Kaisei Ichiro: Early Life, Injuries & Net Worth
Kaisei Ichiro is a Japanese-Brazilian professional sumo wrestler who debuted in September 2006.
He is from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and wrestles out of Tomozuna stable. As of 2022, his highest rank is sekiwake and has three special prizes.
Ichiro is the first Brazilian to reach the Makuuchi division. In addition, he is also the first Brazilian to reach the San’yaku rank.
Kaisei Ichiro: Quick Facts
| Brazilian Name | Ricardo Sugano |
| Japanese Name/ Shikona | Kaisei Ichiro |
| Nick Name | Maruchan |
| Birth Date | December 18, 1986 |
| Age | 37 |
| Gender | Male |
| Birth Place | Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Residence | Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese (Brazilian till 2014) |
| Religion | Christian |
| Education | Waianae High School |
| Father’s Name | N/A |
| Mother’s Name | N/A |
| Blood Type | O +ve |
| Height | In Centimeters – 195 cm In feet and inches – 6 ft 5 in |
| Weight | In Kilograms – 192 Kg In Pounds – 423 lbs |
| Profession | Sumo Wrestler |
| Martial Status | Married since 2020 |
| Children | N/A |
| Wife | N/A |
| Body Build | Heavyweight |
| Ethnicity | Latin, 3rd generation Japanese |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Zodiac Sign | Sagittarius |
| Eye Color | Brown |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Stable | Tomozuna |
| Highest Rank | Sekiwake (July 2016) |
| Championships | 1 in Juryo division |
| Sansho | Fighting Spirit (3) |
| Record | 563W – 547D – 34L |
| Debut | September 2006 |
| Current Rank | Sanyaku |
| Basho | 89 |
| Favorite Grip | Migi-Yotsu, Yori, and Oshi |
| Favorite Technique | Yorikiri, Oshidashi |
| Social Media | N/A |
| Sumo Wrestling Merch | Customs, Games |
| Last Updated | April 2024 |
Kaisei Ichiro: Early Life
From a young age, Ricardo had different interests than his friends. Despite being the favorite sport of his homeland, he was not interested in football.
He also studied martial arts and practiced grappling sports such as judo.
Later, one of his father’s friends suggested trying sumo wrestling when he was sixteen.
Then, he started his journey in sumo. He won the all Brazil amateur sumo competition championship in the free weight division.
After the tournament, this sumo wrestler learned that Brazilian amateur sumo was all about size and power.
As a result, he decided to travel to Japan to try professional sumo and become a professional rikishi.
Kaisei Ichiro: Career
Early Career
One of his acquaintances in Japan introduced Ricardo to Tomozuna stable.
Then, he joined the stable alongside another fellow Brazilian Rikishi Kaishin, in 2006.
Ricardo took the ring name or shikona of Kaisei Ichiro. He took the name because the name of his late Japanese grandfather was also Ichiro.
Later, Maruchan made his official debut in a tournament in September. Kaisei quickly rose through the lower divisions of sumo.
He was already in the 4th highest division, sandanme, only after three tournaments in two years.
In addition, he rose through the sandanme division gradually. However, he fell back to the lower after three bad tournaments.
Later, he earned a promotion to the third division, makushita, after two strong tournaments.
To sum up, he got promoted to the makushita division for the May 2008 tournament.
Makushita Career
Maruchan had advanced through the lower divisions within two years. However, his momentum slowed after entering the 3rd division.
Kaisei spent three years in and out of the third division before his promotion to the second division.
Despite having a solid start in the division and reaching the upper half, Kaisei lost three straight matches.
As a result, Ricardo fell back to the sandanme division. However, he quickly bounced back to makushita after a single tournament.
Kaisei made it to the top of makushita again after winning all seven bouts in lower ranks.
Yet, he failed to gain a higher rank as he could not win a playoff against Gagamaru, who also had seven wins.
In addition, this sumo wrestler recorded wins against two juryo ranked wrestlers.
Surprisingly, Maruchan earned a promotion to the second division in July 2010.
Juryo Career
Kaisei arrived at the juryo division after twelve tournaments in the makushita division in 2010.
In addition, he became the fourth Brazillian-born sumo wrestler to reach this division.
Kaisei made a winning 11-4 record in a championship in November of the same year. However, three other rikishi also matched his score.
So, he beat Toyohibiki, Tochinowaka, and Takayasu in a four-way playoff to win his only championship till now.
Later, he followed the championship win with another kachi-koshi in January.
As a result, he only spent about a year before his promotion to the Makuuchi division in May 2011.
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Kaisei Ichiro: Makuuchi Career
Kaisei made a promising start in the top division as he won the first nine bouts in his makuuchi debut.
As a result, Ichiro was the first to achieve 8-0 since 1980. In addition, he was running neck and neck with yokozuna Hakuho.
However, this wrestler suffered his first defeat on the 10th day. Hence, he failed to match the great Taiho, who had reached 11-0 in 1960.
His final score on his debut tournament ended as 10-5. Although he failed to match Taiho, he still won the Fighting Spirit Award.
This sumo wrestler also earned the honor to serve as Hakuho’s dew sweeper during the yokozuna ring entering ceremony.
Later, Kaisei earned a promotion to a higher maegashira rank.
In the same tournament, Ozeki Kaio from his stable retired from sumo. After that, Kaisei became the highest-ranked wrestler at Tomozuna stable.
On the other hand, he had disappointing results in September, November, and January tournaments.
Firstly, Maruchan fell to the bottom of the division and later suffered demotion to juryo in March 2012.
He immediately returned to top rank with a 10-5 record in Osaka, followed by 11-4 in July 2012.
His records subsequently provided him with another Fighting Spirt Award, but he has failed to perform consistently.
Finally, after a mixed number of wins and losses, Kaisei made an impressive run in 2016.
He got promoted to komusubi and again to sekiwake in the same year.
However, Kaisei failed to maintain his ranks as he lost his final three tournaments in 2016.
Kaisei Ichiro: Injuries and Sanyaku
Kaisei faced his first injury during the honbasho in March 2017. He injured his knee during his training with Hakuho.
As a result, it was the end of his record 739 consecutive matches from his debut, and he faced demotion to the lower division after May 2017.
Ichiro holds the record of most consecutive matches from debut among the active top division wrestlers.
Later in the same year, this sumo wrestler immediately returned to the top division and started rising ranks.
Kaisei finished as a runner-up in the March 2018 tournament, where he lost to yokozuna Kakuryu. In addition, he won his third Fighting Spirit Prize.
Finally, Kaisei returned to the top ranks at komusubi in November after 13 tournaments.
But, Maruchan injured his left calf in training before a tournament where he missed the first two days and withdrew on the 14th day.
As a result, this wrestler only recorded three wins in the tournament due to a severe injury.
Later in 2019, he had to withdraw on Day 7 of another tournament after injuring his right bicep tendon.
Again in July of the same year, he injured his right arms and withdrew from a tournament with just one win.
As a result, Ichiro was demoted to the lower division but returned to the top division in November 2019.
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Kaisei Ichiro: Personal Life
Kaisei got married to a woman in her 20s in July 2020. The two of them had been in a relationship for five years.
Usually, foreigners have difficulty adapting to Japanese culture and food; however, Kaise had no trouble.
Kaisei’s grandfather was Japanese because of which Ichiro was familiar with Japanese food and culture.
Kaisei obtained Japanese citizenship in November 2014. He also changed his legal name from Ricardo Sugano to Kaisei Ichiro.
Moreover, Maruchan indicated his desire to stay in the wrestling world as an oyakata after retiring as a rikishi.
Kaisei Ichiro: Net Worth
Kaisei Ichiro has earned a net worth of around $5 million from his career as a sumo wrestler.
Unfortunately, there is no information on how he spends his wealth.
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Social Media
Kaisei is not present on any of the social media. Besides, this Japanese-Brazilian professional sumo wrestler likes to live a private life.
Kaisei Ichiro: FAQs
What is Kaisei Ichiro’s fighting style?
Kaise primarily uses the migi-yotsu grip on the opponent’s mawashi. Additionally, he also favors pushing and forcing his opponents.
Finally, his wins have mostly come from straightforward force-out and push-out.
What are Kaisei Ichiro’s favorite things?
Coca-cola is Kaisei’s favorite drink which he drinks three bottles every day.
After getting influenced by Tomozuna Oyakata, his original stablemaster, he became a smoker.
Additionally, he prefers warmer weather and doesn’t like cold weather.
Did Kaisei Ichiro test positive for COVID?
Kaisei did not test positive for COVID during the January 2021 tournament.
However, one of the wrestlers in his stable tested positive. As a result, Kaisei had to sit out of the tournament.
