Mitakeumi, Ōhō, and Takayasu Relish the Expo Basho—Even Craving German Sausages!

On August 3, in Osaka City, at the “Osaka-Kansai Expo Basho,” rikishi spread the charm of sumo, a symbol of Japanese culture.

Currently, in the sumo world, there are 20 Mongolian-born rikishi led by yokozuna Hōshōryū, along with many others from abroad, such as Ukraine (makuuchi: Anshōkin, Shishi), Kazakhstan (makuuchi: Kinbōzan), Russia (makuuchi: Ōga), and China (jūryō: Dai Seizan).

If you also count rikishi of foreign heritage, the number is even higher.

One well-known example is Mitakeumi, a makuuchi rikishi and former ōzeki, whose mother is from the Philippines. Although he was demoted to jūryō for the first time in about 10 years at the Natsu Basho, he returned to makuuchi in the following Nagoya Basho, where he started off with six straight wins from opening day, showing the potential for a fourth championship. Mitakeumi says:

“The reason I did well in the Nagoya Basho? Not really anything in particular, maybe because my shoulder injury has been healing. Since I grew up in the Philippines as a kid, I’m good with hot weather. But this summer’s heat might be even worse than in the Philippines.”

“I’m not good with crowded places.”

Wincing at the relentless heat, he still took a bite of the snack bread offered to him.

“It seems there’s a Philippine Pavilion, but since we’ll be moving on to the next stop (Gifu City) right after the Expo tour, I won’t be able to go—too bad! But I’d like to visit while the Expo is still going on,” he vowed to return.

Makuuchi rikishi Ōhō is also one who has been gaining strength recently. His grandfather is the former yokozuna Taihō. Taihō, from Hokkaidō, had a father from Ukraine. Inheriting that lineage, Ōhō’s skin is strikingly fair.

“I’m not good with crowded places. But since the Expo grounds face the sea, the sea breeze feels nice.”

With a hobby of visiting aquariums, Ōhō enjoyed the seaside atmosphere during breaks.

The rikishi participating in the summer tour that began with the Expo Basho are basically makuuchi rikishi and their attendants. This time, since Hōshōryū (who joined on August 7), as well as popular wrestlers like Ura and Endō, were absent, Jūryō rikishi Hakuhōzan joined in as a substitute.

“Getting to come to the Expo as part of the tour after such a long time was lucky for me. I love meat, especially churrasco, so personally I would have liked to check out the Brazil Pavilion. And I wanted to try authentic German sausages, too. I won’t be able to join the London tour this October since I’m still in Jūryō, but next autumn’s Paris tour—I definitely want to go as a makuuchi rikishi!”

With that, he had his sights set on making his makuuchi debut within the year.

“I want to return to ōzeki.”

In the spring tournament, Takayasu fought for the championship with then-ozeki Onosato and returned to the komusubi rank. In the summer tournament, 35-year-old Takayasu remained a komusubi despite a losing record of six wins (nine losses). With such good fortune, he led the first half of the Nagoya tournament with a 5-1 record through the sixth day.

Takayasu said, “Even now, I devote my entire life to sumo, with the goal of returning to the ozeki ranks.”

When he first joined the stable, he could not endure life in the stable and had to escape several times. He once walked home to his parents’ house in Ibaraki Prefecture, where they ran a Filipino restaurant. When he finished eating his mother’s Filipino food, his father would drive him to the Naruto stable in Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, and apologize to the stablemaster and his siblings.

He said, “Really, for the first two years, I was a spoiled brat who didn’t put much effort into sumo. In fact, in 2005, when I joined the stable at the age of 15, Nagoya was hosting the “EXPO 2005 AICHI JAPAN” (Aichi Expo).

（The Nagoya dormitory of the Naruto stable was in Nagakute, and the Expo was close by, so during the vacations after the Nagoya tournament, I went to the Expo with my classmates and visited the various pavilions.

Twenty years have passed since then. At that time, I couldn’t even see tomorrow, and I never thought that I would be a sumo wrestler until this age (35). This Osaka-Kansai Expo is very emotional for me.

Takayasu looks back.

He had to take a leave of absence from the summer tour due to a hip problem, but we hope he will be able to wrestle again in the fall tournament in September and give the top ranks a hard time.