Sumo is on the cusp of adding yet another family to the growing number that have had multiple members in the sport’s top divisions.
Wakaikari, a 19-year-old from Tokyo, is ranked near the top of the third tier for the upcoming summer tournament, and one good performance away from reaching what is commonly referred to as “heaven” in sumo circles.
Six wins or better in May ought to be enough for the Isenoumi stable youngster to reach jūryō — the lower of sumo’s two salaried divisions.
Should he manage that feat, Wakaikari (real name Seigo Saito) will have done so almost twice as quickly as his father — former maegashira Oikari, who is currently a sumo elder named Kabutoyama.
Even more impressive is the fact that Wakaikari’s speedy rise comes despite being smaller, lighter and much younger than his father was at the same stage in the mid-1990s.
The elder Saito was also a former collegian with a tsukedashi exemption that granted a division three (rather than division six) start in professional sumo.
In 2022, Seigo was torn between going a similar route or turning pro immediately after graduating high school — eventually deciding on the latter after discussing it with his father.
Despite being involved in youth and amateur sumo since kindergarten, first at the prestigious Komatsuryu Dojo, and later at high school powerhouse Saitama Sakae, the future Wakaikari was always solid rather than spectacular in the ring, and few expected his rise in professional sumo to be so swift.
Eight tournaments into his ōzumō career, Wakaikari has yet to finish a meet with a losing record.
Using an aggressive, straightforward style somewhat unusual for someone of his size, the teen has won 75% of his bouts to date, claimed a lower division championship, and now is within sight of promotion to the paid ranks.
Not that getting there figures to be easy.
The top of the makushita division is one of the toughest and most fiercely contested regions on sumo’s banzuke (rankings). Rising talents and former stars battle it out to decide which of them will get to experience the relative comfort of life in the jūryō division.
Those that find themselves on the losing side of the equation have to suffer the sumo equivalent of standing outside in the cold, nose pressed against the window watching others enjoy the party.
The upcoming Summer tournament will likely be the most difficult of Wakaikari’s life, but if results at the Yokozuna Deliberation Council soken practice on May 2 are anything to go by, he will be up to the task.
After going 9-3 against difficult opposition, the youngster was understandably upbeat.
Speaking after the practice had finished, he said, “I did better than I had expected.”
Asked what allowed him to rise up the ranks so quickly, Wakaikari credited his hot start to intensive practice, but also intimated that the mental side of the game was key.
Raised in a sumo household, the 19-year-old is already adept at avoiding making comments which could be misconstrued, and gives boilerplate answers to reporters’ questions.
Wakaikari acknowledged that he is on the cusp of promotion to sekitori but only described that as a goal for some time in the next year, with a winning record being his sole focus for the upcoming meet.
Following a family member into sumo is relatively common, with the most famous example being the Hanada dynasty, which produced three yokozuna and one ōzeki, all named either Takanohana or Wakanohana.
Currently, the most well-known family with multiple members and generations in sumo’s upper echelons is the Onami clan, with brothers Wakamotoharu, Wakatakamoto and Wakatakakage (grandchildren of former komusubi Wakabayama) all active.
Newly renamed ōzeki Kotozakura took the moniker of his yokozuna grandfather after several years of using that of his father Kotonowaka — also a sumo elder.
Maegashira Oho similarly is part of three generations of rikishi, with his father (Takatoriki) a past Emperor’s Cup winner and his grandfather (Taiho) one of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the sport.
Family ties at the upper reaches of the sumo pyramid aren’t limited to Japanese rikishi.
Ozeki Hoshoryu is the nephew of former yokozuna Asashoryu, while retired Russian brothers Roho and Hakurozan were both in the sport’s top ten during the 2000s.
Wakaikari doesn’t have a brother in professional sumo right now, but that should change before long.
Chugo Saito was part of Japan’s gold medal winning team at the 2023 Junior Sumo World Championships, and the then-16-year-old said afterward that he hoped to follow his brother into ōzumō once he graduates from high school.
With a physique already beginning to resemble that of his father, it’s a good bet that Chugo will, like his brother, find early success in the professional ranks.
Once Chugo joins Isenoumi stable (presumably) the "Waka" (young) part of Seigo’s ring name won’t make much sense. Perhaps, like Kotozakura, he’ll take on the Oikari shikona of his father — a ring name that contains the prefix “great.”
That could even happen as soon as this month if Wakaikari continues his hot streak and achieves a record sufficient for promotion to jūryō.
Asked about that possibility, the fast rising teen demurred, saying it wasn’t something he had even thought about.
At just 19, Wakaikari can still lay claim to being young, but the success he has enjoyed to date has put him on a path where a change to being great may soon be inevitable.
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