Ōhō Kōnosuke

Ōhō in May 2018

Ōhō began sumo in elementary school, where he did reasonably well in tournaments despite having what he later admitted was a lazy attitude due to buying into his family legacy.[2] He attended Saitama Sakae High School which is famous for its sumo program. He was a high school classmate of future sekitori Kotoshōhō,[3] Kotonowaka and Gōnoyama.[4] In his third year, he won two national championships in both individual and team competition.[5] Following his high school graduation, he elected to postpone his debut in professional sumo in order to compete in the 2017 All Japan Sumo Championships.

In December 2017, Ōhō officially began training at Ōtake stable, which was founded by his grandfather Taihō and formerly owned by his father Takatōriki. He began training with sandanme and makushita ranked wrestlers while he was set to compete in the lowest division, jonokuchi.[6] As he took the entrance exam for young recruits, he was that promotion's tallest and heaviest recruit.[6] He made his professional debut in January 2018, competing under his own name Naya (納谷). During the presentation ceremony for new recruits, Ōhō presented himself with a keshō-mawashi that had belonged to his grandfather.[7] During his first fights in maezumō, he defeated his three opponents, including fellow debutant Hōshōryū.[8] In his first official tournament on the banzuke in March 2018, he won the jonokuchi division championship after finishing with a 7–0 record, defeating Hōshōryū again and inflicting on him his only defeat of this tournament.[9] Since then, he and Hōshōryū have maintained a certain rivalry.[10][11]

Ōhō reached the makushita division in September 2018, and competed exclusively in makushita in 2019 and 2020. He steadily climbed the rankings, achieving winning records in nine of eleven tournaments. In the March 2019 tournament, Ōhō was in contention for the makushita championship but was defeated in his seventh match by eventual champion Churanoumi.[12] In November 2020, he achieved a record of 6-1 from the top makushita rank which earned him a promotion to juryo.

His promotion to sekitori status saw him adopt the shikona Ōhō (王鵬).[13] Ōtake-oyakata (former jūryō wrestler Dairyū), Ōhō's stablemaster, commented that he had considered giving Ōhō the shikona Taihō (大鵬), but this was not possible because Taihō was also the name of a non-transferable elder share (ichidai toshiyori) within the Sumo Association.[14] He therefore replaced the character Dai (大) with Ō (王) as a bit of wordplay to evoke the memory of Taihō and the solid mentality of Ōhō.[13] The character Ō (王) can be pronounced the same as the character Dai (大) which is commonly used by wrestlers of Ōtake stable in deference to both the founder's (Taihō) and the current stablemaster's (Dairyū) shikona. The character Hō (鵬) is taken directly from Taihō's shikona.[15]

Ōhō original tegata (handprint & signature)

Ōhō's jūryō debut in January 2021 ended with a 5–10 record and he was demoted back to makushita; however, he quickly returned to jūryō by achieving a winning record in March. On his return to jūryō, Ōhō scored eight victories but injured his right ankle and had to leave the competition on the final day, handing a victory by default to his opponent Wakamotoharu. This injury absence was the first of his career.[16] He posted double-digit winning records in two of the next three tournaments. His 11-win performance at jūryō 7 in November 2021 was enough to promote him to the top makuuchi division for the January 2022 tournament.[17]

After the banzuke for the January 2022 tournament was announced, confirming him at maegashira 18, Ōhō spoke to reporters and said he was looking forward to competing in the top division, [18] that he had visited his grandfather's grave,[17] and he thought his grandfather, who died aged 72 in 2013, was cheering him on in heaven.[19] In his makuuchi debut Ōhō began well with seven wins from his first ten bouts, but he lost his last five to finish with a record 7–8. Ōhō attributed this late fade to a lack of concentration.[20] That losing record sent him back down to jūryō for the March 2022 tournament, but he returned to makuuchi in May 2022 at the rank of maegashira 14 following a 10–5 record.[21] He competed in makuuchi for the remainder of 2022, alternating winning and losing records.

Ōhō achieved his first double-digit win performance in the top division in November 2022.[22] On Day 12 he defeated Sekiwake Hōshōryū to improve to 10–2, sharing the lead with Hōshōryū and Takayasu.[23] However, he lost to Takayasu the following day[24] and finished with a 10-5 record.

He began 2023 with two make-koshi results and he was demoted to maegashira 16 but rebounded in May 2023 with an 11-4 result which was his best tournament result in the makuuchi division to date. On the occasion of Hōshōryū's promotion to the rank of ōzeki, Ōhō commented on how far he still had to go after achieving mixed results in the first half of the year, citing in particular his regret at not being able to compete at the san'yaku level.[11]

Ōhō prefers pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi) over grabbing his opponent's belt (yotsu-zumō). The majority of his wins are by oshidashi (frontal push out), yorikiri (frontal force out), tsukidashi (frontal thrust out), and oshitaoshi (front push down).[25] He has, however, been criticized by the commentator and former yokozuna Kitanofuji for a reliance on pull-down attempts.[26]

Ōhō is a third-generation professional sumo wrestler. His maternal grandfather is the 48th yokozuna Taihō. His mother, Mieko, is Taihō's third daughter. His father is former sekiwake Takatōriki. Ōhō is the third-born of four brothers. His oldest brother, Yukio, is a professional wrestler in Japan. His second-oldest brother, Takamori, joined Ōtake stable in 2020 after an amateur career at Chuo University and wrestles under the shikona Naya (納谷). His younger brother, Kōsei, joined the stable in 2019 and wrestles under the shikona Mudohō (夢道鵬). As of July 2023, the three brothers are the highest-ranking wrestlers in the Ōtake stable.

According to his official profile on the Sumo Association's website, his favorite foods are fruit and karaage (Japanese-style fried chicken). His hobby is reading manga, his favorite series being "One Piece". His favorite television show is Ametalk (アメトーーク).[27]

• List of active sumo wrestlers
• Glossary of sumo terms

• Ōhō Kōnosuke's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage