Wakanoho Toshinori
Encyclopedia
Wakanohō Toshinori is a former sumo
wrestler. His highest rank was maegashira 1. He became the first active wrestler to be dismissed from sumo, after being arrested for possession of cannabis
in August 2008
.
in Russia, but as his weight continued to increase past the 120 kg (264.6 lb) upper limit for competitions, he switched to sumo. Having known fellow Russian sumo wrestler Rohō for many years, when he first arrived in Japan
he stayed at Rohō's training stable
, Ōtake-beya, for about six months to learn the basics. Due to the restrictions on foreigners, he could not join that stable, but its stablemaster Taihō
had connections to the former Wakanohana Kanji II
, and he joined Magaki stable
instead. His shikona
of Wakanohō was formed as a combination of Wakanohana II and Taihō's names.
Wakanohō made his professional debut in March 2005. He moved through the lower divisions quickly, winning the championship in the jonidan division in May 2005 with a perfect 7-0 record. It took him a year to climb up the third makushita division and in November 2006 a 4-3 record at Makushita 1 East earned him promotion to the second jūryō division and elite sekitori
status. At 18 years and five months, he was the youngest foreign born wrestler to do so. In his jūryō debut he managed only five wins against ten losses, his first ever make-koshi or losing score and was demoted. However, he returned to the second division in May 2007 and three solid performances of 10-5, 8-7 and 10-5 earned him promotion to the top makuuchi
division in November 2007. He was the sixth youngest wrestler to reach makuuchi in the modern era. He came through with nine wins against six losses in his top division debut, and a 10-5 mark in January 2008 saw him move into the upper maegashira ranks for the March 2008 tournament. Fighting all the top ranked wrestlers for the first time, he defeated ozeki Kaiō
and secured his kachi-koshi or winning record on the final day.
During the May 2008 tournament he was reprimanded by the Japan Sumo Association
after he smashed a door in the dressing room following a defeat to Ama by the technique
of utchari. However he once again secured his majority of wins on the final day, his fourth straight kachi-koshi in the top division. However, in the July 2008 tournament, fighting from what was to be his highest rank of maegashira 1 he lost his first eight bouts and finished on 4-11.
. He was known for occasionally jumping straight up into the air at the tachi-ai
or initial charge, a highly unorthodox move which some commentators put down to youthful bravado. He was also criticised for relying too much on side-steps and slap-downs. Although his most common winning technique was yorikiri (force out), the slap down or hatakikomi was second and he had a much higher percentage of wins with this technique than most of his contemporaries.
. A wallet belonging to Wakanohō was found on 24 June and handed in to police. It contained a Russian made cigarette mixed with what appeared to be cannabis, and the wrestler's identification. Wakanohō said he bought 2 bags of marijuana, a rolled joint, a pipe and 2 Russian cigarettes from a Russian and a black man for 20,000 yen in a club in Roppongi
. Police have also searched his apartment and private quarters at Magaki stable
and recovered a small quantity of cannabis in a bag, and a pipe used to smoke the drug.
On 21 August, the Japan Sumo Association
held a meeting of the board of directors and decided on the immediate dismissal of Wakanohō. It was the first time an active rikishi has been dismissed. He could have faced up to five years in prison or deportation from Japan. However, on 8 September, after eight days in police detention, he was released without punishment, as he was a minor at the time of the incident and the amount of cannabis in his possession was very small. Speaking to the press Wakanoho apologised for his actions and asked for forgiveness, but denied ever smoking with Rohō and Hakurozan
, both of whom were also dismissed after failing drug tests for cannabis. He visited the Ryōgoku Kokugikan
and asked to be readmitted to sumo, but the Sumo Association's directors refused his request. He responded by filing a lawsuit for unfair dismissal
against the Association.
In an odd twist, Wakanoho had his kesho-mawashi, ceremonial apron, sponsored by the Japanese Drug Abuse Prevention Center.
In the banzuke
of the aki basho
in September 2008, the East Maegashira #8 ranking that had been scheduled to be allocated for Wakanohō was left vacant. The last time this happened was when Tokitsuumi retired in October 2007 and was left off the November 2007 banzuke.
In January 2009
Wakanoho dropped all legal action against the Sumo association and the two sides reached an amicable agreement regarding his severance pay, believed to be 5.8 million yen. He had an informal hair-cutting ceremony or danpatsu-shiki, symbolically accepting that his sumo career was at an end. It was held in an hotel in Tokyo with no other rikishi or coaches attending. On 13 February, Wakanohō returned to Russia, as his working visa had expired.
magazine's defence of the lawsuit brought by the Sumo Association over other match-fixing allegations. In an interview for the tabloid he claimed that ozeki Kotoōshū and jūryō wrestler Kasuganishiki had asked him to throw matches against them. Both wrestlers denied the allegations. Wakanoho also called sumo a "show" and a "circus."
In another instalment for the same magazine he made similar allegations against ozeki Kaio
and Chiyotaikai, who also denied the claims. In a third article he suggested that he smoked cannabis in Makagi stable with Georgian wrestler Tochinoshin, contradicting his sworn police statement that he was alone.
On 28 November he retracted these claims and apologised to those he had implicated, saying he had been told by the magazine that he would be back in the Sumo Association "in one week" if he made the allegations. He said the Shukan Gendai made up the story and cited the names of the four wrestlers, for which he received 2.5 million yen in cash. The magazine responded by saying his retraction "(did) not make any sense and cannot be thought of as true."
In February 2011, following a match-fixing scandal involving Kasuganishiki, Chiyohakuho and a number of other juryo wrestlers, the former Wakanoho changed his position once again, and said he had been involved in yaocho after all. He explained that the reason that he denied his original yaocho claims was because the Japan Sumo Association promised to pay him retirement money if he did, and that they later reneged on this agreement (the Sumo Association has denied any such agreement ever taking place). He also named 21 other wrestlers against whom he performed yaocho in the February 21, 2011 edition of Shukan Gendai magazine.
for Webber International University
in Florida.
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. His highest rank was maegashira 1. He became the first active wrestler to be dismissed from sumo, after being arrested for possession of cannabis
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
in August 2008
2008 in sumo
-Tournaments:*Hatsu basho, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 13 January - 27 January*Haru basho, Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, 9 March - 23 March*Natsu basho, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 11 May - 25 May...
.
Career
He was a freestyle wrestlerFreestyle wrestling
Freestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practised throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history...
in Russia, but as his weight continued to increase past the 120 kg (264.6 lb) upper limit for competitions, he switched to sumo. Having known fellow Russian sumo wrestler Rohō for many years, when he first arrived in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
he stayed at Rohō's training stable
Heya
In sumo wrestling, a heya , usually translated into English as stable, is an organization of sumo wrestlers where they train and live. All wrestlers in professional sumo must belong to one. There are currently 49 heya , all but four of which belong to one of five ichimon...
, Ōtake-beya, for about six months to learn the basics. Due to the restrictions on foreigners, he could not join that stable, but its stablemaster Taihō
Taiho Koki
Taihō Kōki is the 48th Yokozuna in the Japanese sport of sumo wrestling. He is generally regarded as the greatest sumo wrestler of the post-war period. He became a yokozuna in 1961 at the age of 21, the youngest ever at the time, and he won a record 32 tournaments between 1960 and 1971...
had connections to the former Wakanohana Kanji II
Wakanohana Kanji II
Wakanohana Kanji II is a former sumo wrestler from Ōwani, Aomori, Japan. He was the sport's 56th Yokozuna. He is now the head coach of Magaki stable.-Early career:...
, and he joined Magaki stable
Magaki Stable
is a stable of sumo wrestlers, formerly one of the Nishonoseki group of stables. Wakanohana Kanji II, the 56th Yokozuna in sumo history, re-established the stable in 1983 and is its current oyakata. Its first wrestler to reach the top division was the Hawaiian born Yamato in 1997...
instead. His 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...
of Wakanohō was formed as a combination of Wakanohana II and Taihō's names.
Wakanohō made his professional debut in March 2005. He moved through the lower divisions quickly, winning the championship in the jonidan division in May 2005 with a perfect 7-0 record. It took him a year to climb up the third makushita division and in November 2006 a 4-3 record at Makushita 1 East earned him promotion to the second jūryō division and elite 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...
status. At 18 years and five months, he was the youngest foreign born wrestler to do so. In his jūryō debut he managed only five wins against ten losses, his first ever make-koshi or losing score and was demoted. However, he returned to the second division in May 2007 and three solid performances of 10-5, 8-7 and 10-5 earned him promotion to 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 November 2007. He was the sixth youngest wrestler to reach makuuchi in the modern era. He came through with nine wins against six losses in his top division debut, and a 10-5 mark in January 2008 saw him move into the upper maegashira ranks for the March 2008 tournament. Fighting all the top ranked wrestlers for the first time, he defeated ozeki Kaiō
Kaio Hiroyuki
Kaiō Hiroyuki is a former professional sumo wrestler from Nōgata, Fukuoka, Japan.He made his debut in 1988, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1993. He held the second highest rank of ōzeki or champion for eleven years from 2000 to 2011, and is the longest-serving ozeki of all time in terms of...
and secured his kachi-koshi or winning record on the final day.
During the May 2008 tournament he was reprimanded by the Japan Sumo Association
Japan Sumo Association
The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Rikishi , gyōji , tokoyama , and yobidashi , are all on the Association's payroll, but the organisation is run...
after he smashed a door in the dressing room following a defeat to Ama by the technique
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...
of utchari. However he once again secured his majority of wins on the final day, his fourth straight kachi-koshi in the top division. However, in the July 2008 tournament, fighting from what was to be his highest rank of maegashira 1 he lost his first eight bouts and finished on 4-11.
Fighting style
Wakanohō favoured belt techniques and preferred a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip his opponent's mawashiMawashi
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:...
. He was known for occasionally jumping straight up into the air at the tachi-ai
Tachi-ai
The tachi-ai is the initial charge between two sumo wrestlers at the beginning of a bout.There are several common techniques that wrestlers use at the tachi-ai, with the aim of getting a decisive advantage in the bout:...
or initial charge, a highly unorthodox move which some commentators put down to youthful bravado. He was also criticised for relying too much on side-steps and slap-downs. Although his most common winning technique was yorikiri (force out), the slap down or hatakikomi was second and he had a much higher percentage of wins with this technique than most of his contemporaries.
Arrest and dismissal
On 18 August 2008, Wakanohō was arrested for possession of cannabisCannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
. A wallet belonging to Wakanohō was found on 24 June and handed in to police. It contained a Russian made cigarette mixed with what appeared to be cannabis, and the wrestler's identification. Wakanohō said he bought 2 bags of marijuana, a rolled joint, a pipe and 2 Russian cigarettes from a Russian and a black man for 20,000 yen in a club in Roppongi
Roppongi
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous as home to the rich Roppongi Hills area and an active night club scene. Many foreign embassies are located in Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike...
. Police have also searched his apartment and private quarters at Magaki stable
Magaki Stable
is a stable of sumo wrestlers, formerly one of the Nishonoseki group of stables. Wakanohana Kanji II, the 56th Yokozuna in sumo history, re-established the stable in 1983 and is its current oyakata. Its first wrestler to reach the top division was the Hawaiian born Yamato in 1997...
and recovered a small quantity of cannabis in a bag, and a pipe used to smoke the drug.
On 21 August, the Japan Sumo Association
Japan Sumo Association
The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Rikishi , gyōji , tokoyama , and yobidashi , are all on the Association's payroll, but the organisation is run...
held a meeting of the board of directors and decided on the immediate dismissal of Wakanohō. It was the first time an active rikishi has been dismissed. He could have faced up to five years in prison or deportation from Japan. However, on 8 September, after eight days in police detention, he was released without punishment, as he was a minor at the time of the incident and the amount of cannabis in his possession was very small. Speaking to the press Wakanoho apologised for his actions and asked for forgiveness, but denied ever smoking with Rohō and Hakurozan
Hakurozan Yuta
Hakurozan Yūta is a former sumo wrestler. The highest rank he reached was maegashira 2. His older brother is also a former sumo wrestler, under the name of Rohō of Ōtake stable...
, both of whom were also dismissed after failing drug tests for cannabis. He visited the Ryōgoku Kokugikan
Ryogoku Kokugikan
, also known as Sumo Hall, is an indoor sporting arena located in the Ryōgoku neighborhood of Sumida, one of the 23 wards of Tokyo in Japan, next to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. It is the third building built in Tokyo associated with the name kokugikan. The current building was opened in 1985 and has a...
and asked to be readmitted to sumo, but the Sumo Association's directors refused his request. He responded by filing a lawsuit for unfair dismissal
Unfair dismissal
Unfair dismissal is the term used in UK labour law to describe an employer's action when terminating an employee's employment contrary to the requirements of the Employment Rights Act 1996...
against the Association.
In an odd twist, Wakanoho had his kesho-mawashi, ceremonial apron, sponsored by the Japanese Drug Abuse Prevention Center.
In the banzuke
Banzuke
This article is about the banzuke document, for a list of wrestlers as ranked on an actual banzuke see List of active sumo wrestlersA , officially called is a document listing the rankings of professional sumo wrestlers published before each official tournament or honbasho. The term can also...
of the aki basho
Honbasho
A is an official professional sumo tournament. There are six held each year, a system established in 1958. Only honbasho results matter in determining promotion and relegation for rikishi ....
in September 2008, the East Maegashira #8 ranking that had been scheduled to be allocated for Wakanohō was left vacant. The last time this happened was when Tokitsuumi retired in October 2007 and was left off the November 2007 banzuke.
In January 2009
2009 in sumo
-Tournaments:*Hatsu basho, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 11 January - 25 January*Haru basho, Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, Osaka, 15 March - 29 March*Natsu basho, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, 10 May - 24 May...
Wakanoho dropped all legal action against the Sumo association and the two sides reached an amicable agreement regarding his severance pay, believed to be 5.8 million yen. He had an informal hair-cutting ceremony or danpatsu-shiki, symbolically accepting that his sumo career was at an end. It was held in an hotel in Tokyo with no other rikishi or coaches attending. On 13 February, Wakanohō returned to Russia, as his working visa had expired.
Allegations of match-fixing
During a press conference on 29 September 2008 Wakanoho claimed he was forced to accept bribes to forfeit sumo matches. He said he would appear for the Shukan GendaiShukan Gendai
is a Japanese weekly magazine published since 1959 by Kodansha. Published simultaneously with Weekly Post , it includes articles about political scandals, sports and celebrities; nude photos; movie information; book reviews; and other articles of interest to middle-aged salarymen...
magazine's defence of the lawsuit brought by the Sumo Association over other match-fixing allegations. In an interview for the tabloid he claimed that ozeki Kotoōshū and jūryō wrestler Kasuganishiki had asked him to throw matches against them. Both wrestlers denied the allegations. Wakanoho also called sumo a "show" and a "circus."
In another instalment for the same magazine he made similar allegations against ozeki Kaio
Kaio Hiroyuki
Kaiō Hiroyuki is a former professional sumo wrestler from Nōgata, Fukuoka, Japan.He made his debut in 1988, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1993. He held the second highest rank of ōzeki or champion for eleven years from 2000 to 2011, and is the longest-serving ozeki of all time in terms of...
and Chiyotaikai, who also denied the claims. In a third article he suggested that he smoked cannabis in Makagi stable with Georgian wrestler Tochinoshin, contradicting his sworn police statement that he was alone.
On 28 November he retracted these claims and apologised to those he had implicated, saying he had been told by the magazine that he would be back in the Sumo Association "in one week" if he made the allegations. He said the Shukan Gendai made up the story and cited the names of the four wrestlers, for which he received 2.5 million yen in cash. The magazine responded by saying his retraction "(did) not make any sense and cannot be thought of as true."
In February 2011, following a match-fixing scandal involving Kasuganishiki, Chiyohakuho and a number of other juryo wrestlers, the former Wakanoho changed his position once again, and said he had been involved in yaocho after all. He explained that the reason that he denied his original yaocho claims was because the Japan Sumo Association promised to pay him retirement money if he did, and that they later reneged on this agreement (the Sumo Association has denied any such agreement ever taking place). He also named 21 other wrestlers against whom he performed yaocho in the February 21, 2011 edition of Shukan Gendai magazine.
Post-sumo career
As of 2010, Gagloev is playing college footballCollege football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
for Webber International University
Webber International University
-External links:* -- Official web site* -- Official athletics web site* at -References:...
in Florida.