Chiyotaikai
| Chiyotaikai Ryūji | |
|---|---|
| 千代大海 龍二 | |
 |
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Ryūji Hiroshima April 29, 1976 Chitose, Hokkaidō, Japan |
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 158 kg (348 lb; 24.9 st) |
| Web presence | website |
| Career | |
| Stable | Kokonoe |
| Record | 771-524-115 |
| Debut | November 1992 |
| Highest rank | Ōzeki (March 1999) |
| Retired | January 2010 |
| Championships | 3 (Makuuchi) 2 (Jūryō) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonokuchi) |
| Special Prizes | Outstanding Performance (1) Fighting Spirit (1) Technique (3) |
| Gold Stars | 1 (Takanohana II) |
| * Up to date as of Jan 2010. | |
Chiyotaikai Ryūji (born April 29, 1976 as Ryūji Hiroshima in Chitose, Hokkaidō), is a Japanese former sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 1992 and reached the top makuuchi division in 1997. He held the second highest rank of ōzeki or champion for 65 consecutive tournaments from 1999 until 2009, making him the longest serving ōzeki in the modern era. He won three top division yūshō or tournament championships, and was a runner-up on seven other occasions. However, he also held the dubious record of being in danger of demotion from ōzeki fourteen times. He wrestled for Kokonoe stable until his retirement in January 2010 at the age of 33. He remained in sumo as a coach at his stable, and became the head coach in August 2016 following the death of Chiyonofuji.
After his father's death, Chiyotaikai's family moved to Ōita, which is considered his hometown and listed as such on the banzuke ranking sheets. When he was eleven, his mother remarried, to a local businessman. (In May 2009, Chiyotaikai finally adopted his mother's remarried surname of Sudō as his own.) He was an enthusiastic player of baseball and soccer as well as martial arts. He excelled at karate, and in judo he came third in the All-Japan Middle School Judo Championships. However, he also got into fights and petty crime as a member of a gang of youths. After graduating junior high school, he worked as a construction worker before he decided on his mother's prompting to apprentice himself to Kokonoe-oyakata, the former Chiyonofuji, the 58th Yokozuna and one of the strongest wrestlers in sumo history, who manages the Kokonoe stable. Kokonoe initially refused the new wrestler because of his bleached hair and obliged him to get a haircut before allowing him to join.
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