Takanoyama Shuntaro

隆の山俊太郎 Takanoyama Shuntaro
Personal information
Born	Pavel Bojar February 21, 1983 (1983-02-21) Prague, Czech Republic
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Weight	98 kg (220 lb; 15.4 st)
Career
Heya	Naruto
Current rank	see below
Debut	November, 2001
Highest rank	Maegashira 14 (Jan, 2012)
* Career information is correct as of Dec 2011.

Takanoyama Shuntaro (born 21 February 1983 as Pavel Bojar) is a sumo wrestler from Prague, Czech Republic. He is the first man from the Czech Republic to join the professional sport in Japan. He reached the third highest makushita division in 2004, but due to his light weight he had difficulty in regularly beating his opponents, despite his skill. However, in May 2011 he finally earned promotion to the sekitori ranks. After becoming only the third new sekitori since 1958 to pass through juryo division in just one tournament, he made his debut in the top makuuchi division in September 2011.

Career

Bojar did judo in the Czech Republic before becoming interested in sumo. The sport is more popular in the Czech Republic than in any other European country, with ten sumo clubs containing some 600 members, and he was trained by Jaroslav Poříz, president of the Czech Sumo Association. After winning the bronze medal in the 2000 Junior World Sumo Championships in Tokyo, he was accepted by Naruto stable, a heya in Chiba run by former yokozuna Takanosato. After passing the physical exam, he made his official debut in November 2001. He was given the shikona of Takanoyama, meaning "noble mountain." He reached the sandanme division in January 2003, and the third highest makushita division in March 2004. He fell back to sandanme after only two tournaments but returned to makushita in March 2005 and largely remained there for the next six years, unable to break through to the elite sekitori ranks.

Takanoyama was hampered mostly by an inability to put on weight. His height of 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) and weight of 90 kg (200 lb; 14 st) make him among the lightest sumo wrestlers in the modern era. In November 2008 he climbed as high as makushita 13, beating his previous high of makushita 15 set in November 2005, and he moved up to makushita 9 in January 2009. After compiling a 5-2 record in the July tournament, which included a win over the former maegashira Ryuho, he reached a new highest rank of makushita 4 in September 2009. He produced another good score of 5-2 in May 2010 from makushita 6, which included wins over Jūmonji and Hochiyama. In January 2011 a 6-1 score saw him promoted to a new highest rank of makushita 2 for the May "technical examination tournament." There he scored 5-2, guaranteeing promotion to the juryo division for July. When the banzuke was released on June 27, Takanoyama was at #5 West, the tenth highest rank in the 26 man division. It took him 57 tournaments from his professional debut to reach juryo, the second slowest among foreign born wrestlers after the Brazilian Wakaazuma.

He had a successful juryo debut, winning seven of his first eight bouts and finishing on 10-5. This earned him immediate promotion to the top makuuchi division for the September 2011, only the third time since the six tournaments a year system was established in 1958 that a juryo debutant has achieved this (the other two were Daikiko and Ichihara). Weighing in before the tournament at just 98 kg (220 lb; 15.4 st), he is the first wrestler under 100 kilos in the top division since Mainoumi in 1997.

Takanoyama had a difficult start to his makuuchi career, losing his first five matches and then only winning the sixth when his opponent inadvertently stepped out of the ring first (isamiashi). However, he picked up a legitimate win on Day 7, downing the 166kg Yoshiazuma with a hooking inner thigh throw (kakenage) and instantly becoming a favourite with the tournament crowd. He finished on 5-10, which sent him back to juryo in November, but he responded with a 9-6 record which returned him immediately to the top division for the January 2012 tournament.

Fighting style

Due to his exceptionally light frame Takanoyama relies heavily on throws to defeat his much heavier opponents. His most common winning kimarite is uwatenage, or overarm throw, followed by shitatenage (underarm throw) and kakenage (hooking inner thigh throw). He has knowledge of a wide variety of techniques, using 37 different winning kimarite so far in his career.

Personal life

In an effort to improve his understanding of Japanese culture he watches historical dramas and reads manga in his spare time. After reaching juryo he returned to the Czech Republic in the summer of 2011 for the first time since leaving ten years earlier.

After the September 2011 tournament he announced his engagement to a 32 year old domestic helper from Chiba Prefecture. The couple's first child, a girl, was born in May.

Takanoyama became a sekitori at around the same time as (temporarily) breaking through the 100kg barrier, and attributed his gain in weight to Naruto Oyakata (and the stablemaster's wife) giving him special dishes and snacks at night. However, in November 2011 he was given a warning by the Sumo Association for injecting himself with insulin that had been prescribed to his stablemaster.

Jūryō and makuuchi record

　

Takanoyama Shuntarō

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
2011	x	x	x	West Jūryō #5 10–5	West Maegashira #15 5–10	West Jūryō #3 9–6
2012	East Maegashira #14 6–9	x	x	x	x	x
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

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

External links

• Takanoyama Shuntaro's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage
• Complete career record
• Article about him in the Japan Times