Tokushōryū Makoto

is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Nara. An amateur sumo competitor while studying at Kinki University, he joined Kise stable and made his professional debut in January 2009. He won championships in the jonokuchi, sandanme and jūryō divisions, and first reached the top makuuchi division in July 2013. After spending most of 2018 and 2019 in the second tier, Tokushōryū returned to makuuchi in January 2020 and recorded 14 wins to take an upset top-division championship victory at the age of 33. He retired from competition in September 2023 and is now coaching, first at Kise stable and then at Nishikido stable, as an elder. His highest rank was maegashira 2, and he earned one kinboshi and two special prizes in his career.

Early life and sumo background Makoto Aoki first tried out sumo at a dojo outside his school when he was a fourth grader in elementary school. He continued into junior high school at another dojo then transferred to Meitoku Gijuku High School, which was well known for its sumo program. In his second year there, he took an inter-high school championship, and in his third year he was in the top eight group of high school wrestlers. He entered a management program at Kindai University and also continued amateur sumo.

After recording eight wins in November 2019 he earned his sixth promotion to the top division and started the January 2020 tournament at west maegashira 17, making him the lowest-ranked of the 42 entrants. He defeated Chiyoshōma in his first bout before losing to Kaisei on the second day but then recorded eleven straight wins to enter the penultimate day in a tie for the lead with Shōdai. He was then matched against Shōdai and won by tsukiotoshi to take the sole lead. The final match on the last day of the tournament saw Tokushōryū pitted against ōzeki Takakeishō and needing to win to take the title: if he lost he would have to face Shōdai again in a play-off. Tokushōryū secured a right hand outside grip on Takakeishō's belt and forced his opponent out of the ring to win by yorikiri. He became the first wrestler from Nara Prefecture to win a top division championship in 98 years and the first to do so from the bottom rank in the division since Takatōriki in March 2000. In addition to the yūshō, Tokushōryū also received his first ever sanshō or special prizes, for Outstanding Performance and Fighting Spirit. Referring to his visible display of emotion upon clinching victory, rarely seen on the dohyō, he said, "I might have cried too much, but at that moment I felt relieved from all the pressure." Araiso-oyakata (former yokozuna Kisenosato) commented, "People are always telling him to lose weight. But the weight that had been a shortcoming is now an asset." He managed to earn a kinboshi by defeating Kakuryū on Day 6, his first win over a yokozuna, but ended the tournament with a 4–11 record. After maintaining a position in the mid-maegashira ranks for the rest of 2020, a 3–12 record at the rank of maegashira 8 in January 2021, five tournaments after his championship, saw him demoted to jūryō for the March 2021 tournament. This was the quickest demotion to jūryō ever after winning a makuuchi championship, surpassing Wakanami who was demoted after seven tournaments. Following the November 2022 tournament he was demoted once again, to makushita. During this tournament he had lost to Asanoyama in the first ever match in the jūryō division between two former makuuchi division tournament champions. Tokushōryū earned immediate promotion back to jūryō after the January 2023 tournament, The Japan Sumo Association made the official announcement about Tokushōryū's retirement (intai) the following day. Two months later, the Sumo Association announced that he had moved from Kise stable to coach at Nishikido stable.

Fighting style Tokushōryū was an oshi-sumo wrestler, preferring thrusting and pushing (tsuki/oshi) techniques to fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite were yori-kiri (force out) and oshi-dashi (push out). While he was a member of Kitanoumi stable (2010–2012, while Kise stable was briefly dissolved), head coach Kitanoumi encouraged him to go for a left hand inside grip on the belt, hidari-yotsu, recognizing his power, and this is the technique he used in his championship winning match against Takakeisho in January 2020.