YAMA

Yama is a former professional sumo wrestler who fought from Onoe stable beginning in January, 2007 at the age of 22, and at his peak weight of 586 lbs. was the heaviest Japanese-born sumo wrestler in history. A graduate of Nihon University, he won several amateur championships at national, world, and university levels before turning professional, making the top makuuchi division by the January, 2009 tournament. He fought under the ring name Yamamotoyama, formed simply by adding the suffix "yama" (mountain) to his birth family name. Despite his meteoric rise through the ranks, he struggled with injury after reaching his highest rank of maegashira 9, and fell to the second-highest juryo division.More