Kasugaō Katsumasa (春日王克昌, born 1 July 1977, as Kim Seong Taek) 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

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. He was the first sumo wrestler to reach the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

'' division officially representing South Korea. (Several other top wrestlers in the past have hid a Korean or half-Korean background). He joined sumo in 1998, making the top division for the first time in 2003. His highest rank was ''

maegashira , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

'' 3. In September 2009, he acquired

Japanese citizenship Japanese nationality law details the conditions by which a person holds nationality of Japan. The primary law governing nationality regulations is the 1950 Nationality Act. Children born to at least one Japanese parent are generally automaticall ...

. In April 2011 he was ordered to retire by the

Japan Sumo Association The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling (called ''Ōzumō'', 大相撲) in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). ''Rikishi'' (active ...

after an investigation found him guilty of

match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

Early life and sumo background

His father died when he was just three years old and his mother brought the family up alone, working days and nights as a cleaner. He went to

Bupyeong High School Bupyeong High School (BHS, ) is a public secondary school (grades 10-12 high school) for boys in South Korea, which is located in Bupyeong-dong, Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, South Korea. The BHS was opened on March 6, 1972. The School Mascot is a “G ...

, as did South Korean footballer Kim Nam-Il, and they remain very close friends. After winning a national

Ssireum ''Ssireum'' (Hangul: ) or Korean wrestling is a folk wrestling style and traditional national sport of Korea that began in the fourth century. In the modern form each contestant wears only a belt (satba) that wraps around the waist and the th ...

competition in 1998, he was invited by the stablemaster of the recently opened

Kasugayama stable was a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Isegahama ''ichimon'' or group of stables. In its modern form it dates from 1954 when it was re-established by former '' ōzeki'' Nayoroiwa who led it until his death in 1971. It went out of existence ...

to come to

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 ...

. He saw the opportunity to support his family back in Korea, and took a leave of absence from his university.

Career

He made his professional debut in November 1998. For his first couple of tournaments he fought under the ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Edo period, where they were used as a means to attract customers and hide the identities of the ''rikishi''. Like standard Japanese names, a ''shikona'' co ...

'' of Kimu, but this was soon changed to Kasugaō, the name adapted from both his

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

and his stablemaster's old fighting name of

Kasugafuji Kasugafuji Akihiro (February 20, 1966 – March 9, 2017), born as Shoki Iwanaga, was a Japanese sumo wrestler and coach from Oshika, Miyagi. He was an active wrestler in professional sumo from 1981 until 1996, reaching a highest rank of ''maegashi ...

. Kasugaō reached the ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. For ...

'' division in July 2002 and the top ''

'' division just three tournaments later in January 2003, after winning the second division championship in November 2002 by defeating Asasekiryū on the last day. On the same day Asashōryū won the ''makuuchi'' division title, making it the first time that two foreign born wrestlers had won the top two divisions in the same tournament. Kasugaō sent all his prize money of two million

yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar (US$) and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the e ...

home to his mother. In his top division debut Kasugaō scored an impressive ten wins and was awarded the Fighting Spirit Prize. He progressed to ''maegashira'' 6 but then a series of poor results sent him back down to the ''jūryō'' division. In 2004 the

organized a tour of Seoul, and even though he had fallen to ''jūryō'' Kasugaō was still highly sought after by the Korean sumo fans. After moving between the top two divisions a couple of times he won promotion back to ''makuuchi'' in September 2005 and reached his highest rank of ''maegashira'' 3 in March 2007. He was forced to withdraw from the May 2008 tournament with only three wins, after suffering a knee injury on the 8th day, which resulted in demotion back to the ''jūryō'' division. He also missed out on an exhibition tour of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in June. He scored nine wins in the July 2008 tournament, returning him to the top division for September, but he could only turn in a disastrous 2-13 there, and was demoted to ''jūryō'' once again. After four tournaments away, he returned to ''makuuchi'' for the July 2009 tournament and came through with a winning record. He applied for

in June 2009 and became a citizen three months later in September. A poor 3-12 score in November 2009 saw him demoted to ''jūryō'' again for the January 2010 tournament, but a 9-6 score was enough for an immediate re-promotion to the top division. On this occasion he lasted only one tournament before being demoted again, but he won promotion to ''makuuchi'' for the eighth time in September 2010 after another 9-6 in July. In January 2011 he took his second ''jūryō'' division championship, more than eight years after his first, with a 12-3 record and a play-off win over Tochinowaka.

Retirement from sumo

After an investigation by the Sumo Association into allegations of bout-rigging prompted by the discovery of text-messages on a mobile phone belonging to former ''maegashira''

Kasuganishiki Kasuganishiki Takahiro (born August 22, 1975 as Takahiro Suzuki) is a former sumo wrestler from Misaki, Isumi District, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He made his debut in 1991, reaching the top makuuchi division in 2002. His highest rank was ''maegas ...

, Kasugaō was one of 23 wrestlers and coaches found guilty of involvement. He was ordered to retire, and submitted his letter of resignation on April 4, 2011. His ''

danpatsu-shiki The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

,'' or official retirement ceremony was held on May 28, 2011, with guests such as

Hiroki Matsukata , better known by his stage name , was a Japanese actor. He was the son of ''jidaigeki'' actor Jūshirō Konoe and actress Yaeko Mizukawa and has a younger brother, Yūki Meguro, who is also an actor. With ex-wife actress Akiko Nishina he had tw ...

Yoo Ji-tae Yoo Ji-tae (born April 13, 1976) is a South Korean actor, film director and screenwriter. After a stint as a fashion model, Yoo launched his acting career in 1998 then rose to fame through the films ''Attack the Gas Station'' (1999) and ''Ditto' ...

and

Choi Hong-man Choi Hong-man (Korean language, Korean: 최홍만, Hanja: 崔洪萬; born October 30, 1980), often anglicised to Hongman Choi, is a South Korean kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and former ssireum wrestler. In Asia, he is called "Che Man", "Te ...

attending.

Fighting style

Like many wrestlers, Kasugaō was fond of ''yotsu-sumo'' or grappling techniques, his most common winning move being ''yori-kiri'' or force out. His favourite grip on the ''

mawashi In sumo, a is the loincloth that (sumo wrestlers) wear during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a as part of the ring entry ceremony or . For top ranked professional , it is made of silk and comes in a var ...

'' was ''migi-yotsu'', with his left hand outside and right hand inside his opponent's arms. However, he was also adept at throws, his next two most often used techniques being ''kote-nage'', the armlock throw, and ''uwate-nage'', the outer-arm throw.

Career record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasugao, Katsumasa 1977 births Living people Japanese people of Korean descent Japanese sumo wrestlers Naturalized citizens of Japan Sportspeople from Incheon South Korean emigrants to Japan South Korean sumo wrestlers South Korean ssireum practitioners Sportspeople banned for life