War refugee Aonishiki becomes first Ukrainian to win top sumo championship

Danylo Yavhusishyn, the first person from his country to win a competition in the traditional Japanese sport, won on Sunday.

The 21-year-old, who fled the Ukrainian conflict three years ago, won the Kyushu tournament after beating Mongolia’s Hoshoryu, the tournament’s grand champion.

In his televised victory interview, he said he was pleased he was able to show his usual performance to the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, where he is known as Aonishiki Arata and speaks fluent Japanese.

He expressed his satisfaction at being able to accomplish his stated goal.

Yavhusishyn, who fled Ukraine three years ago and arrived in Japan now, has climbed the sumo charts at record speed.

National broadcaster NHK announced that the Japan Sumo Association would hold a special meeting soon to promote him to “ozeki,” the second-highest ranking after “yokozuna,” or grand champion.

As a teenager, Yavhusishyn competed in the world junior sumo championships before relocating to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

After two months in Japan, he resurrected and received a blistering start to his career, rising to the fourth-highest position and achieving success at Sumo.

Yavhusishyn was a native of central Ukraine and began playing sumo at age seven before becoming a national champion at age 17.

When the war broke out, he sought refuge in Germany before moving to Japan and narrowly avoided Ukraine’s military draft for men aged 18 or older.

He arrived in Japan without any knowledge of the language and his parents remained in Germany.

In a move that included compatriot Serhii Sokolovskyi, better known as Shishi, Yavhusishyn made his debut as a professional sumo wrestler in July 2023.

Since 1958, Yavhusishyn’s promotion to the upper divisions was the fifth-fastest since the organization’s first system, which consisted of six tournaments annually.

The determined wrestler said he now wants to rise to the top of the sumo hierarchy.

“I’m happy, but there is a higher status,” I said. He declared, “I want to work toward that.”