The JSA made it official today: the young man from Ajigawa-beya will be debuting as an Ozeki in January. To celebrate his promotion and his yusho, here’s an outline of the young Ukrainian, his record-setting sumo career, and his life leading up to it.
Aonishiki, born Danylo Yavhusishyn, was born on March 23, 2004, and started his sumo career at age seven, along with judo and freestyle wrestling. In 2019, he placed third in the World Junior Sumo Championships and in 2021, Danylo won three gold medals at the Ukrainian national championships. In the same year, he also competed in the World Cadets Wrestling Championships in Budapest, placing ninth in his weight class. He was accepted into a Ukrainian university, but following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, he made the difficult choice to leave his country. He befriended Arata Yamanaka in 2019, after meeting at a sumo tournament, and kept in touch via Instagram. On March 8, 2022, Aonishiki reached out to Yamanaka and asked him to evacuate to Japan.
Aonishiki (left) with Arata Yamanaka (right)
Yamanaka stated that he was “surprised, but there was never any question of refusing.” On April 12, less than a month after his eighteenth birthday, Aonishiki flew to Japan and moved into the Yamanaka household. Aonishiki attended Japanese classes in Kobe, and largely used English to speak with the Yamanaka family. Transitioning from European to Japanese-style wrestling, Aonishiki said, was difficult, as he had a preference for belt sumo and struggled with pushing and pulling early in his training.
About Aonishiki, Yamanaka said, “You can tell he really worked hard. Even before he entered the professional sumo world, our family was saying he would rise quickly. I treat Aonishiki like a younger brother, and he calls my parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad.’ Knowing how he started when he first came to Japan makes this feel deeply meaningful.” Aonishiki calls the Yamanakas his “Japanese family”.
Aonishiki trained with the Kansai University sumo club, often wrestling future Seihakuhō of Miyagino-beya. He met Ajigawa-oyakata, ex-Aminishiki, and was accepted into the stable in December 2022. Ajigawa said that he debated over whether or not to recruit Aonishiki, as his stable was very new and the foreign wrestler limit made him hesitant to accept a foreign recruit, and he had concerns about Aonishiki’s grasp of Japanese. He accepted the 18-year-old into his stable anyway, and Aonishiki trained with the stable for months, then obtained a work visa to debut in November 2023. He took the name Aonishiki, putting the kanji for blue (to represent the Ukrainian flag) with the final kanji of his master Aminishiki’s shikona. Aonishiki took the name Arata to honor Arata Yamanaka and his influence. About the name choice, Aonishiki said he feels like they are “fighting together.”
He found success immediately, winning the jonokuchi yusho in his first career basho, then the jonidan yusho immediately after, winning twenty straight bouts until losing the yusho to Kise-beya boy Nagamura in March. After that, he posted three back-to-back 6-1 records in Makushita and made his sekitori debut in November 2024, a year after his pro debut. His 10-5 record followed by a 12-3 saw him enter Makuuchi in March 2025. He struggled at the beginning of the tournament but ended up winning seven straight matches later and finishing with an 11-4 performance and a fighting spirit prize. He earned the same record and prize the next basho, winning eight consecutive matches after a day one loss. The next two basho saw him again with 11-4 records, this time with a technique prize in both, and a sanyaku debut at Komusubi in September.
This November, Aonishiki posted a near-perfect performance, with his only loss in the first ten days being against a henka from Wakatakakage. He lost to Yoshinofuji, then Onosato, in the latter bout dislocating the Yokozuna’s shoulder. He beat Hoshoryu and Kotozakura in the last two days, finishing 12-3 and heading straight into a playoff bout against Yokozuna Hoshoryu. He won by okurinage and secured his top first-division yusho, as well as both the Outsanding Performance and Technique prizes; and today, he became an Ozeki.
Aonishiki has broken many records in his career, including the fastest promotions to Komusubi, Sekiwake and Ozeki (12, 13, and 14 basho, respectively). He is also the first Ukrainian to win a yusho, considering he’s the second Ukranian rikishi, after Shishi in 2020. He got the fastest kinboshi in history when he defeated Hoshoryu in July, beating Konishiki and Tomokaze. Excluding the Makushita-tsukedashi, who are obviously special cases, he is the third wrestler in history to be promoted to sanyaku without ever having a makekoshi losing record. He is also the fastest rikishi to secure 100 wins since the tsukedashi system was introduced and has earned numerous other records. Needless to say, he also set several records for Ukraine, considering his only predecessor was Shishi–who is strong in his own right, but Aonishiki is on another level.
Aonishiki was informed during his speech on the NHK broadcast that Hakkaku would be meeting with the Judging Department to discuss his Ozeki promotion. Aonishiki said that he was happy, but he was aiming for “one more rank above Ozeki.” The JSA board voted unanimously in favor of Aonishiki’s promotion. He is the fourth youngest Ozeki in history, behind Takanohana, Kitanoumi, and Hakuho. Excluding tsukedashi, he broke Kotooshu’s record of getting Ozeki after 19 tournaments, securing the rank after only 14.
Aonishiki has an older brother in Ukraine and his parents now manage a dry cleaning shop in Germany. He reportedly called his parents to tell them about his promotion and to thank them for their support. Aonishiki speaks Ukrainian and Russian fluently and is near-fluent in Japanese, also speaking “intermediate” English.
The pictures below (from the JSA’s social media as well as the AP News article about his promotion) were taken today upon his promotion.
Congratulations, Aonishiki!