Endō Shōta

Endō Shōta
遠藤 聖大
Personal information
Born Shōta Endō
(1990-10-19) October 19, 1990
Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight 150 kg (330 lb)
Career
Stable Oitekaze
University Nihon University
Current rank see below
Debut March, 2013
Highest rank Maegashira 1 (March, 2014)
Championships 1 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes Fighting Spirit (1)
Technique (1)
Gold Stars 2
(Kakuryū)
(Hakuhō)
* Up to date as of Nov 27, 2016.

Endō Shōta (遠藤 聖大), born on October 19, 1990 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, is a professional sumo wrestler with the Oitekaze stable. After a very successful amateur career, he turned professional in March 2013, making the top division that September. His highest rank has been maegashira 1, and he has two special prize for Fighting Spirit and Technique, and two gold stars for defeating yokozuna. He was runner-up in the September 2016 tournament. He wrestles for Oitekaze stable. He is extremely popular with Japanese sumo fans and has been regarded as one of the most promising home-grown wrestlers in sumo.

Early life and sumo background

Endō first began trying out sumo in his primary school years largely to please his father. He did not like sumo at first, but as time went on he became inspired by the spirit and technique of then yokozuna Asashōryū. He began trying out more techniques and came to love sumo.[1] In his second year of junior high school, he participated in a Kanazawa area sumo competition, where he won the team championship as well as beating the future Tochinosato in a playoff to take the individual championship. In high school, he participated in several team and individual competitions, taking two separate championships. Upon graduation he entered Nihon University as an economics major. From his fourth year he was captain of the sumo team. That year he also took two major national championship titles becoming both the amateur sumo yokozuna as well as the National Athletic Championship yokozuna. Despite of his great success at sumo thus far, it was a difficult decision for Endō whether or not to go professional, because he had a dream of becoming a teacher.[2]

Career

Endō (left) vs. Satoyama January 2014

After taking some time to reflect he decided to join professional sumo as a wrestler for Oitekaze stable, the stable where Daishōyama, who was from the same hometown as him, was an elder. Upon entering professional sumo he was allowed to debut as a makushita tsukedashi instead of starting at the bottom of the ranks, to reflect his amateur success. Moreover, because of his two national championships he was allowed to debut at an even higher rank than other amateur champions. This debut at makushita 10, was only the second time this has had been allowed, following his Nihon University predecessor Ichihara.[3] He entered the professional ring in the March 2013 tournament, choosing to keep his surname of Endō as his shikona. He was not quite as successful as was expected, managing two consecutive tournaments with strong, but less than ideal, 5-2 records. They were enough, however, to allow him to join the salaried ranks of jūryō for the July 2013 tournament. He did so without a top-knot as his hair was still not long enough for one. Debuting at the rank of jūryō 13, he came into his own, finally giving the kind of performance that had been expected of him. He beat several wrestlers with top division experience as well as other up and comers, including the closely watched Egyptian wrestler Ōsunaarashi. His only loss was to jūryō regular Tokushinhō. His 14-1 record was at least a four win berth over any other wrestler in the division and his championship was already decided by the 13th day of the tournament. His previous amateur success, his technique and his seemingly effortless championship have fueled speculation that Endō could be the next big Japanese hope in professional sumo in a sport largely dominated by foreigners in the higher ranks.[4]

His success continued into his makuuchi debut in September 2013, where he scored a majority of wins, although he damaged his left ankle and dropped out of the tournament on Day 14. After making a respectable comeback in November with a score of 6–9 from the rank of maegashira 7, he had his best result in the top division to date in January 2014, winning eleven bouts and the Fighting Spirit Prize. He was even matched with an ōzeki, Kotoshōgiku, on Day 12, although he lost this bout. Promoted to the top of the maegashira ranks for the March 2014 tournament, he faced three ōzeki and two yokozuna in his first five matches. He lost the first four but defeated Kisenosato on Day 5, his first win over an ōzeki, and the fact that he was still without a top-knot was also noted.[5] He finished the tournament with a 6-9. The following May 2014 tournament, while only managing a 7-8, he got his first gold star win against yokozuna Kakuryū.

Endō suffered a serious injury to his left knee in the March 2015 tournament, rupturing anterior cruciate ligaments.[6] He opted not to have surgery and competed in the following tournament in May, knowing he would be demoted to jūryō if he failed to take part.[6] Although he only scored six wins against nine losses, it was enough to keep him in the top division. In the Nagoya tournament in July, he came through with a solid 10-5 record and recorded 8 wins in September. A disappointing 4-11 in November however, was followed by an injury in the January 2016 tournament and Endō was demoted to the second division (jūryō) for March. He returned to the top division in May 2016 and scored 11–4, although a defeat on the final day meant he missed out on a share of the Fighting Spirit prize.[7] In September 2016, fighting from the low rank of maegashira 14, he finished runner-up to Goeido on 13–2 and won his first Technique Prize. In November he defeated three ozeki and yokozuna Hakuho but lost four of his last five matches to finish with a make-koshi 7-8 record, which cost him the Outstanding Performance Award.

Fighting style

Endō is a yotsu-sumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques to pushing and thrusting. His most common winning kimarite is a straightforward yori kiri, or force out, and he uses a hidari yotsu grip on the mawashi or belt, with his right hand outside and left hand inside his opponent's arms.

Career record

Endō Shōta[8]
Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo		 March
Haru basho, Osaka		 May
Natsu basho, Tokyo		 July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya		 September
Aki basho, Tokyo		 November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2013 x Makushita tsukedashi #10
5–2
 		 East Makushita #3
5–2
 		 West Jūryō #13
14–1
Champion
 		 East Maegashira #13
9–5–1
 		 West Maegashira #7
6–9
 
2014 West Maegashira #10
11–4
F		 East Maegashira #1
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #4
7–8
★		 West Maegashira #5
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #1
3–12
 		 West Maegashira #8
10–5
 
2015 East Maegashira #3
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #5
4–1–10
 		 West Maegashira #9
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #12
10–5
 		 East Maegashira #7
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #4
4–11
 
2016 East Maegashira #11
1–6–8
 		 East Jūryō #6
11–4
 		 West Maegashira #15
11–4
 		 West Maegashira #6
3–12
 		 East Maegashira #14
13–2
T		 East Maegashira #3
7–8
★
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

References

  1. ↑ National student sumo athletes 全国学生相撲選手権：10日開幕…個人戦Vの行方は mainichi.jp
  2. ↑ Amateur yokozuna Endo enters Oitekaze stable アマチュア横綱・遠藤、追手風部屋入門を表明 YOMIURI ONLINE 2013-3-8
  3. ↑ Endo takes two national championships 遠藤が初のアマ横綱 国体との2冠達成 全日本選手権 MSN Sankei News2013-3-8 Archived April 7, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Buckton, Mark (8 November 2013). "Kyushu Basho 2013 – a tale of two newbies". Japan Times. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "SUMO/ Yokozuna coast, Endo rebounds on Day 5". Asahi Shimbun. 13 March 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Injured Endo doubtful for basho". Japan Times. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Hakuho bags perfect mark". Japan Times. 22 May 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  8. ↑ "Endo Shota Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
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