Photo/Illutration Sekiwake Hoshoryu wins the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on July 23 to secure his promotion to the second-highest rank of ozeki. (Pool)

Like uncle, like nephew, sekiwake Hoshoryu shares the same appearance and fighting style as retired yokozuna Asashoryu, one of the traditional sport's all-time greats.

Now, they have something else in common: both winners of a championship title.

After winning his first championship at the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament on July 23, the Mongolian wrestler expressed his gratitude to his uncle in the post-tournament interview during the awards ceremony. 

“I’m so happy, I want to share my joy first with my stablemaster and then with my uncle,” a smiling Hoshoryu said. 

Asashoryu congratulated his 24-year-old nephew on social media. His message included the line “25+1”: the numbers of championships won by the two wrestlers.

Before the Nagoya tournament, Hoshoryu returned to Mongolia for the first time in four and a half years.

He saw his uncle there, who told him that he must win the upcoming competition.

The victory at the Nagoya tournament effectively guaranteed Hoshoryu’s promotion to the second-highest rank of ozeki.

It was also in Nagoya that the young Asashoryu secured his promotion to ozeki 21 years ago. But that's where the difference ends, according to his uncle.

“He’s not like me at all, he’s a good boy,” Asashoryu once humorously said of his nephew. 

Asashoryu was a controversial figure for his rough-and-tumble behavior inside and outside the ring in the disciplined world of the humble sport.

He retired in 2010 after injuring a man in a drunken brawl in Tokyo.

The uncle and nephew have been close since Hoshoryu was a child. When he was an active wrestler, Asashoryu used to spend time with his nephew when he made homecoming visits to Mongolia.

Not just his physical appearance, but Hoshoryu’s aggressive style and powerful lower body are often compared with those of his uncle.

Hoshoryu moved to Japan when he was a high school student. It was Asashoryu who encouraged the young man to come to Japan.

However, Hoshoryu didn’t immediately start sumo at a high school in Chiba he attended because he was intimidated by the idea of fighting bigger boys. Instead, he joined the school’s wrestling team.

Hoshoryu eventually quit wrestling and joined the school’s sumo team after watching sumo matches at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan.

The excitement at the venue fascinated him. He joined the Tatsunami stable in Tokyo after graduation to pursue a career in the dohyo.

Hoshoryu won his first career title five and a half years after his debut in 2018.