A Ukrainian who fled his homeland following Russia's full-scale invasion has rapidly ascended to stardom in Japan's ancient sport of sumo, recently achieving a significant victory against one of its highest-ranked champions.
Danilo Yavhushyshyn, who left Ukraine three and a half years ago, now competes as Aonishiki Arata. The 21-year-old's meteoric rise culminated three months ago with a defeat of Mongolian-born Hoshoryu, one of Japan's two grand champions (yokozuna).
At a news conference on Thursday, Aonishiki, unlike some high-profile Ukrainians abroad, focused exclusively on his sporting journey.
He discussed his rigorous training, diet, learning Japanese, and his early introduction to sumo at age six in his home city of Vinnytsia, west-central Ukraine, now fully immersed in the sport's regimented world.
“My country is in a very difficult circumstance, however, I am a sumo wrestler so I would like to speak about sumo," he said speaking Japanese, a language he has picked up rapidly.
“My family," he added. "They now are in Germany, so they are safe.”
Asked again about the war and his high-profile status in Japan, he replied. “I hope that people from Ukraine will be able to see my sumo and have some kind of encouragement from that.”
Non-Japanese sumo wrestlers have excelled in different periods in Japan. They have included Mongolians, Hawaiians and now Ukrainians. A second Ukrainian, Shishi Masaru, is also a highly-ranked wrestler in Japan.
Ukraine has a very strong tradition in Olympic wrestling. Its last gold-medal winner was Zhan Beleniuk in the Greco-Roman category at the Tokyo Games, which were delayed until 2021 by the pandemic.
“Sumo is quite popular in Ukraine, however it’s quite rare for someone to be doing only sumo," Aonishiki said. "They’ll often be doing wrestling and sumo, or judo and sumo.”
Aonishiki said he came to Japan in 2022 after striking up a friendship with a Japanese wrestler at a tournament in 2019. He hasn't been back to Ukraine since arriving in Japan and said, of course, he'd like to visit.
“It is the place where I was born, where I was raised," he said. "It is my homeland and there are many people I know there. So if there were a chance I would like to be able to go and visit Ukraine.”
He also talked about his future interest in obtaining a Japanese passport.
There were questions about his wrestling technique and strength. He can bench press 210 kilograms (460 pounds).
Of course, there were queries about his weight and eating habits. He weighs only 125 kilograms (275 pounds).
This is slight in sumo since many weigh at least 150-kilograms (330 pounds) and some much more.
“My weight is somewhat lighter or smaller than others,” he said. “If possible I would like to increase my weight by around 10 kilograms (22 pounds). However, that’s not so easy to do. It’s hard to really eat more than I am at the moment. It could be quite painful in a way.”
