Kaio Hiroyuki
| Kaiō Hiroyuki | |
|---|---|
| 魁皇 博之 | |
Kaiō in May 2008
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Hiroyuki Koga 24 July 1972 Nōgata, Fukuoka, Japan |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 170 kg (370 lb; 27 st) |
| Web presence | website |
| Career | |
| Stable | Tomozuna |
| Record | 1047–700–158 |
| Debut | March 1988 |
| Highest rank | Ōzeki (September 2000) |
| Retired | July 2011 |
| Championships | 5 (Makuuchi) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Sandanme) |
| Special Prizes | Outstanding Performance (10) Fighting Spirit (5) |
| Gold Stars | 6 Takanohana (3) Akebono (2) Wakanohana III |
| * Up to date as of July 2011. | |
Kaiō Hiroyuki (born 24 July 1972 as Hiroyuki Koga) is a former professional sumo wrestler from Nōgata, Fukuoka, Japan.
He made his debut in 1988, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1993. He held the second highest rank of ōzeki or champion for eleven years from 2000 to 2011, and is the longest-serving ōzeki of all time in terms of number of tournaments fought. In his career he won five top division yūshō or tournament championships, the last coming in 2004. This is the modern record for someone who has not ultimately made the top rank of yokozuna. He was a runner-up in eleven other tournaments, and also won 15 sanshō or special prizes, the third highest ever. In November 2009 he broke the record previously held by Takamiyama for the most tournaments ranked in the top division, and in January 2010 he surpassed Chiyonofuji's record of most top division bouts won. In the May 2010 tournament he became the only wrestler besides Chiyonofuji to reach one thousand career wins, and he surpassed Chiyonofuji's career wins record of 1045 in July 2011. He retired in the same tournament to become a coach at Tomozuna stable under the elder name Asakayama. In 2014, he established the latest incarnation of the Asakayama stable.
Koga did karate for two years in elementary school, and judo in his second year of junior high school. He had not shown much interest in sumo but was asked by his parents to take part in sumo competitions. It was at one such competition in Fukuoka that he was spotted by the wrestler Kaiki, later Tomozuna Oyakata. After being introduced to him by a mutual acquaintance in Nōgata, the young Koga was recruited to Tomozuna stable upon graduation from junior high. Kaiki thought so highly of the apprentice that he promised Koga's parents that he would become a sekitori by the age of 20. However, because the move had been set up by others around him, and he had not ever had the ambition to be a rikishi himself, Koga initially had doubts that he would be able to succeed in sumo.
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Wikipedia