Musashimaru Kōyō

Musashimaru Kōyō (武蔵丸 光洋) is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler.

He was born in American Samoa, before moving to Hawaii at the age of 10.

Takanohana was absent from this tournament and Musashimaru won it after a five way playoff with a score of 11–4, the lowest number of wins needed to take a top division title since 1972.

At 18 he moved to Japan and made his professional sumo debut in 1989, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1991.

He moved to Japan and joined former yokozuna Mienoumi's Musashigawa stable in June 1989, initially on a trial basis only.

This proved to be successful and he formally made his professional debut that September, adopting the shikona or ring name of Musashimaru Kōyō.

He moved up the ranks quickly, becoming an elite sekitori wrestler in July 1991 upon promotion to the jūryō division.

He reached the top makuuchi division just two tournaments later in November 1991.

He made komusubi in May 1992 and sekiwake in July.

After a superb 13–2 record and runner-up honors in November 1993, and a 12–3 score the following January, he was promoted to ōzeki alongside Takanonami.

Musashimaru was ranked as an ōzeki for 32 tournaments.

He showed great consistency, never missing any bouts through injury and always getting at least eight wins.

However, he was unable to gain the successive championships needed to become a yokozuna.

After reaching the rank of ōzeki in 1994 his progress seemed to stall, but in 1999 he became only the second foreign-born wrestler in history to reach the sport's highest rank of yokozuna.

Musashimaru won over 700 top division bouts and took twelve top division tournament championships during his career.

His sheer 235 kg bulk combined with of height made him a formidable opponent, and he was remarkably consistent and injury-free for most of his career.

An amiable personality, his fan base was helped by a surprising facial resemblance to Japanese warrior hero Saigō Takamori.

Musashimaru took his first top division championship (yūshō) in July 1994 with a perfect 15–0 record, but in the following tournament he could manage only 11 wins and Takanohana overtook him to become yokozuna at the end of the year, joining Akebono who had become the first foreign born yokozuna in 1993.

After becoming a Japanese national in 1996 and retiring in 2003, he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and founded the Musashigawa stable in 2013.

Fiamalu Penitani was born in American Samoa, the fourth son of a German Tongan father and a Portuguese Samoan mother.

The family moved to Oahu, Hawaii when he was ten years old.

While attending Waianae High School in Waianae he played American football and was offered a scholarship to Pasadena City College, but he also had success in Greco-Roman wrestling, and his wrestling coach encouraged him to give sumo a try.

Musashimaru seemed content just to maintain his rank, not winning another title until November 1996.

His third championship came in January 1998.

In 1999, with Akebono and Takanohana both struggling with injury and loss of form, Musashimaru suddenly came alive with two consecutive tournament wins in March and May 1999 to earn promotion to yokozuna.

There was little of the controversy that surrounded previous promotion drives by foreign wrestlers such as Konishiki, and Musashimaru's record of never having missed a bout in his career was praised by the Yokozuna Deliberation Council.

After a respectable 12–3 performance in his yokozuna debut, he won two further titles that year.

However, in January 2000 he had to pull out of the tournament with an injury on the fourth day, bringing to an end his record run of 55 consecutive tournaments with a majority of wins, dating from his 6–1 score in the makushita division in November 1990.

This kachi-koshi run ended just one tournament short of Kitanoumi's top division record.

Akebono returned to form in 2000, and Musashimaru was also sidelined with injury in May.

He won just one title that year, in September, although it was one of his most impressive results as he won his first 14 matches, just failing on the last day to become the first wrestler in four years to win with a perfect record.

In 2001, although he did not have the injury problems of the previous year, he lost two playoffs to Takanohana in January and May, and had a mere 9–6 record in September, giving away five kinboshi to maegashira ranked wrestlers, an all-time record for a single tournament.

He had to wait until November 2001 for his ninth title.

In 2002, with Takanohana sidelined through injury, Musashimaru was dominant.

Although he missed most of the January 2002 tournament after injuring himself against Kyokushūzan on the third day, he won three tournaments that year, making 2002 his most successful year since 1999.

His victory over the returning Takanohana in September 2002 was his twelfth and final championship and was also the last time either man would complete a tournament, making it the end of an era.

In November 2002 Musashimaru tore a tendon in his left wrist, an injury which proved to be career-ending.

Forced to withdraw from that tournament, the chronic problem restricted him to just a handful of appearances in the whole of 2003.

Overshadowed by new yokozuna Asashōryū, he entered the July tournament but pulled out after just six days.

He did not compete again until November, when after suffering his fourth defeat on the seventh day, he announced his retirement.