Baruto Kaito - Top Division Career

Top Division Career

In his first tournament in the top division Baruto scored a strong 11–4 record and won the kantō-shō (or Fighting Spirit Prize). After a second winning record in July and another promotion, Baruto's quick ascent through the ranks halted at maegashira 1. He withdrew from the September tournament with an injury, which lowered his standing to maegashira 6 in the November tournament. The result of 10–5 there took him up to maegashira 3, but he was again injured in the January 2007 tournament. He suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He was unable to compete in the March tournament as well and his ranking suffered, resulting in a return to the jūryō ranks. In May he won the jūryō championship with a 14–1 record, resulting in an immediate return to makuuchi in July to the position of maegashira 14 East. However he re-injured his knee on the opening day and decided to withdraw from the tournament. It was the third time he had injured the knee, each time in a different place. He has not yet undergone surgery, which would require a lengthy lay-off.

In September 2007, despite being clearly still troubled by his knee, he took his third jūryō division championship with a 13–2 record. This was enough to earn promotion back to the top division for November. He was in contention for the championship until the final days of the tournament when he was defeated by ōzeki Chiyotaikai and komusubi Ama. He finished with an 11–4 record and was awarded his second Fighting Spirit Prize.

In the January 2008 tournament Baruto produced a 7–8 score, the first time in his career that he has completed a tournament and finished with more losses than wins. He performed much better in March, finishing as joint runner-up with 12 wins and being awarded another Fighting Spirit Prize. In the May 2008 tournament he was unable to defeat any of the top rankers and could only manage five wins. In the July 2008 tournament, Baruto finished with a 10–5 score, assuring a komusubi debut in September.

In his first appearance as komusubi in the Aki Basho, Baruto managed an 8–7 score, while having a less than perfect start to the tournament. He was just 2–7 after 9 bouts where he competed with only sanyaku wrestlers. His last six matches were against wrestlers from the maegashira ranks and there Baruto managed to hold his ground. He was promoted to sekiwake rank for the Kyushu Basho in November, as the west sekiwake Toyonoshima could not hold his position after a 6–9 finish in the Aki Basho, thus leaving an opening for the position. He came through with a winning record in his sekiwake debut.

Baruto had an excellent start to the January 2009 tournament, winning his first six matches. However he began losing in the second week and finished on 9–6. By contrast, he struggled during the first week of the March tournament in facing the top ranked wrestlers and stood at 3–6 after nine days, but he maintained his rank with a kachi-koshi victory on the final day. He is the first sekiwake to hold his rank for four straight tournaments since his debut since Asashōryū in 2002. He lost the rank in May 2009, but fighting from the maegashira 3 position in July he produced a strong 11–4 record and returned to the komusubi rank for the September tournament. There he became the first non-yokozuna since Hoshi in 1986 to defeat five ōzeki in one tournament. He finished with a fine 12–3 record, guaranteeing his return to sekiwake, and was awarded his fourth Fighting Spirit prize. He scored nine wins in the next tournament.