Aoiyama

Aoiyama Kōsuke
碧山 亘右
Aoiyama in the January 2012 tournament
Personal information
Born	Daniel Ivanov (1986-06-19) June 19, 1986 (age 30) Elhovo, Bulgaria
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in)
Weight	201 kg (443 lb; 31.7 st)
Career
Stable	Tagonoura, Kasugano stable
Current rank	see below
Debut	May, 2009
Highest rank	Sekiwake (Nov 2014)
Championships	1 (Makushita) 1 (Jonidan) 1 (Jonokuchi)
Special Prizes	Fighting Spirit (1)
Gold Stars	1 (Harumafuji)
* Up to date as of Mar 26, 2017.

Aoiyama Kōsuke (碧山 亘右) (born June 19, 1986 as Daniel Ivanov, Bulgarian: Даниел Иванов, in Elhovo, Bulgaria) is a professional sumo wrestler or rikishi. He made his debut in 2009, reaching the top division two years later, debuting in the November 2011 tournament where he won the Fighting Spirit award along with Wakakōyū. His highest rank has been sekiwake.

After wrestling for ten years and doing amateur sumo for three, he entered the professional sumo world at the introduction of fellow countryman, ōzeki Kotoōshū, becoming only the second Bulgarian rikishi. He joined Tagonoura stable, run by former maegashira Kushimaumi. When asked by his coach whether he preferred mountains or rivers, he chose mountains and so was given the ring name of Aoiyama, meaning "blue mountain".

In his professional debut as Aoiyama Kiyohito in the September 2009 tournament, he won the jonokuchi championship with a perfect 7–0 record. He subsequently changed his name to Aoiyama Kōsuke for his jonidan debut in the following November tournament, which he also won with a 7–0 record followed by a playoff win against the sole Kazakhstani wrestler Kazafuzan. In the following January 2010 tournament at sandanme he would finally lose his first bout, having won all of his previous 16 matches. This would be his only loss though, and his 6–1 record was enough to propel him into the makushita division in the following March tournament. He would again post a perfect record and also take the 'makushita championship. His meteoric rise would slow starting with his next tournament however. He only managed two wins in his next makushita tournament. This was his first losing tournament. In contrast to his previous successes, he would struggle somewhat for several more tournaments at this level. He eventually had enough winning tournaments in upper makushita to allow his promotion into the professional jūryō ranks for the July 2011 tournament. He was promoted to the high rank of jūryō 4 due to the high number of vacancies left by wrestlers forced to retire due to involvement in match-fixing. At this high level he only managed a 7-8 record and moved down two ranks to jūryō 6 for the following September tournament. Suffering from a herniated disc, he was forced to sit out the first two days of the tournament, but managed to make a remarkable recovery and pulled out an impressive 10–3 record for his remaining bouts of the tournament. This record was enough to allow him promotion to the top makuuchi division, where he would post an impressive 11–4 record and receive a Fighting Spirit award for his efforts. He would, however, share this record with his rival, Wakakōyū having lost to him on the final day of the tournament.