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Gilles Furelaud
translated by Gwenaël Chapon
proofread by John Gunning

So why do we talk about Hagiwara and Kotooshu together? At first glance there could not be two more different rikishi. Hagiwara, Japanese like the vast majority of wrestlers, has the typical rikishi body 1,85 metres tall, and already 141 kg when he was only 17 (he was born on July 3, 1986). When he met him for the first time, Naruto oyakata (former yokozuna Takanosato, who enlisted him in his heya) was struck by his legs: “What did strike me […] were his unbelievably athletic legs. Considering his age. I felt that I was looking at a tall oak strongly planted in the ground”.

When he was 12, the young Mahlyanov joined a sports school, where he practiced Wrestling for 6 years. Even at this young age, this boy showed a passion for fighting : "After the trainings, we would get the wrestling covers and fight until we were exauted, just for fun. This occured two or three times per week."
At the same time, the young man discovered sumo thanks to Bulgarian television. He fell in love with it and subsequently achieved third place in the under 115 kg class in the 2001 European championship, when he was only 18. The following year, he won his first tournament. In fact this victory in Germany turned out to be the first step in his career, as he had attracted the attention of a former member of Sadogatake beya. A year later, in September 2002, he joined the famous heya, managed by former yokozuna Kotozakura, leaving his beloved 750 cc motor-bike behind in Bulgaria.

Hagiwara took his first steps in March 2002. Kotooshu passed his entrance examination 8 months later, in November. Both began very strongly. Hagiwara spent only two Basho in Jonokuchi and Jonidan, just long enough to achieve two 6-1 records.
By the time Kotooshu entered Jonokuchi, Hagiwara was already Sandanme 49 west. The coming of the Bulgarian was like a thunderbolt. In his first Basho, he took the division, with a perfect 7-0 score. He struck everyone right away and they wondered how would they deal with this rikishi who was so tall it should have been a severe disadvantage. The Jan 2003 Basho really stood out, as foreign rikishi took 5 of the 6 division titles. Ahead of Kotooshu (Bulgaria) in Jonokuchi, Tokikenku (Mongolia), Kokkai (Georgia), Asasekiryu and Asashoryu, (both Mongolia), were respective winners in Sandanme, Makushita, Juryo and Makuuchi.

However as early as the next tournament (2003 Haru), Hagiwara’s progress was stopped. In fact he ended up make-koshi (3-4), losing for the second time to Miyamoto (only two other rikishi, Tamaryoma and Nadatsukasa had, up until that point succeeded in defeating Hagiwara twice). In May, he caught up again and only narrowly missed out on the title in a play-off against Kagaya. So by July 2003 he was in the makushita division and had only needed three Basho with one make-koshi to reach the third highest division in professional sumo

While Hagiwara adapted himself fairly quickly to the higher level, Kotooshu progressed like a Shinkansen (Japanese bullet train) ! Before his second tournament, he was injured in a training match against a makushita wrestler. That injury however didn’t prevent him from winning 6 bouts, and giving evidence of both his comfort at that level, and his strong willpower.

2004 will surely be remembered in sumo’s history as the year when the Hagiwara-Kotooshu rivalry really began.

Hagiwara and Kotooshu have now begun to train with their new sekitori partners. In their first training session with Juryo wrestlers Hagiwara won 5 of 12 fights, and Kotooshu 4 of the 7 he contested . These were good results , which point to kachi-koshi in May. However, we shouldn’t expect miracles, and we will still need to watch a lot of basho before these two outstanding fighters can really fight against the greatest. Asashoryu should have two years yet before he has to worry.
Or does he have to wait? During this first training as sekitori, both young men were taken by surprise when they saw Asashoryu coming out of the dark to give them some advice “Don’t decrease your strength on the dohyo’s edges, or you will get hurt!”. Then he offered his chest to Kotooshu and let him practice some thrusts (butsugari-geiko). It’s very unusual to see a yokozuna giving advice to Juryo wrestlers who don’t belong to his heya. ”I’m very grateful » said Hagiwara. Just like the great yokozuna Taiho (32 yusho) in the 60’s, Asashoryu keeps an eye on the newcomers improvements.