Kaisei Ichirō
魁聖 一郎
Kaisei in 2010
Personal information
Born	Ricardo Sugano (1986-12-18)December 18, 1986 (age 38) São Paulo, Brazil
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight	190 kg (420 lb; 30 st)
Career
Stable	Ōshima
Record	590-592-37
Debut	September 2006
Highest rank	Sekiwake (July 2016)
Retired	September 2022
Elder name	Tomozuna
Championships	1 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes	Fighting Spirit (3)
* Up to date as of 29 August 2022.

Kaisei Ichirō (Japanese:魁聖 一郎, born December 18, 1986 asRicardo Sugano (菅野 リカルド,Sugano Rikarudo)) issumo elderTomozuna, anAsakayama stable coach fromSão Paulo, Brazil. Athird generationJapanese Brazilian, Kaisei made his debut in September 2006 and reached the topmakuuchi division in May2011.^[1][2][3] His highest rank wassekiwake. He was runner-up twice, once in the July 2013 tournament and another in the March 2018 tournament. He received threeFighting Spirit prizes.

In his childhood, unlike his friends Sugano had no interest at all infootball, not even watching games on TV. He was more interested in grappling sports, such asjudo, which he practiced for a time. When he was sixteen a friend of his father's suggested that his already large size would be very suitable for sumo. Sugano used to train in many sumo clubs in São Paulo, where he ended up meeting the retiredrikishiWakaazuma Yoshinobu, who is also Brazilian. Yoshinobu would strictly train him, knowing that as Sugano wanted to become a professional sumo wrestler, he should be severe on Ricardo's training. Despite the difficulties, he continued to go on the trainings and commented about his dream of becoming arikishi, as he was not able to see another career path he could take in Brazil.^[4] He began pursuing sumo and went on to win the All Brazil amateur sumo championship in the free weight category. At this time he believed that, at least in Brazilian amateur sumo, all one needed was size and power to win, and decided to travel to Japan to try out sumo. He was introduced toTomozuna stable by Wakaazuma and joined the stable in 2006.^[5] The stable was already home to another Brazilian wrestler, Kaishin. He was given theshikona or ring name of Kaisei Ichirō. Ichirō was the name of Kaisei's late grandfather, who was Japanese.^[6]

Kaisei moved through the lower divisions quickly, reaching the fourth highestsandanme division in March 2007. He was promoted to the thirdmakushita division after the March 2008 tournament, but then his progress stalled somewhat. He came through the September 2009 tournament undefeated (although he lost a playoff for theyūshō toGagamaru) and in July 2010 became asekitori by earning promotion tojūryō. He was the fourth Brazilian to make thejūryō division afterRyūkō,Kuniazuma andWakaazuma, but Kaisei was to surpass all of them by winning promotion to the topmakuuchi division. After winning thejūryō divisionyūshō in November 2010 with an 11–4 record, he followed up with an 8–7 atjūryō 1 in January 2011, which saw him reachmaegashira 16 in the May Technical Examination tournament.

Kaisei won his first six bouts in hismakuuchi debut, the firstmakuuchi debutant to do so sinceTakanonami in 1991. He went on to 8–0, the first to achieve that sinceSadanoumi in 1980, and 9–0, running neck and neck withyokozunaHakuhō, before suffering his first defeat toTochinoshin on Day 10. He thus failed to emulate the greatTaihō, who reached 11–0 in 1960. Nevertheless, his final score of 10–5 saw him win the Fighting Spirit Award. He was also given the honour of serving as Hakuhō'stsuyuharai, or dew sweeper, during theyokozuna'sring entering ceremony.^[6]

He was promoted tomaegashira 5 for the July tournament, where he recovered from 1–4 to go to 6–4, but then lost his last five matches to finish on 6–9. With theintai-zumo (retirement from sumo) ofōzekiKaiō during the same tournament Kaisei become theheyagashira (the highest ranked wrestler) at Tomozuna stable. Disappointing scores of 4–11 and 6–9 in September and November 2011 saw him fall to the bottom of the division. A 5–10 record in the January 2012 tournament meant he suffered demotion tojūryō in March, but he produced a 10–5 record in Osaka, ensuring a return tomakuuchi. In July 2012 he scored eleven wins, picking up his second Fighting Spirit Award and earning promotion tomaegashira 1. In September he just fell short with a 7–8 record, losing toHōmashō on the final day. Since then he has largely alternated winning and losing tournaments. Though he has proven his longevity in the top division, it remains to be seen whether he can achieve more consistent performances. He was not able to defeat ayokozuna even after 37 attempts.

Kaisei made hissan'yaku debut in the May 2016 tournament, having been promoted tokomusubi on the back of an 11–4 record from the rank ofmaegashira 7. He is the second wrestler from Tomozuna stable to reachkomusubi since the present stablemaster took over in 1989 and the first since Kaiō in 1994.^[7] After coming through with an 8–7 record he earned immediate promotion tosekiwake for the following July tournament. In the last three tournaments of 2016 he posted losing records and dropped tomaegashira 9 before recording an 8–7 in January 2017.

He injured his knee training withHakuhō shortly before the March 2017 tournament and had to withdraw from ahonbasho for the first time in his career, bringing to an end his run of 739 consecutive matches from debut, the most among active top division wrestlers. He was demoted to thejūryō division for the first time since 2012 after the May 2017 tournament, but made an immediate return tomakuuchi after scoring 10–5 at the rank ofjūryō 1 in July. In the September 2017 tournament, at WestMaegashira #13, he managed to get a record of 9–6. Being promoted to EastMaegashira #10 for the November 2017 tournament, Kaisei finished with a record of 8–7. In January 2018, at WestMaegashira #8, Kaisei finished 8–7. The March 2018 Tournament saw Kaisei promoted to EastMaegashira #6 where he won his first 9 matches, only to lose toIchinojo on day 10. On day 13 Kaisei was brought up to faceyokozunaKakuryu where he lost. Kaisei finished off the tournament with a 12–3 record, being a runner-up toKakuryu, with fellow runner-upTakayasu. This marks the second time that Kaisei was runner-up. Kaisei also got the Fighting Spirit Prize, his third time claiming that prize.

In November 2018 Kaisei returned to thesanyaku ranks atkomusubi for the first time in 13 tournaments.^[8] However, he was restricted by a left calf injury suffered in training shortly before the tournament, missing the first two days and then withdrawing on Day 14 with only three wins, after aggravating the injury.^[9] He was also forced to withdraw from the May 2019 tournament after injuring his right bicep tendon againstRyūden on Day 7. Fighting atmaegashira 15 in July, he injured his right arm and eventually withdrew on Day 11 with only one win, resulting in his demotion tojūryō.^[10] He returned to the top division after an 11–4 record in November 2019. He was forced to sit out the January 2021 tournament after a wrestler atTomozuna stable tested positive forCOVID-19.^[11]

In July 2022, while ranked at the bottom of thesecond division, Kaisei finished the tournament with a 5-10 record, which demoted him back to the unsalariedthird division after more than 12 years in the salaried top two divisions.^[12] Kaisei ultimately retired in late August 2022.^[13] Kaisei obtained Japanese citizenship in November 2014, which allowed him to acquire anelder-stock when retiring; he now uses the name Tomozunaoyakata. He originally worked as a coach at his stable, now re-namedŌshima stable, until May 2023 when he transferred toAsakayama stable.^[14][15]

Kaisei'sdanpatsu-shiki (retirement ceremony) was held on 1 October 2023 at theRyōgoku Kokugikan before invited guests. About 340 people took turns in the ceremonial snipping of Kaisei'sōichōmage. The final cut was made by formerōzekiKaiō, the master of the stable Kaisei transferred to after his retirement. Kaisei's mother Rosana, younger brother Renato and sister Natalia made the approximately 30-hour trip fromBrazil to Japan to attend the ceremony.^[16]

Kaisei announced in July 2020 that he had got married the previous month to a woman in her 20s after a five year relationship.^[17]

Kaisei's favoured techniques are listed at theSumo Association asmigi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponent'smawashi),yori (forcing) andoshi (pushing). His most common winningkimarite are straightforward:yori-kiri (force out) andoshi dashi (push out).

• List of sumo tournament top division runners-up
• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of heaviest sumo wrestlers
• List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers
• List of sekiwake

• Kaisei Ichirō's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage

• 1986 births
• Living people
• Brazilian emigrants to Japan
• Brazilian sportspeople of Japanese descent
• Brazilian sumo wrestlers
• Martial artists from São Paulo
• Naturalized citizens of Japan
• Sekiwake
• Japanese sumo wrestlers

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
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• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text