Daikiko - Any stories?

[Bealzbob]

Was just doing some looking around at old banzukes and doing some queries and I came across Daikiki.

He is the only rikishi in the past 57 years to debut in juryo and be promoted straight to makuuchi after that debut (from 1990.11 to 1991.01). He was only 23 at the time, however, he only spent that 1 single basho in makuuchi and was demoted down to juryo never to return.

Was it a case of being promoted too quickly and getting injured as a result ? Or do those who remember him have any stories? Was he a particularly memorable rikishi and was there a storm of publicity at the time for the achievement I just mentioned ? Or is he just a statistical curiosity forgotten by the sands of time?

Edited June 5, 2007 by Bealzbob

[Asashosakari]

I don't have much, but let's get the ball rolling with an old SML post by Jonosuke:

[Daikiko] was the first rikishi from Musashigawa Beya to be promoted to Juryo (he went to Makuuchi 15 but injured his neck and left Ozumo in a hurry).

Maybe there's more info out there. :-)

His promotion to Makuuchi was pretty lucky anyway as the division was expanded from 38 to 40 in that basho.

[Bealzbob]

Certainly explains his rapid exit, despite actually going zensho yusho in makushita after that.

[Jokkamura]

...

He is the only rikishi in the past 57 years to debut in juryo and be promoted straight to makuuchi after that debut (from 1990.11 to 1991.01).

...

You're sure about that? If I read sumo.hu richt, he started under shikona Hayashi at Makushita 4 West: http://www.szumo.hu/sekitori/Daikiko.html

[Bealzbob]

He did start as Hayashi, but was called Daikiko at juryo 9 in November 1990 and was Daikiko in makuuchi January 1991. He went back to Hayashi 10 basho later as he started to fall from grace in 1992 and his last 3 basho were under the shikona Terunoumi. But yes I am sure that he did what I said in my first post

FWIW, the previous rikishi to debut in juryo and gain immediate promotion was yokozuna Asashio under the shikona Yonekawa from 1950.09 to 1951.01.

Edited June 5, 2007 by Bealzbob

[madorosumaru]

Daikiko made his debut as a makushita tsukedashi with plenty of fanfare in Haru 1990. While at Kinki University, he had won the All-Japan Gakusei Championship in his senior year.

As stated above, he was promoted to juryo for the Nagoya Basho of the same year. With some banzuke luck, he passed through juryo in one basho and was maegashira 15 in Hatsu '91. His record of 5-10 resulted in his prompt demotion.

He had a supple body with a low center of gravity, but his passive style of sumo allowed his opponents to gain early advantage. He suffered from numerous injuries including the one to the neck that caused his poor performance in makuuchi. His last basho was Natsu '93.

Born Masato Hayashi, he used his surname as shikona when he debuted and changed it to Daikiko after becoming a sekitori. Later, for change or luck or whatever, he changed it back to Hayashi and by the time he quit sumo he was called Terunoumi.

[Gernobono]

and here is a picture from the hatsu 1990 basho programm

edit: changed haru to hatsu as madorosumaru pointed out correctly

Edited June 5, 2007 by Gernobono

[madorosumaru]

and here is a picture from the haru 1990 basho programm

Biographical Information from program:

Daikiko Masato

Musashigawa Beya; Hometown - Gobo, Wakayama; Name - Hayashi Masato

Age: 23; Ht: 184 cm, Wt: 160 kg; Favorite: Migiyotsu, yori

Ozumo Debut: Haru 1990; Makuuchi Debut: Hatsu 1991

Record: 35 wins 8 losses; Number of Basho: 6

Gernobono, can you please double check? The program cannot be from Haru 1990. It shows Daikiko as ranked at Maegashira 15 East.

Edited June 5, 2007 by madorosumaru

[Bealzbob]

Considering the illustrious list of people who have debuted in juryo and been promoted straight out of it, I wonder was he a lost future great....

[Doitsuyama]

Considering the illustrious list of people who have debuted in juryo and been promoted straight out of it, I wonder was he a lost future great....

I don't think so. His "wall" just was higher than usual because of his college pedigree, but not much room for improvement left. Also he had double banzuke luck, going into juryo at J9 which is pretty high, and then getting promoted with 11-4. I would see this as "only" a good juryo debut with 11-4, regardless of makuuchi promotion. That's not too unusual as there have been 46 juryo debuts with 11 or more wins, the last being Mokonami. And I'd say Mokonami has more upside than a rikishi coming from college. So you would basically be implying that Mokonami is a future great. I don't know this of course, but: "We shall see."