Ura Goes Flying in Exceptional Sumo Wrestling Match
Ura Kazuki is a fan favorite in the sumo wrestling community as he is well-known for his exciting style. In the Kyushu basho, November sumo wrestling tournament, he had quite a matchup against Hiradoumi.
Ura And Sumo Wrestling
Each year, Sumo wrestling hosts six tournaments throughout the calendar in which only one champion can walk away with the ultimate victory. Each Grand Sumo Tournament is called a basho, the champion is the yusho, the top league is makuuchi and the second highest league is juryo. Each Grand Sumo Tournament lasts for fifteen days and a sumo wrestler will have one match on each day.
An unusual and dramatic situation unfolded during the bout between Ura and Hiradoumi on Day 11 of the current tournament. During the match, two mono’ii were called. A mono’ii is a conference of judges called when there’s uncertainty about the outcome of a bout. Having two mono’ii in a single match is extremely rare. The match had to be restarted twice. This is unusual in sumo wrestling. But led to quite a photo of Ura, with all three hundred pounds of him, tilted entirely horizontally and flying through the air.
Essentially, sumo wrestling matches are won by pushing an opponent out of the ring or making the opponent crash to the ground. But, if sumo A pushes sumo B out of the ring while crashing the ground, the match is still won by sumo A due to intent, even if he hit the ground first. But if it is not clear who landed on the ground or went out first, or it is not clear who had the intent, then the match is restarted by the referees and judges. In the case of Ura and Hiradoumi the match had to be restarted twice as the referees could not agree on what was going on.
Ura’s career has been a rollercoaster ride of success and setbacks. He reached the top makuuchi division in March 2017, but his progress was halted by two serious injuries that led to extended layoffs. These setbacks caused his rank to plummet to the lowest levels since his debut, and it took him three and a half years to return to top-level competition. In sumo wrestling, Ura is considered small at 313 lbs and 5’9″.
