‘With great humility’, wrestler Kisenosato accepts highest rank of yokozuna in sport that had become dominated by other nationalities

Japan’s long wait for a homegrown sumo grand champion has ended after Kisenosato became the first Japanese wrestler to reach the ancient sport’s pinnacle in almost two decades.



The 30-year-old became the sport’s 72nd yokozuna, or grand champion, after Japan’s sumo association approved his promotion on Wednesday in a move purists hope will mark the start of a challenge to years of dominance by overseas wrestlers.

The last Japan-born wrestler to reach the top rank was Wakanohana in 1998.

The 178kg Kisenosato – who has been criticised for letting several tournament titles slip through his hands – became a serious contender for promotion after winning the new year’s contest in Tokyo with a record of 14 victories and one defeat.

At a ceremony at his stable on Wednesday morning, Kisenosato said he accepted his promotion “with great humility”. He added: “I will show devotion and try not to disgrace the title of yokozuna.”

In recent years sumo has been dominated by wrestlers from Mongolia, Hawaii and Samoa.

Earlier this week, with his promotion all but a formality, Kisenosato told reporters that the rank of yokozuna came with a special responsibility. “I feel grateful to all the people that have helped me,” said Kisenosato, who paid tribute to his late stable master, Naruto. “If I had not met my former trainer I would not have got to where I have now,” he said. “I have nothing but gratitude.”

Kisenosato’s ascent to sumo’s summit did not come easily: his historic victory on Sunday came at the end of his 73rd tournament as a professional, which is more than it has taken any other wrestler since 1926 to reach the top rank.

His addition to the yokozuna ranks is also expected to help improve sumo’s image, after a decade in which it has been rocked by a series of scandals, including bullying, drug taking and allegations of match fixing.

Kisenosato joins three other wrestlers at the rank of yokozuna, all of whom were born in Mongolia: Kakuryu, Harumafuji and Hakuho. The latter is considered by many to be the greatest sumo wrestler of all time with 37 tournament titles.

Foreign-born wrestlers’ domination of sumo began with the 287kg Konishiki in the 1990s and continued into the next decade with the arrival of Asashoryu from Mongolia whose unpredictable behaviour outside the ring occasionally took the sheen off his brilliant performances inside it.