Naminohana Kazutaka (born 19 March 1969 as Kazuhiro Kudo) 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 Namioka,

Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of ...

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 was active from 1984 until 1997 and his highest rank was '' komusubi.'' He fought for Futagoyama stable and won one special prize for Fighting Spirit. After retiring at age 28 because of injury he went into the restaurant business.

Career

He was born in

Namioka, Aomori was a town located in Minamitsugaru District in central Aomori Prefecture, Japan. Namioka Town was located in the plains of central Aomori Prefecture, bordered by the Ōu Mountains to the east. The area was part of Hirosaki Domain during the ...

, the third son of a farmer. He won a sumo competition at Namioka Tachi Nozawa Elementary School and fought for the fourth grade sumo club even when still in the third grade. At junior high he moved away from sumo and was thinking of becoming a physical education teacher. However he was recruited by the former '' yokozuna'' Wakanohana Kanji I and joined his Futagoyama stable upon graduation from junior high school. Initially fighting under his own surname of Kudo, he made his professional debut in May 1984. Weighing less than early in his career he rose rather slowly up the ranks, but he compensated for his lack of physique by hard training. He was promoted to the second highest '' juryo'' division in November 1990 and reached the top '' makuuchi'' division for the first time in September 1992. After falling back to ''juryo'' in 1994 he won two '' yusho'' or tournament championships in that division. Upon his return to ''makuuchi'' in November 1994 he scored 10–5 and won his first and only '' sansho,'' for Fighting Spirit. He was nominated for the prize on the condition that he win on the final day, and had he failed to do so, there would have been no ''sansho'' at all awarded in a tournament for the first time since they were introduced in 1947. His highest rank was '' komusubi'', which he held for one tournament in March 1995 after a 9–6 record at ''maegashira'' 7 in the previous tournament saw him somewhat fortuitously promoted to the '' sanyaku'' ranks. He scored only 6–9 and never made ''komusubi'' again. He injured his elbow in a match with Kaio in March 1996, which restricted his performances and led to six consecutive losing records and demotion to the '' makushita'' division. He is the only wrestler in modern sumo to reach a ''sanyaku'' rank but never defeat any ''yokozuna'' or '' ozeki'' in his career. He was only eligible to face Akebono and Musashimaru during his 18 tournament stay in the top division as the other ''yokozuna'' and ''ozeki'' were all fellow members of Futagoyama stable, and sumo rules prevent wrestlers from the same

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 ...

meeting in competition.

Retirement from sumo

He retired in March 1997 at the age of 28. He had no

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

stock in the Japan Sumo Association and so was unable to stay in sumo. He ran a restaurant in

Nishi-Azabu is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, which was a part of the former Azabu Ward. Nishiazabu is bordered by Minami-Aoyama on the north and west, Hiroo (Shibuya) on the south, Moto-Azabu on the southeast, and Roppongi on the northeast. The Fuj ...

, Tokyo and has appeared on J Sports ESPN's ' sumo program.

Fighting style

Naminohana was an ''oshi-sumo'' specialist who preferred to push and thrust rather than go for a grip on the '' mawashi'' or belt. His most common winning '' kimarite'' or techniques were ''oshi-dashi'' (push out), ''yori-kiri'' (force out), ''hataki-komi'' (slap down) and ''tsuki-otoshi'' (thrust over). He was known for trying to tempt his opponent to begin the bout early, a practice known as ''jikanmae.''

Career record

References

External links