Aobajō Yukio

is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. He did not miss a single bout in his 22-year professional career, and held the record for the most consecutive matches fought, at 1,630, until September 10, 2024, when Tamawashi Ichirō broke the record with 1,631 consecutive bouts. After his retirement from active competition, he served as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and worked as a coach.

Career He made his debut in March 1964, joining Nishonoseki stable. He reached the top makuuchi division for the first time in January 1975. In only his fourth top division tournament, he finished as a runner-up, won a sanshō (for Fighting Spirit), and earned a kinboshi for defeating a yokozuna. Although he never achieved any of those things again, he fought in the top division for a total of 62 tournaments. He made his san'yaku debut in September 1975 at komusubi and in October of that year he followed the former ōzeki Daikirin to the newly established Oshiogawa stable. He dropped into the jūryō division in 1981, but fought his way back, and an 8-7 score at maegashira 1 in May 1983 took him to his highest rank of sekiwake, which he held for just one tournament. This was his second and final appearance in the san'yaku ranks, coming 47 tournaments after his first—the longest such gap since the six tournaments per year schedule began in 1958. It also took him 116 tournaments from his professional debut to reach the rank of sekiwake, which is the slowest ever. In 1985, he surpassed Fujizakura's record of 1,543 consecutive career appearances. When he retired in July 1986—having not missed any matches since his debut—he had set a new record of 1,630 consecutive bouts. He was nearly 38 years old, having been an active wrestler for over 22 years.

Retirement from sumo After retirement from active competition, he became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association (at Deputy Director level) under the name Shiranui Oyakata. He later on coached at the Oshiogawa and Oguruma stables and reached the Sumo Association's mandatory retirement age of 65 in November 2013.

Fighting style Aobajo was a yotsu-sumo wrestler, preferring a hidari-yotsu, or right hand outside, left hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi. His most common winning kimarite was yori-kiri (force out), though he also regularly used tsuri-dashi (the lift out) and sukuinage (the scoop throw).

Career record