Ōtsukasa Nobuhide (, born February 18, 1971 as Nobuhide Ōuchi) is a former

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

wrestler from

Miki Miki may refer to: Places *Miki, Hyōgo, a city in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan *Miki, Kagawa, a town in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan *Miki, Azerbaijan, a village in Astara Rayon, Azerbaijan People *Miki (given name) *Miki (surname) *Miki Núñez (born ...

, Hyōgo,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. A former amateur champion, he made his professional debut in 1993. The highest rank he reached was '' maegashira'' 4. He retired in March 2009 and is now a sumo coach.

Career

Ōtsukasa began sumo at Miki Middle School and was a member of Ichikawa High School's sumo club, where he won national high school sumo championships. He continued his amateur sumo career at Nihon University. Ōtsukasa was recruited by the former '' sekiwake''

Tochitsukasa Tochitsukasa Tetsuo (born 25 April 1958 as Tetsuo Goto) is a former sumo wrestler from Nakagawa, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. His highest rank was '' sekiwake''. After his retirement from sumo in 1992 he became an elder of the Japan Sumo A ...

, also a Nihon University alumni and head of the then-newly formed Irumagawa stable. He made his professional debut in March 1993. Due to his amateur achievements, he was given '' makushita tsukedashi'' status, meaning he could enter in the third-highest '' makushita'' division. Initially fighting under his real name of Ōuchi, he won the ''makushita'' '' yūshō'' or championship in only his second tournament, with a perfect 7–0 record. However, it was not until January 1996 that he became a '' sekitori'' by earning promotion to the second-highest '' jūryō'' division, upon which he adopted the '' shikona'' of Ōtsukasa. After a couple of short spells back in the ''makushita'' division, he took the ''jūryō'' division championship in May 1999 with an 11–4 record. He made the top '' makuuchi'' division for the first time in September 1999. The 39 tournaments it took him from his professional debut to reach ''makuuchi'' is the third-slowest amongst former collegiate wrestlers. During his ''sekitori'' career (75 tournaments in total) Ōtsukasa was a classic "elevator wrestler", too good for ''jūryō'' but not quite good enough for the top division. He was promoted to ''makuuchi'' no less than 11 times in total. This is two fewer than the record of 13 promotions held by Ōshio, a record Ōtsukasa said he would have liked to break. Ōtsukasa was ranked in the top division for three of the six tournaments held in 2007 but did not manage a majority of wins against losses in ''makuuchi'' after July 2004. His last promotion in March 2008 made him the third-oldest postwar wrestler to earn promotion to the top division at 37 years. He won his first four bouts on his final return but then lost 10 in a row to finish with a 5–10 score. He won a second ''jūryō'' championship in January 2005. After the retirement of

Kotonowaka is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Chiba Prefecture. He made his debut in November 2015 and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in March 2020. He wrestles for Sadogatake stable. His highest rank has been ''komusubi''. He is the so ...

in November 2005 he was the oldest man in the ''sekitori'' ranks (the top two divisions). Restricted by a shoulder injury, he produced only one winning record after January 2008. After the 2009 Haru ''basho'', Ōtsukasa would have dropped out of ''jūryō'' (see retirement below). His departure left

Tosanoumi Tosanoumi Toshio (born February 16, 1972 as Toshio Yamamoto in Aki City, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan), is a former sumo wrestler. He first reached the top division of professional sumo in 1995, winning 13 special prizes and earning 11 ''kinboshi'' ...

, who is two days under a year younger than Ōtsukasa, as the oldest active ''sekitori''.

Fighting style

His most frequently used '' kimarite'' or technique was a simple ''yori-kiri'' or force out, but he also favoured pushing or thrusting moves such as ''oshi-dashi'' and ''tsuki-otoshi'', and pull downs such as ''hataki-komi'' and ''hiki-otoshi''. At 175 cm or 5 ft 9 in he was one of the shortest wrestlers in the top two divisions.

Retirement from sumo

Ōtsukasa pulled out of the March 2009 tournament on the 13th day with only one win, facing certain demotion to ''makushita'' for the first time since 1998. Before the start of the 14th day's matches, he officially announced his retirement from sumo at the age of 38. He said that although he would have liked to have reached a '' san'yaku'' rank, he left with no regrets. He has stayed in the sumo world as a coach at Irumagawa stable, having purchased the '' toshiyori'' name of Wakafuji. His '' danpatsu-shiki'', or official retirement ceremony, was held at the

Ryōgoku Kokugikan , also known as Ryōgoku Sumo Hall or Kokugikan Arena, is the name bestowed to two different indoor sporting arenas located in Tokyo. The fist ''Ryōgoku Kokugikan'' opened its doors in 1909 and was located on the lands of the Ekōin temple in Ry ...

on January 30, 2010. In February 2022 he transferred to Kise stable.

Personal life

He married in October 2013 and the wedding reception was held in August 2014.
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Career record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Otsukasa Nobuhide 1971 births Living people People from Miki, Hyōgo Japanese sumo wrestlers Sumo people from Hyōgo Prefecture Nihon University alumni