Asashōryū Akinori

Asashōryū Akinori (朝青龍 明徳) is a Mongolian former professional sumo wrestler (Rikishi).

Nobody had attained a zensho-yūshō since 1996; yet Asashōryū went on to add three more such titles after 2004, for a career total of five.

At that time only Taihō, with eight, and Chiyonofuji and Kitanoumi with seven, had recorded more 15–0 scores.

He made his professional debut in January 1999.

At that time, fellow Mongolians Kyokushūzan and Kyokutenhō were in the top division and stars back in their home country, but Asashōryū was quick to overtake them both.

He attained elite sekitori status in September 2000 by winning promotion to the jūryō division, and reached the top makuuchi division just two tournaments later in January 2001.

In May 2001, he made his san'yaku debut at komusubi rank and earned his first sanshō special prize, for Outstanding Performance.

In 2002, Asashōryū put together back-to-back records of 11–4, 11–4 and 12–3 and was promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ōzeki in July.

In November 2002, he took his first top division tournament championship (yūshō) with a 14–1 record.

It took Asashōryū only 23 tournaments from his professional debut to win his first top division title, the fastest ever.

He was the 68th yokozuna in the history of the sport in Japan, and in January 2003 he became the first Mongolian to reach sumo's highest rank.

He was one of the most successful yokozuna ever.

In January 2003, he won his second straight championship.

Shortly after the tournament, Asashōryū was granted the title of yokozuna, the highest rank in sumo.

Asashōryū nominally shared the yokozuna rank with Musashimaru, but in fact his rival only fought a handful of bouts in 2003 due to injury.

The two did not meet in competition all year.

Asashōryū won his first championship as a yokozuna in May 2003 and came back from an injury sustained in the July tournament to win his third title of the year in September.

Musashimaru announced his retirement in November, leaving Asashōryū as sumo's only yokozuna.

From 2004 until 2007, Asashōryū was sumo's sole yokozuna between the retirement of Musashimaru and the promotion of fellow Mongolian Hakuhō, and was criticized at times by the media and the Japan Sumo Association for not upholding the standards of behaviour expected of a holder of such a prestigious rank.

Asashōryū began 2004 with two consecutive perfect 15–0 tournament wins (zensho-yūshō) in January and March.

His unbeaten run continued into the first five days of the May 2004 tournament, giving him a winning streak of 35 bouts in total, the longest run since Chiyonofuji's 53 in 1988.

Although he was then upset by maegashira Hokutōriki, he gained revenge by defeating Hokutōriki in a playoff on the final day to claim the championship.

On 27 November 2004, Asashōryū became the first wrestler to win five tournaments in a year since Chiyonofuji achieved the feat in 1986, and won his ninth Emperor's Cup.

Asashōryū's below average 9–6 score in the September basho of 2004, the only one he did not win, was attributed in part to the official ceremony for his marriage, which was held in August 2004 (although he had actually married in December 2002).

The hectic social round that inevitably follows Japanese weddings affected his pre-tournament preparations, as it prevented him from doing any training.

In 2005, he became the first wrestler to win all six official tournaments (honbasho) in a single year.

Over his entire career, he won 25 top division tournament championships, placing him fourth on the all-time list.

He continued to dominate sumo in 2005, becoming the first wrestler ever to win all six honbasho (sumo tournaments) in the same year.

He became the first yokozuna in history to be suspended from competition in August 2007 when he participated in a charity football match in his home country despite having withdrawn from a regional sumo tour claiming injury.

After a career filled with a multitude of other controversies, both on and off the dohyō, his career was cut short when he retired from sumo in February 2010 after allegations that he assaulted a man outside a Tokyo nightclub.

Asashōryū comes from an ethnic Mongol family with a strong background in Mongolian wrestling, with his father and two of his elder brothers all achieving high ranks in the sport.

He also trained in judo in Mongolia.

He originally came to Japan as an exchange student, together with his friend, the future Asasekiryū, where they attended Meitoku Gijuku High School in Kōchi Prefecture.

They both trained together at the sumo club there.

He was recruited by the former ōzeki Asashio of the Wakamatsu stable (now Takasago stable), who gave him the shikona of Asashōryū, literally "morning blue dragon", Asa being a regular prefix in the Wakamatsu stable.

The second part of the shikona, Akinori, is an alternative reading of Meitoku, the name of his high school.

His promotion coincided with the retirement of the injury-plagued Takanohana, the last active Japanese born yokozuna until Kisenosato in January 2017.

While his first tournament as yokozuna ended in a disappointing 10–5 record, Asashōryū won a further twenty-three tournaments.

Combined with his two yūshō as an ōzeki, he had twenty-five career championships in the top division.

This puts him in fourth place on the all-time list, behind only Hakuhō, Taihō, and Chiyonofuji.