Ōnosato Daiki (Japanese: 大の里 泰輝, [oːnosato daiꜜkʲi]) (born Daiki Nakamura (中村 泰輝, Nakamura Daiki), June 7, 2000) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler and the 75th yokozuna. After a successful amateur career at university level, where he was called "the most eagerly awaited prospect to come out of collegiate sumo in decades", he joined the Nishonoseki stable under the tutelage of the former yokozuna Kisenosato and began his professional career at the rank of makushita 10 via the makushita tsukedashi system. He reached the top makuuchi division in January 2024 after competing in just four tournaments, and in May of the same year won his first top-division championship in a record seven tournaments.
Ōnosato became professional sumo's 75th yokozuna in May 2025 after winning back-to-back championships at the rank of ōzeki.
Early life and sumo background
Daiki Nakamura was born in Tsubata, Ishikawa. He began wrestling in a sumo club at his elementary school in first grade. As a child he was fascinated by professional sumo and has stated that one of his favourite publications was the magazine Sumo published by Baseball Magazine. Nakamura attended Itoigawa City Nō Junior High School and Niigata Prefectural Marine High School. During his years at Itoigawa, he won the 2016 Junior High School competition at the Hakuhō Cup. At Niigata's Kaiyo High School, he took part in several training camps organised by Arashio stable, training with future makuuchi-ranked Wakamotoharu.
In 2019, he entered Nippon Sport Science University, a university famous for its strong sumo club. During his first year, he first won the individual competition in the adult division of the National Athletic Meet, hence becoming the second best individual champion in the history of the competition and allowing him to become professional at the rank of makushita tsukedashi 15. He then took part in the National Student Sumo Tournament in Sakai as a freshman and won the individual tournament. This victory, over Kindai University's Koshiro Tanioka, marked the first time in 29 years that a freshman won the tournament, since Luis Gō Ikemori (who later became a professional wrestler under the shikona of Ryūkō) won in 1990. In December 2021, he participated to the 70th All Japan Sumo Championships at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan and became amateur-yokozuna after defeating Kindai University's Kanzaki Taiga in the final, again qualifying for the makushita tsukedashi system. During that same tournament, he defeated Tottori Jōhoku High School's Tetsuya Ochiai during the team competition. During his university years, he also notably faced Mikiya Ishioka, facing him a total of four times and winning two of these matches, thus creating a rivalry between the two wrestlers.
In January 2022, Nakamura took part in the World Games sumo competition held that year in Birmingham, Alabama. Competing in the Openweight and Over 115 kg categories, he won the former and finished runner-up in the latter, failing against Hidetora Hanada. In October of the same year, he participated in the National Athletic Meet in Ōtawara and won the amateur-yokozuna title for the second consecutive time in this tournament. With his victory at the 70th All Japan Sumo Championships, Nakamura became the fourth person since the introduction of this system in 2000 to be eligible to join professional sumo at the rank of makushita tsukedashi 10. This victory was also the fifth time that Nakamura had won the championship title in a tournament counting towards makushita tsukedashi status. Overall, during his time as an amateur wrestler at university level, Nakamura won no less than 13 titles, placing him ex aequo for the greatest number of amateur titles won by a wrestler. His dominance of amateur sumo in Japan was such that sumo columnist John Gunning declared that he saw in Nakamura's sumo a continuous display of "calm smooth style reminiscent of Hakuhō in his younger days".
In March 2023, Nakamura made the decision to become a professional wrestler (rikishi) by joining Nishonoseki stable under the guidance of former yokozuna Kisenosato. At the time of his recruitment, he expressed his intention to achieve sekitori status as quickly as possible. Moreover, his entry into the professional world a few months after the record-breaking promotion of Hakuōhō (then known as Ochiai) did not fail to raise the interest of commentators as to the hypothesis of a rivalry between these two dominant wrestlers of the amateur world. On the subject of choosing to join this particular stable, Nakamura expressed his interest in being trained by a former yokozuna and that the stable, located in Ami, Ibaraki, offered him a healthy working environment "to eliminate any temptations and be able to concentrate on sumo". Since he turned professional in May 2023, Ōnosato was the last wrestler to be promoted to makushita tsukedashi 10 due to his amateur prowess, the system for promotion to the top of the makushita division having been abolished in September 2023.
In April 2023, it was announced that Nakamura would fight under the shikona Ōnosato (大の里). This ring name is composed with the kanji for 'great' (大), to accentuate his talent, while the '-nosato' part of his name (composed with the kana and kanji "の 里") establish Nakamura's lineage from yokozuna Takanosato (隆の里) and Kisenosato (稀勢の里). This name, chosen to represent his master's expectations, was chosen in particular because this shikona had been proposed to Kisenosato when he was still an active wrestler when his promotion to the rank of ōzeki had been certain. The shikona had previously been borne by the early 20th-century ōzeki, Ōnosato Mansuke. Nakamura's father declared, "I am deeply moved by the honor of my son being named after a former ōzeki with such a long history". Before bestowing Nakamura his shikona, Kisenosato, with his former stablemate Wakanosato as intermediary, obtained permission for its use from Ōnosato Mansuke's family, who still reside in Aomori Prefecture.
On the announcement of Ōnosato's debut as a professional wrestler, his former coach at Niigata Kaiyo High, Tetsuya Tōmi, declared his satisfaction, compared him to "a Shohei Ohtani of sumo", and said that Nakamura had the potential to become the monster of the new era (新時代の怪物). On the occasion of his passage to the new apprentice examination, Ōnosato, obliged to comply with professional wrestlers dress rules, received an obi belt that his master had used.
Having received the Japan Sumo Association approval to compete, Ōnosato began his career at the rank of makushita tsukedashi 10. His first professional match was against Takasago stable wrestler Ishizaki, a senior of Ōnosato during their time at NSS University. Ishizaki however defeated Ōnosato by tsukiotoshi in what Ishizaki later describes as a "fluke match". Nonetheless, Ōnosato finished the tournament with a score of 6–1, missing out, however, on promotion directly to the jūryō division, which some observers had been expecting.
During the July tournament, Ōnosato competed again in the makushita division, this time ranked as makushita 3. He won his first two matches, but suffered his first defeat in his third match against Tokihayate. On the seventh day of the tournament, Ōnosato faced amateur scene rival and upper-division wrestler, Kihō. During their amateur bouts, Kihō never defeated Ōnosato, who had won the college yokozuna title from him at the 2022 championships. Kihō dealt Ōnosato his second consecutive defeat, with a hatakikomi. At the time, this defeat was thought to delay even further Ōnosato's promotion to jūryō. Ōnosato ultimately achieved a kachi-koshi of 4 wins in his last match by defeating Hidenoumi. Ōnosato said that his losses were unexpected and that it left him so disgusted with himself that he could not eat. Of his last match, he said that he came into it with "a bit of confidence", but that it was tough bout.
When the rankings for the September tournament were announced, however, it was confirmed that Ōnosato's score was sufficient to promote him to jūryō, professional sumo's second-highest division. This promotion, acquired at the same time as stablemate and NSSU senior classmate Takahashi, allowed Nishonoseki stable to simultaneously receive two new sekitori, and the first two raised by Kisenosato alone since he had become master in 2019. Furthermore, this double promotion marks the first time since July 2012 that two stablemates have gained sekitori status at the same time. After his promotion, Ōnosato went to his hometown of Tsubata, Ishikawa to officially announce his promotion to his local fans. After a conference attended by around 600 people, he was presented with a stock of 600 kg (1,300 lb) of rice. During the August jungyō, he took part in public training series and competed against his jūryō peers. He was also honored to be trained later by former ōzeki Takakeishō and Takayasu, the latter having been stablemate of Ōnosato's master, and was praised for his attitude toward training.