2013 saw him take the divisional championship and secure a return to makushita. After three consecutive winning records (kachi-koshi) Daieishō was promoted to the second highest jūryō division for the July 2014 tournament, the 14th former student of Saitama Sakae's coach Michinori Yamada to reach the rank.^[2] After performing consistently in jūryō for a year he earned promotion to the top division (makuuchi) with a 9–6 record in July 2015.^[3]

Daieisho original tegata (handprint & signature)

Makuuchi career[]

In September 2015 Daieishō made his makuuchi debut at the rank of maegashira 13. He was the youngest man in the division at 21 years old.^[4] He won seven of his first fourteen bouts, including an upset victory over Takarafuji but a final day defeat against Takekaze saw him end the tournament with a 7–8 losing record (make-koshi). In November he recorded only six wins and was demoted to jūryō but returned to the top division after an 8–7 record in January 2016. In March 2016 Daieishō produced a career-best effort, recording ten wins including victories over Ichinojō and Takekaze to place him in a tie for seventh place. In May, at career-high rank of maegashira 9 he stood at 6–4 after ten days but then slumped to five consecutive defeats. He struggled again in July, recording only five wins and dropped to maegashira 16 for September.^[3] His seven tournament run in the top division ended after a 5–10 record saw him relegated to jūryō for the November tournament but he responded with eight wins to put himself back in contention for promotion.

In January 2017 he won the jūryō division with a 12–3 record to secure his promotion back to makuuchi. He produced his best result in the top division to date in the March 2017 tournament, winning his last eight bouts in a row to finish on 11–4. This saw him promoted to his highest rank to date of maegashira 3 for the May tournament. Facing all the yokozuna and ōzeki for the first time, he followed his eight consecutive wins in March with eight losses in his first eight bouts in May and finished with a 4–11 record. After falling to maegashira 13 with a poor 5–10 score in November 2017, he recovered somewhat to post consecutive 9–6 records in the January and March tournaments of 2018.

He reached maegashira 2 in March 2019, and remained near the top of the maegashira ranks in the next few tournaments. In September he earned his first kinboshi with a defeat of Kakuryū, his first win over a yokozuna in eleven attempts.^[5] He attained a career highest rank of maegashira 1 in the November 2019 tournament, and earned his career kinboshi on Day 2 with a first win over Hakuhō in five attempts.^[6] Hakuhō went on to win the tournament and as the only man to defeat him, Daieisho received the Outstanding Performance Prize.^[7] He made his debut at the komusubi rank in January 2020, narrowly failing to secure a majority of wins, finishing on 7–8. He returned to komusubi in July 2020, where he defeated Hakuhō again,^[8] won his last six bouts to finish on 11–4 and won his second Outstanding Performance Prize.^[9] He was promoted to sekiwake for the September 2020 tournament, the first sekiwake from Saitama Prefecture since Wakachichibu in July 1963,^[10] but returned to the maegashira ranks after recording only five wins in the tournament.

Daieishō won his first Emperor's Cup in the January 2021 tournament with a 13-2 record at the rank of maegashira 1. He defeated all of the san'yaku wrestlers ranked above him in the first week, the first maegashira to so since 15 day tournaments began in 1949.^[11] He then lost to Takarafuji on day 9 and Onosho on day 11. He won his last four matches and clinched the title with a tsukidashi win over Okinoumi on the final day. He received both the Outstanding Performance Award and Technique Prize for his efforts.^[12] When interviewed he commented "My intention was always to push and drive the opponent out, which I could keep in my mind for the final bout. There were lots of bouts I could take confidence from too and I hope to keep wrestling the same way."^[13] He was the first wrestler from Saitama Prefecture to win the top-division championship.^[14] Although he was widely expected to return to his former sekiwake rank in the March 2021 tournament, he instead made his return to san'yaku at the rank of komusubi, and has affirmed his desire to accomplish promotion to ōzeki.^[11] He held the komusubi rank with an 8–7 record, but lost it after the May tournament and returned to the maegashira ranks. In September 2021 he earned his third career kinboshi by handing Terunofuji his first loss as a yokozuna on Day 9.^[15]

Fighting style[]

Daieishō is a tsuki and oshi specialist, which means he relies on thrusting and pushing techniques to defeat his opponents rather than belt-wrestling. By far the most common of his winning techniques is oshidashi which accounts for 55% of his wins.^[16] Although he also used belt gripping techniques during his high school career, he has focused on pushing and thrusting since turning professional. In an interview upon the announcement of his promotion to Juryo in May 2014, Daieishō was quoted as saying he wanted to thrust like former ōzeki Chiyotaikai.^[2]

Career record[]

See also[]

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament top division champions
• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• List of active gold star earners
• List of sekiwake
• Active special prize winners

References[]

External links[]

• Daieishō Hayato's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage