Takayasu Akira is a sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

 wrestler of Japanese

Japanese people

The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 and Filipino

Filipino people

The Filipino people or Filipinos are an Austronesian ethnic group native to the islands of the Philippines. There are about 92 million Filipinos in the Philippines, and about 11 million living outside the Philippines ....

 ancestry. He made his professional debut in 2005, and reached the top makuuchi

Makuuchi

or is the top division of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers , ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments....

 division in 2011, the first wrestler born in the Heisei

Heisei

is the current era name in Japan. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the first day after the death of the reigning Emperor, Hirohito. His son, Akihito, succeeded to the throne...

 era to do so. His highest rank has been maegashira 6.

Early Life

Born to a Japanese father and a Filipino mother, Takayasu was raised in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki

Tsuchiura, Ibaraki

is a city located in Ibaraki prefecture, in Japan. It is situated along the western shores of Lake Kasumigaura, the second largest lake in Japan. Tokyo city lies about 60 km to the south, and Tsukuba science city borders Tsuchiura to the west.-Demographics:...

 and was a center fielder

Center fielder

A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball fielding position between left field and right field...

 on his junior high school baseball team. On his father's recommendation he joined Naruto stable

Naruto stable

is a stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Nishonoseki group of stables.The stable was established on 1 February 1989 by former yokozuna Takanosato Toshihide. The stable's first sekitori was Rikio in 1994. Three more, Wakanosato, Takanowaka and Kisenosato, have reached sekiwake rank...

 upon graduating from junior high school.

Career

On his entry to Naruto stable, Takayasu was already 180 centimeters tall and weighed 120 kilograms, and consequently had much expectation pinned on him from the start. His first tournament was in March, 2005. He made steady progress through the lower divisions, with only a few losing record or make-koshi tournaments. He won the yusho

Yusho

A Yūshō is a tournament championship in sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual honbasho or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most number of bouts. Yūshō are awarded in all six professional sumo divisions...

 or championship in the third makushita division in September, 2010 with a perfect 7-0 record. This propelled him into jūryō division, where along with Masunoyama became one of the first two sekitori

Sekitori

A sekitori is a sumo wrestler who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: makuuchi and juryo.Currently there are 70 rikishi in these divisions...

 to be born in the Heisei era. He decided against adopting a traditional shikona

Shikona

A shikona is a sumo wrestler's ring name.As with standard Japanese names, a shikona consists of a 'surname' and a 'given' name, and the full name is written surname first. However, the given name is rarely used outside formal or ceremonial occasions. Thus, the former yokozuna Asashōryū Akinori is...

 despite reaching the elite and will continue to use his birth name. In his first jūryō tournament in November he almost pulled off a second consecutive championship, losing to Toyohibiki in a playoff after both finished with 11-4 records.

After two more strong performances at jūryō Takayasu was promoted to the top makuuchi division in July, 2011. His debut record of 9-6 at maegashira 11 earned him a maegashira rank of no. 6 in the following tournament, his highest to date, but he only managed a 6-9 record there. It remains to be seen whether Takayasu will be a regular presence in the top division.

Fighting style

Takayasu is an oshi-sumo specialist, preferring pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi) to fighting on the opponent's mawashi

Mawashi

In sumo, a mawashi is the belt that the rikishi wears during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a keshō-mawashi as part of the ring entry ceremony or dohyo-iri.-Mawashi:...

. His most common winning kimarite

Kimarite

Kimarite are winning techniques in a sumo bout. For each bout in a Grand Sumo tournament , a sumo referee, or gyoji, will decide and announce the type of kimarite used by the winner...

so far in his career are yori-kiri (force out), hataki-komi (slap down) and oshi-dashi (push out).

Family

Takayasu's mother is an enthusiastic supporter of her son's career and can be seen as a vocal and visible presence in the crowd during his matches. She is also an enthusiastic and entertaining presence on Facebook, forever receiving countless "Likes" for her passionate messages of support for her son.

Tournament record

　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　
　　

　　
　　
　　
　　
　
　

External links

• Japan Sumo association profile (English) (Japanese)