Amuru Mitsuhiro
| Amūru Mitsuhiro 阿夢露 光大 |
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Nikolai Yuryevich Ivanov August 25, 1983 Lesozavodsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia |
| Height | 1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 132 kg (291 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Onomatsu |
| Current rank | see below |
| Debut | May, 2002 |
| Highest rank | Maegashira 5 (November 2015) |
| Championships | 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonidan) |
| * Up to date as of August 28, 2017. | |
Amūru Mitsuhiro (阿夢露 光大, born August 25, 1983 as Nikolai Yuryevich Ivanov) is a professional sumo wrestler from Lesozavodsk, Primorsky Krai, Russia. After an initial influx of Russian wrestlers from the early 2000s, he is currently the only ethnic Russian in sumo. He made his debut in May 2002 and, after a serious knee injury in 2012 sent him down the rankings, reached the top makuuchi division in November 2014. His highest rank has been maegashira 5. He has spent nine tournaments ranked in the top division, but is the third highest makushita division as of 2017.
Ivanov had no exposure to sumo in early life, though he was active in boxing during his student years. Later, his brother-in-law, who was Japanese, recommended he give sumo a try. With the help of the professional wrestler Akira Taue he was able to make a contact with former sekiwake Masurao, who was the owner of Onomatsu stable. He came to Japan and joined sumo together with the two Russian brothers who would join Kitanoumi stable and take the ring names Rohō and Hakurozan. His ring name is derived from the Amur River in his region of Russia, and the three Chinese characters that comprise it are the first character in Onomatsu, the character for dream to represent Ivanov's dream of coming to Japan as a sumo wrestler, and the character used to represent Russia. The name was devised by the Japanese poet Daizaburō Nakayama.
Until he reached the sandanme division he advanced at a steady rate, but still being only around 90 kilograms with a tall thin build, his advance slowed and for the next four years he traveled back and forth between the sandanme and makushita divisions. The brothers Rohō and Hakurozan had by this time already become regulars in the salaried ranks. However, Amūru gradually started to put on weight and by 2008 had become a makushita regular. It was in this year that the other three ethnic Russian wrestlers (Wakanohō was the third) were expelled for cannabis use, leaving Amūru as the only ethnic Russian in professional sumo.
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