Kinbōzan Haruki (Japanese: 金峰山 晴樹, born 24 June 1997 as Yersin Baltagul[1] (Kazakh: Ерсін Балтағұл) is a professional sumo wrestler from Almaty, Kazakhstan. He began his professional sumo career in November 2021 at the age of 24. After eight tournaments and two lower division championships he was promoted to the top makuuchi division, becoming the first Kazakhstani to do so. His highest rank to date has been maegashira 5 as of the May 2023 Tournament. He wrestles for Kise stable.
Early life and education
Yersin originally practiced judo until the age of 18 when, at the suggestion of former yokozunaAsashōryū, he transferred to a high school in Japan to participate in amateur sumo wrestling.[2] He then entered Nihon University and joined their sumo club.[3] In 2019 he finished as the runner-up in the All-Japan Championships, and placed in the top 16 at that same tournament the following year.[2]
Career
Upon graduating from university Yersin was urged to enter professional sumo, where he would be eligible to skip the lower two divisions and start at the rank of sandanme because of a dispensation given to amateur wrestlers who have finished in the top 8 in tournaments such as the All-Japan Championships. He joined Kise stable under the shikona of Kinbōzan, which is derived from Mount Kinbō in Kumamoto, the hometown of his stablemaster and former maegashiraHigonoumi.
Kinbōzan in July 2022
Kinbōzan's first tournament was the November 2021 basho in Kyushu, where he won all seven of his matches and took the sandanme championship, resulting in his promotion to makushita.[4] At the March 2022 tournament in Osaka he won the makushita championship with a 7–0 sweep at the rank of makushita 34.[5] He would work his way up the makushita rankings and eventually earn promotion to the second-highest jūryō division in September 2022. Following winning performances in three tournaments (including double digit wins in two of them) he was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 2023, becoming the first wrestler from Kazakhstan to do so.[6] At a press conference following his top division promotion, Kinbōzan said that he wanted to wrestle his own style of sumo, adding he was motivated to become stronger following a recent visit to Kazakhstan to visit his mother, who was unwell.[6] In his top-division debut he secured 11 wins and was awarded with the Kantō-shō (Fighting Spirit prize), which is one of the special prizes awarded at the end of every tournament.[7]
During the sōken of May 2023, Kinbōzan admitted that he was prone to breathing problems when put under stress or too much effort after he appeared to be genuinely uncomfortable after a butsukari session with more senior wrestlers.[8] In the following tournament Kinbōzan notably won his match against ŌzekiTakakeishō, handing him his fourth defeat on Day 10.[9] This victory marked the first time in seven years that a maegashira ranked wrestler without a fully grown ōichōmage inflicted a defeat on an ōzeki. The most recent previous occurrence of such a victory had been in July 2016 when Mitakeumi earned a victory over then ōzekiTerunofuji.[10] Kinbōzan nevertheless finished the tournament with a score of 4–11. After two successive tournaments, in which he recorded a negative score (make-koshi), Kinbōzan also withdrew from the jungyō of August, reporting a sprained cervical vertebrae requiring 30 days of rest, an injury which he had already contracted at the May tournament and which really limited his capabilities.[11]
Kinbōzan remained in the makuuchi division throughout 2023, however, and started 2024 at the rank of maegashira 6 east. During the twelfth day of the tournament, he suffered a knee injury in his match against Tsurugishō and had to limp back up the hanamichi, telling the press afterwards that he felt severe pain even with painkillers.[12] On the fourth day of the March 2024 tournament, Kinbōzan fell hard outside the ring in his loss to Tamawashi. He withdrew the following day, with the medical certificate stating he would need seven days of rest due to a cervical vertebrae sprain.[13] After three days of rest he returned to competition.[14] In the next two tournaments Kinbōzan conceded 22 defeats, subsequently resulting in his demotion from the top division to jūryō.[15] At the November tournament, however, he won his third professional title, taking the jūryō championship with 13 wins. The November performance will likely result in his return to the top division in January 2025.[16]
Fighting style
Kinbōzan primarily uses pushing and thrusting techniques, with most of his wins by way of oshidashi (frontal push out), yorikiri (frontal force out) and tsukidashi (frontal thrust out).
