The most significant Japanese presence in Davao region lasted thirty-two years (1903-1945). This was at a time when the demand for abaca plantation labor meant recruiting of Okinawans to fill in the placement void the local work force could not supply.
Expectedly, the influx of Japanese labor also became a boon to Japanese entrepreneurs who were able to lease public lands they later developed in sprawling hemp farms. Others married into the local population so as to enjoy the privilege of owning indirectly agricultural lands that actually belonged to landed native gentries. According to official census, by 1940 the number of Japanese population in Davao, which stiffly competed with the local Chinese inhabitants, was around 20,000, about a fifth of the entire regional population.
Despite their number, the Japanese failed to introduce sumo wrestling, its national sport, locally. The prewar accounts do not even talk of exhibitions of this athletic activity. Because the archipelago was under US colonial rule, the Graeco-Roman wrestling, which the Americans propagated in their homeland, was occasionally played in camps and special events.
American wrestling was preferred because it has different weight classes to choose from. Unlike sumo which needs an athlete that’s bulky, rotund, and stout, in Graeco-Roman wrestling the physique of the colonists perfectly fits the requirement of that sporting discipline.
The closest Davao has reached in the real sumo world was through Takayasu Akira, a sumo wrestler born February 28, 1990 in Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Japan, to Eiji Takayasu, a Japanese father, and Davao-born mother, Bebelita Reblingca Bernadas, who has roots in Bohol and Cebu.
Takayasu’s parents were married in 1984 and live in Ibaraki Prefecture. They have another son, Hiroyuki, now working as a paymaster, who used to play rugby and American football while in high school and college. The family used to own three restaurants in Japan, but closed them after Babelita underwent a myoma surgery in 2007. Eiji is a cancer survivor of a malignant tumor that affected his left kidney. As family enterprise, they own a recycling shop for heavy equipment and appliances.
Takayasu initially played baseball in his youth but later decided to enter the Naruto (now Tagonoura-beya) wrestling stable to train as a rikishi (sumo wrestler). According to his mother, he “loves Filipino food like bihon, sotanghon guisado, beef kaldereta, chicken adobo, giniling, Bicol express, lumpiang shanghai, sinigang, nilaga, kare-kare and lechon,” adding he also “eats everything except dinuguan. He loves Mama’s cooking and introduced Filipino food to other sumo wrestlers. He is proud of his Filipino blood and loves anything Filipino.”
With a height of 6’1” and weighing 164 kilograms, his March 2005 debut right away caught the attention of sumo followers. He is regarded as an oshi-sumo specialist who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques (tsuki/oshi) and often uses the techniques known as yori-kiri (force out), hataki-komi (slap down) and oshi-dashi (push out) in winning his assignments.
The Wikipedia chronicles his rise in an online profile:
“[Takayasu Akira] made steady progress through the lower divisions, [losing] only a few… make-koshi tournaments. He won the yūshō (championship) in the third makushita division in September 2010 with a perfect 7–0 record [which] propelled him [to] the jūryō division [and] became one of the first two sekitori to be born in the Heisei era. He decided against adopting a traditional shikona despite reaching the elite and has continued to use his birth name. In his first jūryō tournament… he almost pulled off a second consecutive championship.
“After two more strong performances at jūryō, Takayasu was promoted to the top makuuchi division in July, 2011. His debut record of 9–6 at maegashira 11 earned him a maegashira rank of no. 6 in the following tournament, then his highest.. After [earning] a 9–6 score in the November 2011 tournament he was promoted to a new high of maegashira 3. He scored only 6–9 in the January 2012 tourney, but a 10–5 record in March saw him reach maegashira 1.”
“Takayasu had his best result in the top division to date in the January 2013 tournament, finishing runner up on 12–3 and winning his first sanshō award for Fighting Spirit. He had two gold star wins in 2013, in two different tournaments, both at maegashira 1… The second win… also helped him procure his first Outstanding Performance prize, and his first promotion to the san’yaku ranks at komusubi. He only lasted one tournament at this rank, however, and went into a bit of a slump before bouncing back with an 11-4 at the July 2014 tournament.
“In the November 2014 tournament he scored against top-ranked competition, earning two gold stars… and receiving the Outstanding Performance prize. This promoted him to komosubi once more at the beginning of 2015.”
In May 2016, Takayasu was promoted to komusubi for the third time. In July that same year, at Nagoya, Japan, he produced his first winning record at a san’yaku rank with eleven wins and was also awarded the Special Prize for Technique. In January 2017, he finished third place at komusubi and was awarded the special prize for Fighting Spirit.
