Kakuryu — The Quiet Yokozuna: 6 Titles, Technical Mastery & Graceful Exit

Who Is Kakuryu?

Kakuryu Rikisaburo (鶴竜 力三郎), born Mangaljalavyn Anand on August 10, 1985 in Sükhbaatar, Mongolia, was the 71st Yokozuna in sumo history. He competed from Izutsu stable (moving to Michinoku stable in 2019), won 6 tournament championships, and retired in March 2021 after a career that spanned two decades of elite competition.

To appreciate Kakuryu fully, you have to understand the context in which he competed. His entire Yokozuna career unfolded in the long shadow of Hakuho — the 69th Yokozuna and the most decorated wrestler in sumo history. Competing alongside Hakuho, and for part of his career alongside Harumafuji, meant that Kakuryu's six yusho were won in the most contested era of modern sumo. None came easily.

His defining characteristic was composure. Where Asashoryu had fire and Hakuho had relentless dominance, Kakuryu had a quality that his fans prized above all: stillness. He moved decisively, wasted nothing, and on his best days fought with a precision that made difficult techniques look inevitable. He was called "the gentleman Yokozuna" — a label that fit both his demeanor and his style.

Background & Early Life

Mangaljalavyn Anand grew up in Mongolia, part of the generation of Mongolian wrestlers who would reshape professional sumo across the 2000s and 2010s. Like many of his compatriots, he came to Japan in his teens to pursue a career in the sport — joining Izutsu stable, run by the former sekiwake Sakahoko.

He made his professional debut in November 2001 and spent the early years of his career building steadily through sumo's lower divisions. His progress was consistent rather than explosive — a pattern that would come to define his entire career. He was not a prodigy who made headlines on arrival; he was a wrestler who got better every year, who learned, adapted, and kept rising.

By the mid-2000s he had established himself in the top Makuuchi division and was clearly destined for the upper ranks. His technical polish and ring sense marked him out even then as a wrestler of exceptional quality.

Career Timeline

Statistics & Records

Fighting Style

Kakuryu's fighting style was built around yotsu-zumo — belt-fighting — executed with exceptional technical precision. He was most comfortable with a right-hand inside grip (migi-yotsu) or both hands inside (moro-zashi), from which he could deploy his full offensive repertoire.

Yorikiri — His Foundation

Kakuryu's most frequent winning technique was yorikiri (force-out) — the most common winning technique in sumo, but one that requires genuine strength and leverage to execute against elite opponents. His ability to establish a dominant grip and steadily drive opponents backward was a product of years of technical refinement.

Versatility — Belt and Thrust

What truly distinguished Kakuryu was his range. Unlike pure belt specialists, he was just as comfortable at arm's length: in sumo-api's bout records, hatakikomi (slap-down) is his second most common winning technique after yorikiri, followed by oshidashi (push-out) and tsukiotoshi (thrust-down). He also listed the underarm throw (shitatenage) among his specialities.

That flexibility let him adapt to whoever stood across the ring — grinding out belt battles against bigger men, or reading a charge and redirecting it against faster ones.

Ring Intelligence

Like all great Yokozuna, Kakuryu was a student of sumo. He read opponents carefully, adapted his approach based on who he was facing, and almost never made tactical errors that could be attributed to poor preparation. His tachiai (initial charge) was measured rather than explosive — he wanted to establish position, not blow through opponents.

The Three-Yokozuna Era

From Kakuryu's promotion in March 2014 until Harumafuji's retirement in November 2017, sumo had three simultaneously active Mongolian Yokozuna — a situation unprecedented in the sport's history. Hakuho, Harumafuji, and Kakuryu competed in the same tournaments, contested the same championships, and pushed each other to levels that produced some of the most technically accomplished sumo of the modern era.

For Kakuryu, this era was both a challenge and an opportunity. Competing against Hakuho meant that winning tournaments required defeating arguably the greatest wrestler who ever lived. But it also meant that his 6 yusho carry more weight than the number alone suggests — every one was earned against the deepest field sumo had ever seen.

When Harumafuji retired abruptly in November 2017, the landscape around Kakuryu shifted — yet he reaffirmed his standing the following spring, winning back-to-back championships in March and May 2018.

Later Career & Injuries

From 2018 onward, Kakuryu's career was increasingly defined by the physical cost of two decades of elite competition. Injuries — primarily to his elbow and lower body — forced him to withdraw from multiple consecutive tournaments, a pattern that drew scrutiny under the JSA's informal expectations for Yokozuna.

The Yokozuna rank carries a unique burden: unlike every other rank in sumo, Yokozuna cannot be demoted for poor performance. The only exit from the rank is retirement. This creates a difficult dynamic when a Yokozuna is injured — the wrestler faces pressure to retire once they can no longer compete consistently at the standard expected of the rank's holders.

Kakuryu navigated this pressure with the same composure he brought to the dohyo, competing when he could and withdrawing when he could not. His final yusho, in July 2019, demonstrated that he remained capable of championship-level performance even late in his career — a 14-1 record that silenced those who had questioned his continued presence in the sport.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the 2020–2021 tournament calendar significantly, and Kakuryu was unable to compete in several tournaments during this period. The combination of injury and pandemic-related complications made the path forward increasingly difficult.

Retirement & After Sumo

In March 2021, Kakuryu announced his retirement from professional sumo. The announcement was quiet and dignified — consistent with his reputation throughout his career. He had served as Yokozuna for seven years, competed in sumo's most competitive era, and won championships against the greatest wrestlers of his generation.

After retirement, Kakuryu took a coaching role within the sumo system under his own ring name as an elder, Kakuryu oyakata. He later took the elder name Otowayama and set up his own Otowayama stable (announced December 2023) as stablemaster — home of ozeki Kirishima — continuing to contribute to the sport that defined his adult life. His technical knowledge and calm, analytical approach to sumo made him a natural mentor for the next generation.

Legacy

Kakuryu's legacy is, in a sense, the challenge of being excellent in an era of the extraordinary. Six yusho is a career that most wrestlers could only dream of — yet it will always be measured against Hakuho's 45 in the same era. This is not a criticism; it is simply the context in which he competed.

What endures is the quality of his sumo. The composed tachiai. The switch from belt to thrust. The sense that every bout was a puzzle he had already solved before his opponent realized the game had started. For those who watched him regularly, Kakuryu was a reminder that sumo at its highest level is as much intellectual as it is physical.

The Mongolian generation that Kakuryu was part of transformed sumo permanently — in technique, in physical preparation, in the global reach of the sport. He was not its most decorated member, but he was one of its most complete wrestlers. And in sumo, completeness — the ability to fight anyone, in any style, on any given day — is the truest mark of excellence.

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