Shimanoumi Kōyō

is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Shima, Mie. He debuted in sumo wrestling in July 2012 and made his makuuchi debut in May 2019. His highest rank has been maegashira 3. He wrestles for Kise stable.

Background Hamaguchi Kōyō began sumo in elementary school and also practiced at a local sumo wrestling school. He also played baseball but chose to concentrate on sumo in his third year at Watsugu Junior High School. He was scouted by several professional sumo stables but was not recruited and chose to continue his education. He attended Meitoku Yoshitsune High School before studying Business Administration at Kinki University. He was part of the university's successful sumo team but made little impact at national level in individual competition.

Career Early career After graduating from university, he entered the Kise stable to prepare for a career in professional sumo. Like most new recruits he initially used his family name as his shikona and began his career as Hamaguchi. On his debut tournament (basho) in July 2012 he won all seven of his regular matches in the jonokuchi division but lost the championship in a play-off against his stablemate Iwasaki. He was promoted to jonidan for September and replicated his previous performance as he lost the play-off to Iwasaki after winning all seven of his bouts. Promoted to maegashira 6 for the July 2019 tournament he recorded an 8–7 result, securing his kachi-koshi with an uwatedashinage win over Aoiyama on day 14. He then found life in makuuchi more difficult, recording only one kachi-koshi in the next six tournaments, and he had fallen to the very bottom of the division at maegashira 17 by November 2020. He responded by mounting a challenge for the championship, sharing the lead with ōzeki Takakeishō with just a single loss after Day 12. He lost his final three matches to finish with an 11–4 record, but he received his second Fighting Spirit prize.

Having been relegated to the jūryō division, Shimanoumi wrestled in this division for the whole of 2023. At the November tournament of that year, he faced Mitoryū in a match that lasted a total of 5 minutes and 57 seconds and was notably marked by a rare mizu-iri (water break), the first in the jūryō division in 24 years.

Fighting style Shimanoumi has shown a preference for tsuki and oshi techniques which involve pushing and thrusting rather than grasping his opponent's mawashi or belt. His most common kimarite or winning move is oshidashi, the push-out.

Personal life In December 2021 Shimanoumi announced his engagement to Sayaka Fukuzono, a former Takarazuka Revue singer who performed under the name of and the eldest daughter of the late former sekiwake (and former head of the Izutsu stable) Sakahoko. They were married on 19 June 2022 and welcomed a daughter in November 2023. In July 2022, Shimanoumi changed his legal surname to Fukuzono.

Career record