There is a drama called “Sanctuary.”
This is an interesting drama available on Netflix.
The strongest local bat boy enters Grand Sumo , gets bullied, destroyed, and becomes stronger.
Sanctuary represents the violence and insidiousness of Grand Sumo .
And then there is the growth of one bad boy.
This page tells you about the true story of bad boys and sumo wrestling

Sumo is the oldest martial art and Shinto ritual in Japan.
Sumo wrestler are warriors who fight in the Grand Sumo .

Yokozuna is the No. 1 of Grand Sumo. And the position is the same as that of a god.
Grand Sumo is a world of power.
Even if they are young or junior, strong sumo wrestler are paid a lot of money and respected.
However, weak sumo wrestler receive little money and must serve the strong sumo wrestler like a maid.
Grand Sumo is made up of more than 600 sumo wrestlers.

People who have seen “Sanctuary” say, “The main character is modeled after Chiyotaikai(千代大海).”
There is a sumo wrestler named Chiyotaikai(千代大海) who was active in Grand Sumo from 1992 to 2010.
His real name is Hiroshima Ryuji.
Chiyotaikai is his name as a sumo wrestler.
He is from Kyushu, a region in the south of Japan where there are seven prefectures.
He was the strongest bad boy in the area.
He was no ordinary kid.
He did the following things.

• When Ryuji was in elementary school, he threw three high school students to the ground.
• When Ryuji was in junior high school, he won a fight with 10 high school students by himself.
• He got into a fight with a yakuza (Japanese mafia) and they liked him and scouted him.
• Four policemen caught him but he swung at them and ran away.
• Ryuji was big, weighing 120 kg at the age of 13, but he could run faster than a track athlete.
• He started judo at the age of 11, and within a year he was ranked third in Japan. He became stronger at an unbelievable rate.
• When he was in junior high school, he faked his age to participate in an adult karate tournament and placed third.

Ryuji was big and physically strong.
He was also a bad boy with a strength that no one could match.
As the leader of a motorcycle gang, he often ran away from the police.
His body weighed 120 kilograms, yet he could move so light and fast that he could run away from the police.
Ryuji was taught by his family not to bully and to treat his elders with respect.
However, he often got into fights with his bare hands.
He went to fight with people who were rumored to be strong regardless of location or seniority.
The area spread out and finally reached all of Kyushu.
By the way, Kyushu is about the size of Taiwan.
Ryuji lived in Oita, so he was called “Ryuji of Oita.
At that time, “Ryuji of Oita” was famous as the strongest junior high school student.

After he graduated from junior high school, he worked on construction sites and was motorcycle gang.
His job was a steeplejack who carried heavy objects at high elevations on construction sites.
But Ryuji spent too much time in the motorcycle gang, so he was fired from his job.
Ryuji spent his days smoking paint thinner at home with his friends and getting caught by the police.
His mother saw him leading a lazy life and told him to go home.

His mother did not get angry when he got into fights or when he was caught by the police. However, his mother’s attitude was different when he led a lazy life.
When Ryuji was at his mother’s house, he suddenly felt cold on his neck.
His mother held a kitchen knife against the artery of his neck.
His mother said.
“I have let you be free until now. But if you have to live like this, I will kill you and die myself.

At that time, Ryuji was thinking of going to the U.S. to become a bodyguard.
Because he thought that he, as a bad boy, could understand the mind of a criminal.
And he was aware that he was very strong. However, when his mother held a kitchen knife to his neck, he felt two things.
I was making my mother worry so much.
“I can’t do bodyguard with my mother holding a kitchen knife to my neck.”
Then he asks his mother what she wants him to do.

She says, “I want you to be a sumo wrestler.”
His mother was very fond of Grand Sumo.
She wanted Ryuji to become a sumo wrestler. However, Ryuji did not like to be naked in public and show his butt.
That day, Ryuji listened to his mother’s wish and decided to become a sumo wrestler.

When deciding to enter the sumo world, he must first decide on a sumo stable
The sumo stable is run by a couple, the Oyakata and Okami（boss and landlady).
Sumo wrestler live in a group with a number of others in a Sumo stable. They learn sumo training, food and etiquette in the sumo stable.
There are 44 sumo stables in Japan.
Ryuji chose the Kokonoe stable.
At that time, the stablemaster of the Kokonoe stable was Chiyonofuji, the former top yokozuna.
Chiyonofuji was a small man, height: 183 cm and weight: 126 kg.　
However, he was a legendary yokozuna in Grand Sumo where weight was not discriminated.
As you can see in the video , Chiyonofuji’s body, with 10.3% body fat, is as well-trained as steel.
His nickname was Wolf, and he was No. 1 in both ability and popularity.

At that time, Ryuji was stronger than his master in judo and karate.
‘I want to meet someone who can defeat me easily. I want to have them defeat me and change me. And I want to show filial piety.”
Ryuji went to the Kokonoe stable with a regent, yakuza-like haircut.
For Ryuji, a bad boy, that hairstyle was his formal attire.
Chiyonofuji was a little surprised to see Ryuji for the first time.
His hair and clothes were out of the ordinary.
When Ryuji saw Chiyonofuji for the first time, he found Chiyonofuji strong.
Chiyonofuji had an aura stronger than any person I had ever met before.
I knew how small I was. I felt as nervous as if I were being kept in a lion’s cage.
Ryuji described the time he met Chiyonofuji.

Chiyonofuji asks Ryuji.
“Why do you want to be a sumo wrestler?”
Ryuji answered.
“I want to show filial piety.”
Chiyonofuji laughed when he heard this Ryuji’s answer and felt,
“He is good.“
Chiyonofuji then said to Ryuji.
“Go cut your hair.”
Ryuji shaved his head at Chiyonofuji’s request.

Ryuji began his training under Chiyonofuji.
Chiyonofuji told Ryuji. “Go beyond your limits!”
Ryuji trained daily beyond his limits.
At first, he disliked sumo wrestling, where he had to be naked in public and show his butt.
However, Ryuji fell in love with sumo, where men with a strong fighting spirit gather to fight.
Until now, no one praised him when he fought in the streets. But in sumo, when Ryuji won, he was praised and paid.
Ryuji fell in love with sumo, where he could have it all if he became strong enough.
He trained hard to become stronger.
As a result, Ryuji rose in the ranks at a very fast pace.

Ryuji, a bad boy from Oita, became a full-fledged sumo wrestler and was given the name Chiyodaotaikai.
This was the name chosen by his mother.
Ryuji had learned karate, and Chiyonofuji taught him to fight with a stick and push style of wrestling.
Chiyotaikai continued his training and was promoted to ozeki, the No. 2 rank in Grand Sumo.
In Grand Sumo, the strongest wrestlers fight in the makuuchi .
Chiyotaikai fought in the makuuchi for 13 years.
This was a very long period of time.
During those 13 years, he had many great fights.

Here are two of the most famous fights.

Chiyotaikai won his battle with Wakanohana and was promoted to the No. 2 ozeki .
Sumo games last for 15 days.
The winner is the one who has won the most times in the game.
Chiyotaikai was the No. 3 sekiwake in the January 1999 game. He was 12 wins 、2 losses on the last day of the game.
Chiyotaikai’s opponent was yokozuna Wakanohana.
Wakanohana was 13 wins ,1 loss on the day.

In this fight, Chiyotaoumi won his match against Wakanohana.
Chiyotaikai then lost 13 wins ,2 losses and Wakanohana 13 wins ,2 losses

In Grand Sumo, when two or more sumo wrestlers have the highest number of wins on the last day, a final deciding match is held between the sumo wrestlers with the highest number of wins.
Chiyotaikai and Wakanohana fought for the second time that day.
In the second fight it seemed as if both men left the ring at the same time. At first, Wakanohana was said to be the winner.
However, a deliberation took place.
The two bodies were said to have gone out at the same time, and the championship game was decided to be fought once more.
The audience was very excited to see the third championship match.
The unprecedented battle was won by Chiyotaikai, who won the game and was promoted to Ozeki.
You can see it in this video.
The fight is great!
Take a look.

This fight took place at the July 1998 game.

Sumo has many different techniques.

There are techniques such as throwing, thrusting, and footwork.

This fight was fought mostly with slapping.

The fight was like a heavyweight boxing match.

The winner, Musoyama, spit a mist of blood from his mouth after the fight.

This is a fight that is still talked about as a great victory in the 2020s.

It is a battle of wills between two sumo wrestlers.

There is a video of this too.

Please take a look!

Chiyotaikai won the game in January 1999 and became an ozeki.
When Chiyotaoumi won the game, a victory parade was held in his hometown.
Hundreds of thousands of citizens attended the parade.
As Chiyotaikai rode in the parade in a convertible, policeman on motorcycles guarded him.
To his surprise, the policeman was the one who had chased him and arrested him during his Bad Boy days.
The policeman laughed and said, “I’ve got to protect the bad boy I used to chase.”
“Bat Boy” who had no enemies only in his hometown went back to his hometown as a really strong man “Chiyodaikai”.
Chiyotaikai was an ozeki for more than 10 years.
He won two championships, but after turning 30, he suffered many injuries and often won only 8 wins or 7 losses matches.
When he was demoted from ozeki to sekiwake after losing more than half his matches in a row, Chiyotaikai retired.
When a sumo wrestler retires, he holds a hair-cutting ceremony in which he gathers those who have helped him and takes turns cutting his hair.
When Chiyotaikai retired, he had 358 people put the shears in his hair.
Just before his master Chiyonofuji put the scissors in, he exited the sumo ring and sat down on a chair.
Chiyotaikai’s mother was there, and she gave him a pair of scissors for his hair.
This was unusual for a haircut ceremony.
Women are not allowed in the sumo ring.
However, he wanted his mother, who had raised him and inspired him to become a sumo wrestler, to cut his hair for the last time as a sumo wrestler.
After his retirement, he managed the kokonoe stable with his master Chiyonofuji.
When Chiyonofuji died of pancreatic cancer in July 2016, he took over as the stablemaster of the kokonoe stable.
Today, Chiyodaikai is the 14th master of the Kokonoe stable, where he trains young sumo wrestler every day.
Looking back on his own life, from bad boy to sumo wrestler, he says,
“When you have one goal, it can change your life.
I want to convey that to young people.”
Every day in the ring, he tells young sumo wrestler what his mentor, Chiyonofuji, used to say to him:
“Go beyond your limits!”