Ryūden Gōshi

Ryūden Gōshi (Japanese: 竜電 剛至, born November 10, 1990 as Yūki Watanabe (渡邊 裕樹, Watanabe Yūki)) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture. He made his professional debut in March 2006 and reached the top makuuchi division in January 2018. He won a special prize for Fighting Spirit in his top division debut. His highest rank has been komusubi. He is a member of Takadagawa stable.

In this Japanese shikona name, the surname is Ryūden.
Ryūden Gōshi
竜電剛至
Ryūden in 2017
Personal information
BornYūki Watanabe
(1990-11-10) November 10, 1990
Kōfu, Yamanashi
Height190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Weight148 kg (326 lb)
Career
StableTakadagawa
Current ranksee below
DebutMarch, 2006
Highest rankKomusubi (July, 2019)
Championships1 (Makushita)
1 (Sandanme)
1 (Jonidan)
1 (Jonokuchi)
Special Prizes1 (Fighting Spirit)
1 (Technique)
* Up to date as of January 24, 2021.

Career

He was the youngest of three brothers and had a background in judo. However, he was persuaded by the former sekiwake Akinoshima, a coach at Takadagawa stable who was visiting his junior high school to scout a judo classmate, to give sumo a try. He made his debut in March 2006, the same tournament as Tochinoshin, Sakaizawa and Masakaze. He was immediately given the shikona of Ryūden, with the "Ryū" part taken from his hometown school and the "den" part from the legendary wrestler Raiden. He was talked of, alongside Masunoyama, as a candidate for the first wrestler born in the Heisei era to reach the sekitori ranks when he produced a 5–2 score at the rank of makushita 15 in November 2009. However his progress then stalled with two consecutive make-koshi, and he suffered a concussion after falling from the dohyo in a match against Takanoiwa in March 2010, and was embarrassed when he had to be carried off in a wheelchair. He was overtaken by Takayasu who did become the first Heisei born sekitori in November 2010, with Masunoyama. However after scoring a perfect 7–0 record and taking the makushita championship, Ryūden eventually reached the jūryō division himself after the September 2012 tournament. He was the first sekitori produced by the new Takadagawa head Akinoshima, who had taken over the running of the stable from former ōzeki Maenoyama in 2009. He was also the first sekitori from Yamanashi Prefecture since Hidenohana 24 years earlier.

However Ryūden suffered a fracture of his right hip joint in his juryo debut in November and had to withdraw from the tournament. During his long injury recuperation he made two abortive attempts to return, breaking the hip twice more. This resulted in him falling all the way down to jonokuchi 17 in the rankings. For four consecutive tournaments from January until July 2014, although still injured, he fought (and won) one match at the end of the tournament, solely to prevent falling off the banzuke completely. He was finally fit to return in September 2014 and won three consecutive yusho to quickly return to the third highest makushita division. He was finally promoted back to jūryō in November 2016. Only Hokutokuni (off the banzuke) and Kotobeppu (jonokuchi 39) had returned to jūryō from lower ranks than Ryūden had.

Ryūden was promoted to the top makuuchi division in January 2018, becoming the second top division wrestler from Takadagawa stable after Kagayaki to achieve this since the new head coach took over. He was the first Yamanashi Prefecture native to be ranked in makuuchi since Onohana in March 1988. He scored ten wins in his top division debut and shared the Fighting Spirit prize with fellow newcomer Abi. Since then, he has stayed in makuuchi and has mainly shown solid performances. In May 2019 he won ten bouts and received his first Technique prize.[1] He was promoted to komusubi for the July 2019 tournament, the first from Yamanashi Prefecture since Fujizakura 47 years earlier.

Fighting style

Ryūden is a yotsu sumo specialist who prefers grappling techniques. His favourite winning kimarite is yori-kiri, with a moro-zashi hold, or both arms inside his opponent's.

Career record
Ryūden Gōshi[2]
Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo		 March
Haru basho, Osaka		 May
Natsu basho, Tokyo		 July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya		 September
Aki basho, Tokyo		 November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2006 x (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #28
4–3
 		 West Jonidan #120
6–1
 		 West Jonidan #39
3–4
 		 West Jonidan #59
5–2
 
2007 East Jonidan #20
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #100
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #81
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #91
5–2
 		 West Sandanme #60
5–2
 		 West Sandanme #34
3–4
 
2008 West Sandanme #49
6–1
 		 West Makushita #59
2–5
 		 West Sandanme #21
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #36
4–3
 		 East Sandanme #20
6–1
 		 West Makushita #42
3–4
 
2009 East Makushita #52
6–1
 		 West Makushita #25
2–5
 		 East Makushita #38
3–4
 		 West Makushita #46
6–1
 		 West Makushita #19
4–3
 		 East Makushita #15
5–2
 
2010 West Makushita #9
3–4
 		 East Makushita #15
2–5
 		 East Makushita #29
4–3
 		 West Makushita #24
2–5
 		 East Makushita #39
3–4
 		 East Makushita #46
5–2
 
2011 East Makushita #33
4–3
 
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0		 East Makushita #27
4–3
 		 West Makushita #14
3–4
 		 West Makushita #17
5–2
 		 West Makushita #8
4–3
 
2012 West Makushita #6
2–5
 		 West Makushita #14
6–1
 		 East Makushita #5
3–4
 		 West Makushita #8
3–4
 		 West Makushita #12
7–0
Champion
 		 West Jūryō #12
4–5–6
 
2013 East Makushita #4
2–5
 		 East Makushita #10
Sat out due to injury
0–0–7		 West Makushita #50
Sat out due to injury
0–0–7		 West Sandanme #30
1–2–4
 		 East Sandanme #69
Sat out due to injury
0–0–7		 East Jonidan #30
Sat out due to injury
0–0–7
2014 West Jonokuchi #10
1–0–6
 		 West Jonokuchi #7
1–0–6
 		 East Jonokuchi #1
1–0–6
 		 East Jonokuchi #14
1–0–6
 		 West Jonokuchi #17
7–0
Champion
 		 West Jonidan #11
7–0
Champion
 
2015 East Sandanme #20
7–0
Champion
 		 East Makushita #14
2–5
 		 East Makushita #28
6–1
 		 East Makushita #10
2–5
 		 East Makushita #25
5–2
 		 West Makushita #11
4–3
 
2016 East Makushita #9
3–4
 		 West Makushita #13
6–1
 		 East Makushita #3
3–4
 		 East Makushita #7
5–2
 		 West Makushita #2
4–3
 		 East Jūryō #13
9–6
 
2017 West Jūryō #10
9–6
 		 West Jūryō #8
6–9
 		 East Jūryō #12
9–6
 		 West Jūryō #8
9–6
 		 East Jūryō #5
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #2
8–7
 
2018 East Maegashira #16
10–5
F		 West Maegashira #9
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #7
3–12
 		 West Maegashira #15
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #13
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #3
6–9
 
2019 East Maegashira #7
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #11
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #5
10–5
T		 West Komusubi #1
4–11
 		 West Maegashira #5
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #5
6–9
 
2020 West Maegashira #8
10–5
 		 East Maegashira #5
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #6
Tournament Cancelled
0–0–0		 West Maegashira #6
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #7
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #10
9–6
 
2021 East Maegashira #6
4–11
 		 x x x x x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

References
  1. "Asanoyama falls on basho's last day". Japan Times. 26 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  2. "Ryuden Goshi Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  • Ryūden Gōshi's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage
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