1. Background

2. Career
    Early career  Makuuchi career 

3. Fighting style

4. Career record

5. See also

6. References

7. External links

Background

After initially showing more interest and aptitude for handball, Ishibashi began to concentrate on sumo in Junior High School. He took part in the national championships in his third year but sustained an elbow injury which led to him considering quitting the sport. He then attended Toyama Commercial High School and was persuaded to persevere by the school's sumo director.^[1] After competing successfully in High School tournaments he won a place at Kinki University where he studied Economics. He won seven college titles and reached the top four in all-Japan Sumo Championships.^[2]

Career

Early career

In 2016 Ishibashi joined the professional Takasago stable, bringing him under the tutelage of the former ōzeki Asashio. Like most new wrestlers he began his career under his family name.

As a University champion, Ishibashi was allowed to bypass the two lowest tiers of professional sumo and begin his career in the fourth sandanme division in March 2016. Three kachi-koshi (winning records) in his first three basho (tournaments) saw him promoted to the makushita division for September. Winning records in September and November were followed by a perfect 7-0 in January 2017 which earned him the divisional championship and promotion to the second division (jūryō). At this point he took the shikona ring name of Asanoyama. His promotion ensured that Takasago stable would once again have a sekitori, following the demotions of Asasekiryū and {{Interlanguage link multi|Asabenkei Daikichi|ja|3=朝弁慶大吉|lt=Asabenkei}} to makushita which had left the stable with no wrestlers in the top two divisions for the first time since 1878. Asanoyama revealed his determination to reach jūryō to honour the memory of his sumo coach at high school who had recently died of cancer, and that his resolve did not falter even though he lost two matches in November and had to wait for one more tournament to earn promotion.^[3]

In his jūryō debut in March 2017 Asanoyama recorded 10 wins to tie for the lead on the final day of the tournament but was beaten in a play-off by the much more experienced Toyohibiki. After 8 wins in May he tied for the championship with 11 wins in July but again lost a play-off, this time to his near contemporary Daiamami. His efforts were enough to secure promotion to the top makuuchi division for the next tournament.^[4] He was the second sandanme tsukedashi entrant to reach makuuchi following Yutakayama.

Makuuchi career

In his first tournament in the top division Asanoyama was assigned the rank of maegashira 16. He stood at only 3–3 after Day 6 but then went on a five-match winning streak and was on the leaderboard towards the end of the tournament, trailing Gōeidō by just one win on Day 13.^[4] He finished with a 10–5 record and was awarded the Fighting Spirit Prize.^[5] After his final match Asanoyama commented, "I have fought with the spirit of a challenger over the 15 days and that has led to my finishing with double figures in wins. I am really happy about that."^[5] He was less successful in his second top division tournament, scoring only five wins against ten losses and barely avoiding demotion back to jūryō. In January 2018 he produced a 9–6 record from the rank of maegashira 16. In July he was on the leaderboard for much of the tournament and finished with an 11–4 record and a share of the Fighting Spirit prize.

Fighting style

Asanoyama has shown a preference for yotsu techniques which involve grasping his opponent's mawashi or belt. His most common kimarite or winning move is yorikiri, the force-out.^[6]

Career record

    {{Basho|||||}}    {{Basho|sa|100||5|2}}    {{Basho|sa|66|e|6|1}}    {{Basho|sa|11|w|6|1}}    {{Basho|ma|36|w|6|1}}    {{Basho|ma|14|e|5|2}}  {{Sumo record year end}}

    {{Basho|ma|7|w|7|0
Champion}}    {{Basho|j|12|e|10|5|P}}    {{Basho|j|7|e|8|7}}    {{Basho|j|5|w|11|4|P}}    {{Basho|m|16|e|10|5|||f}}    {{Basho|m|11|w|5|10}}  {{Sumo record year end}}

    {{Basho|m|16|w|9|6|}}    {{Basho|m|13|w|8|7|}}    {{Basho|m|12|w|7|8|}}    {{Basho|m|13|w|11|4|||f}}    {{Basho|m|5|w|7|8|}}    {{Basho|m|5|w|6|9|}}  {{Sumo record year end}}

    {{Basho|m|8|w|8|7|}}    {{Basho|m|8|e|7|8|}}    {{Basho|m|||||}}    {{Basho||||||}}    {{Basho||||||}}    {{Basho||||||}}  {{Sumo record year end}}

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

External links

• {{Goo Sumo|A=|3682}}

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