Shishi Masaru

is a Ukrainian professional sumo wrestler from Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Nicknamed "mini-Baruto", he made his professional debut in January 2020 after a successful amateur career. He became sekitori when he reached the jūryō division in July 2023, and was promoted to the top division for the first time in November 2024. He wrestles for Ikazuchi stable, and joined that stable when it was still named Irumagawa.

As of July 2023, he is one of two Ukrainians currently competing in professional sumo. He is the first Ukrainian in the history of the sport to have reached the status of sekitori.

Early life and sumo background

Sokolovskyi started wrestling at the age of 6, and switched to sumo at the age of 15. According to his mother, he always liked to fight and was not afraid of pain, something she attributes to an ancestor on his father's side, who was a strongman and who fought alongside Nestor Makhno. As a child, he played football as a goalkeeper but was scouted by a freestyle wrestling coach who motivated him to join his club. Sokolovskyi also competed in the 2015 World Sumo Championships. Although he did not achieve a notable ranking there, he faced Kamatani Masakatsu, who was also competing in the tournament, for the first time. In 2016, he took part in several tournaments, including the European and World Championships, where he finished third in both individual and team competition.

Since he had already decided to become a professional sumo wrestler, he moved to Japan in 2016, after the World Championships to train at Tokitsukaze stable. However, the stable already had a foreign wrestler and could therefore not recruit Shishi. During his first months of community life, he revealed that he was prone to homesickness and had difficulty overcoming the language barrier (speaking neither English nor Japanese), crying regularly. He joined at the same time as 2019 high-school yokozuna , who joined Isegahama stable, and , the second son of former sekiwake Takatōriki, who joined Ōtake stable;

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Shishi has been regularly asked about the fate of his family, who stayed in the country. However, since the Japan Sumo Association forbids political comments to its wrestlers, he has always dodged the subject, limiting himself to simple comments on his communications with his parents and their view of his performances and refusing to comment on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit in Japan in May 2023. Furthermore, since the beginning of the invasion, he has received a great deal of acclaim from the public, even when he was in makushita, a division where the public is not normally as enthusiastic. During this change, Shishi received encouragement from his new stablemaster, who told him he had "the potential to become a star". At the press conference to mark his promotion to the rank of jūryō, he expressed his reservations about the situation in his home country, but vowed to offer his parents, who remained in Ukraine, the material and financial assistance they needed from then on. The all-white and gold keshō-mawashi bears the inscription , meaning 'demon's heart', at the request of master Ikazuchi to inspire his wrestler to fight with demonic fervor.

Shishi continued his progress in the jūryō division by recording another good score at the September tournament. During the November tournament, he had a notable match against on day eleven, during which he broke his front teeth during the tachi-ai. Shishi had, however, recorded an eighth defeat the day before against the eventual winner of that month's tournament, Kotoshōhō. He finally worsened his score on the thirteenth day, in his match against Kagayaki, finishing the tournament with a score of 6–9.

Remaining in at the start of 2024, Shishi scored 11 wins at the July tournament. He followed it up with a nine-win effort in September at the rank of 2. He was promoted to for the November 2024 tournament, becoming the first professional sumo wrestler from Ukraine to reach the top division. He also became the first wrestler for Ikazuchi stable since reopening in 2023 to reach . Shishi told reporters after his promotion that he was happy to reach the top division, noting that he spent more time in than he did in . "One year in is fast... I thought it would take a little longer," he said. Stablemaster Ikazuchi told reporters his wish for Shishi to have the chance to reach the ranks (above ). Since wrestlers who win their bouts are eligible for bonuses if their match was sponsored, Shishi mentioned to the press his intention to send the money to his family back in Ukraine.

Despite starting the first two days with victories, Shishi recorded a score on the eleventh day of the tournament, when he suffered defeat against Nishikifuji. Demoted to the division, Shishi established himself as one of the leaders of the competition, rivalled also by Aonishiki, the only other Ukrainian wrestler in professional sumo. During the tournament, Shishi recorded a victory on Day 11 over Wakaikari, beating him by , and on the same day received a comment from the former Asashōryū on his X account (formerly Twitter) encouraging him to change his sumo style, the former considering it dangerous and likely to injure Shishi. On Day 12, Shishi and Aonishiki faced off in the first match between two Ukrainian wrestlers in the history of the sport, with Shishi emerging victorious from the clash and taking sole leadership of the competition. Shishi won the championship, solidifying his chances of being promoted back to for the March tournament. When his victory was certain, Shishi inspired Hiroyuki Sato (then in the NHK commentator's booth) with his own catchphrase of , a pun on his ring name and , meaning "to be happy".

During the September tournament, Shishi was the first wrestler to win a match in front of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, and his wife Duchess Sophie who were attendance at the tournament during the division.

During the May 2026 tournament, Shishi received a formal warning from the Judging Department for pushing Asahakuryū out of the ring after the outcome of the match had already been decided. During the same tournament, his victory, achieved by a side-step, against fan favorite Tamawashi—who was injured and facing relegation to the division due to a negative record—led to a social media harassment campaign calling for him to return to his home country. These two incidents prompted his stablemaster, Ikazuchi (former Kakizoe), to reveal that the dodge was due to an injury Shishi had sustained, and that he had wrestled the entire tournament while on painkillers. In addition, the press reported on Asahakuryū's lack of cooperation following his defeat, which reportedly led to him accidentally stepping out of the ring after the bout had ended.

During the July 2026 tournament, Shishi performed well, advancing to the ninth day, with only one loss, among the wrestlers competing for the title. Until Day 13, he continued to hold his own in the leading group, though he suffered a loss to Kotozakura. This match marked the first time the two wrestlers had faced each other professionally and the first time Shishi had faced an . Before the final day of the tournament, it was announced that Shishi could win his very first special prize for Fighting Spirit if he won his last match. Shishi lost to Rōga and did not win the award.

Fighting style Shishi's most common kimarite, or winning technique, is yori-kiri ('force out'), and he prefers a migi-yotsu, or left hand outside, right hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi. However, it was noted that he could also be versatile, winning a not inconsiderable number of matches by oshi-dashi ('push out') and uwatenage ('overarm throw'). In the early years of his professional career he admitted that he wanted to emulate the style of former ōzeki Tochinoshin, who is his favourite wrestler. Shishi also watches former ōzeki Baruto's matches to perfect his sumo style.

Personal life Shishi speaks Ukrainian and Russian. He however defines Russian as his main native language. The relationship between the assistant and his superior has also attracted the attention of observers, who are amused by this unprecedented situation, even dubbing Saidaiji the "Ippei Mizuhara of the kakukai", in reference to the translator to whom Shohei Ohtani owed a great deal during his interviews. As of 2026, Shishi responds to interviews in Japanese without a translator.

Unusually, Shishi is also trained by his stable's okamisan (the latter being subject to numerous rules within the stables), Eimi, who is a former amateur sumo wrestler who won the Sumo World Championships and was part of Nihon University sumo club. He also trains with his master's son, a student at the prestigious Saitama Sakae High School sumo club. Because of his close relationship with his master's family, Shishi refers to his okamisan as his "mama" and his stable as his .

Career record