Rikishi:Kaitetsu

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Kaitetsu Mori
魁鉄 森
Kaitetsu in November 2023
Personal information
Born	Hugo Mori Ferreira (2001-02-25) 25 February 2001 São Paulo, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Gender	Male
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	127 kg (280 lb; 20 st 0 lb)
Career
Stable	Takinokoi
Current rank	see below
Record	99-81/180
Debut	Egypt 2022
Highest rank	Maegashira 1 (Nagoya 2024)
Special Prizes	Fighting Spirit (1) Technique (1)
Gold Stars	3 (2) (Tochinokuma) (1) (Toramaru)

Kaitetsu Mori - 魁鉄 森 (born February 25, 2001) is a Brazilian professional sumo wrestler from São Paulo. He made his debut in Egypt 2022 and wrestles for Takinokoi stable. He reached the Makuuchi division in November 2023 and has 2 special prizes as well as 3 kinboshi. His highest rank as of 2024 is maegashira 1.

Early life

Born to a Japanese-Brazilian mother and a Italian-descent Brazilian father, Hugo grew up in a family of corporate businesspeople, which only cemented in him a dream of an exciting career for his future. At 7 years old, he started enrolling in Judo classes at a local dojo, which he practised for more than 6 years until eventually dropping it for other martial arts. In his first year of high school, he was visiting a park in central São Paulo when he first saw a Sumo training from a club. He was fascinated by the sight of two people colliding and fighting with all their heart in a complex but simple manner at the same time. It was by this experience that he would become a big fan of Sumo wrestling.

On Sundays he would then on frequent the Sumo club in the Bom Retiro neighbourhood of his city. There, his sensei noted that Hugo's Judo and martial arts path alongside a growing physique would be a good fit for professional Sumo and tried to convince him and his parents that he had potential to go to Japan and become a rikishi. However, Hugo thought that he would not be able to bear the intense training in a Sumo stable, so he turned down the offer, but still continued training Sumo. After finishing high school, Hugo was able to enroll in the prestigious University of São Paulo, doing a degree in Asian Languages, specifically Japanese.

Around his second year of university, Hugo participated in many South American and Brazilian Sumo tournaments, becoming champion in the Brazilian Sumo tournament in 2019 and runner-up in the 2020 South American Sumo tournament. This caught the eye of maegashira Arashidake, a Sumo wrestler from Rio de Janeiro, that throught contacting Hugo's sensei, got in touch with the young athlete. The call really sparked a fighting spirit inside Hugo's heart, which, by the end of his 4-year uni course, took off to Japan and joined Takinokoi-beya.

Career

Hugo made his professional debut using the ringname of Kaitetsu (魁鉄), expressing his desire to charge ahead of others with his own "iron" brand of sumo. In Egypt 2022, he was near the top of the Makushita division, where he was in contention for the divisional title by entering day 12 with a 9-2 record. He, however, went on to lose to Ashitaka and, eventual champion of the tournament, Okiomori. Still, he posted a final record of 11-4, securing promotion to the salaried Juryo division.

In his promotion to Juryo, he expressed his delight in representing Brazil in Ozumo and his desire to face Arashidake some day in competition. He made his Juryo debut in Kyushu 2022 but would struggle and post a 6-9 record and in Hatsu 2023 would again post a 5-10 record. Barely hanging on to Juryo in March 2023, he was able to finally post a kachi-koshi at salaried level, securing it with a win over Nekonoyama. In an interview, Kaitetsu admitted that it took time to adjust to the salaried division but that training with sekitori-ranked wrestlers outside of his stable helped solidify his game plan.

At a career high rank of Juryo 6, he travelled alongside the Sumo Association to Istanbul for the basho, where he again posted a make-koshi, losing record. Kaitetsu later mentioned that his poor performance was due to injuries sustained during the tournament. After healing his injuries, Kaitetsu posted a 8-7 record, continuing the halted climb up Juryo after the Nagoya 2023 tournament.

Kaitetsu prepares for his upcoming bout (c. 2023)

For Aki 2023, Kaitetsu was ranked at Juryo 3 west, he was for the first time in the range where a winning record could lead to a promotion to the top division, Makuuchi. In this tournament he posted a strong 10-5 record, including a 5-match win-streak. With a tenth win secured on senshuraku over Yoshinochin, the Sumo Association later announced his promotion to the top division alongside the new banzuke.

In his top division debut, Kaitetsu was ranked at Maegashira 13 west, and struggled in the beginning to post any meaningful results, being 2-2 after day 4 of the competition. Surprisingly, he then went on a 5-bout win-streak, with wins over Makuuchi regulars Kokucho, Suzuarashi and Raimei. His streak was stopped by day 10, where veteran Akaibashi handed him his third loss, being 7-3 at that point. Nearing the final weekend of the tournament, Kaitetsu won his last 3 bouts, securing the Fighting Spirit prize for his strong Makuuchi debut with a win over Mujinryu and the Technique prize with a win by tsuridashi over Okiomori on day 15. He finished with a 11-4 record, which was tied for the second best result in the tournament, a jun-yusho. He expressed his delight in interviews, mentioning that the hardwork was rewarded with a positive Kyushu tournament. Kaitetsu continued rising up in the ranks, posting 2 further kachi-koshi records in the early months of 2024, including a win over ozeki Shirokumo, to be placed in the top of the maegashira ranks, just under the named san'yaku ranks, an area called the joi-jin.

In May 2024, Kaitetsu was expected to fight multiple top-rankers, and despite an opening win over sekiwake Kaikaryu, he lost 6 matches in a row, a loss streak even worse than the ones he suffered when debuting in Juryo. In a surprise turn of events, starting on day 8 of the tournament, he posted a series of consecutive wins, including one over yokozuna Tochinokuma, where he earned his first kinboshi. Despite the awful start, he was able to secure a kachi-koshi on day 14, with a win over Tentoryu. Now at the top of the maegashira ranks, being placed at maegashira 1 west for Nagoya 2024, Kaitetsu had a great start, defeating both yokozuna Tochinokuma and newly-promoted Toramaru to earn back-to-back kinboshis. With that strong start, he finished the competition with another 8-7 record.

Fighting style

Kaitetsu is a yotsu-zumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques to pushing and thrusting. Due to his smaller than average frame, he uses a great number of throws and unorthodox techniques. His preferred tachi-ai is quick and low to the ground. His most common winning kimarite are kimedashi and kotenage. He favours a hidari-yotsu grip on the mawashi, with his right hand outside and left hand inside his opponent's arms.

Personal life

He is the brother to a younger sister. His hobbies are playing video-games and going out to restaurants. His favorite dishes are oyakodon and oysters.

Career record

Kaitetsu Mori

2022	x	x	x	x	Egypt East Makushita #8 11–4	Kyushu East Jūryō #12 6–9
2023	Hatsu East Jūryō #12 5–10	Haru West Jūryō #10 9–6	Istanbul East Jūryō #6 6–9	Nagoya East Jūryō #8 8–7	Aki West Jūryō #3 10–5	Kyushu West Maegashira #13 11–4 FT
2024	Hatsu East Maegashira #7 9–6	Bali East Maegashira #5 8–7	Natsu West Maegashira #2 8–7 ★	Nagoya West Maegashira #1 8–7 ★★	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Juryo Unsalaried Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi; P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira