Tamarikidō Hideki (born April 19, 1974) 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 born in Edogawa,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

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 ...

. Though born in Japan, he is a

Zainichi Korean comprise ethnic Koreans who have permanent residency status in Japan or who have become Japanese citizens, and whose immigration to Japan originated before 1945, or who are descendants of those immigrants. They are a group distinct from South ...

and a member of

Mindan Mindan ( ko, 민단), or the Korean Residents Union in Japan (), is one of two main organizations for Koreans living in Japan, the other being Chongryon. Mindan has ties to South Korea and was established in 1946 in Tokyo, Japan. Currently, amo ...

. His highest rank was '' maegashira'' 8. A former amateur champion, he turned professional in 1997, reaching the top '' makuuchi'' division in 2001. He had many injury problems throughout his career, missing over 100 matches, and last fought in ''makuuchi'' in 2003. He announced his retirement in January 2010.

Career

He was born in Edogawa, Tokyo, and is a third generation Korean-Japanese. He was a teammate of Takanohana at the Meidai Nakano High School's sumo club. He was also a former amateur sumo champion at

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

, and was considered extremely promising. He came third in the All Japan Sumo Championships. He made his professional debut in March 1997 at the bottom of the third '' makushita'' division. He was a runner-up in his first tournament but had a few setbacks before finally reaching the second highest ''

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 September 1999. Tamarikidō made his debut in the top '' makuuchi'' division in January 2001. He has spent eleven tournaments in the top division in total, the last in November 2003 when he had to withdraw after winning only two bouts. 2004 was a disastrous year for him as a knee injury in May meant he missed nearly all his matches and fell to the fourth '' sandanme'' division. It was subsequently discovered that due to the lack of treatment of earlier injuries, his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

was completely worn away. He began his comeback in 2005, winning the '' sandanme'' division championship in March of that year. He eventually managed to return to the ''jūryō'' division in March 2006, and having fallen to ''sandanme'' 80, he was the lowest ranking former top division wrestler ever to regain '' sekitori'' status. He had climbed as high as ''jūryō'' 4 by the November 2006 tournament. However, he was demoted back to the unsalaried ranks after the September 2007 tournament when he managed only a 3–12 score at ''jūryō'' 12. He continued to slide down the rankings, with four consecutive '' make-koshi'' scores of 3–4 from November 2007 to May 2008. After recording only one win in November 2008 he was demoted back to the ''sandanme'' division for the January 2009 tournament. He made an immediate return to the third division with a 6–1 score.

Retirement from sumo

Tamarikidō retired after the January 2010 tournament, with a final day defeat to Kitazakura leaving him with a 1–6 record. His '' danpatsu-shiki'', or retirement ceremony, was held in June 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 ...

. He stayed in sumo as a coach at Kataonami stable under the '' toshiyori'' name Araiso Oyakata. In June 2013 he switched to the Nishonoseki name after it was vacated by the retiring stablemaster Kongō. In 2014 he swapped elder names with Matsugane Oyakata, the former '' ōzeki'' Wakashimazu, and joined the renamed

Nishonoseki stable Nishonoseki stable may refer to: * Nishonoseki stable (1911–2013) (1911–2013) was a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Nishonoseki group of stables (''ichimon'') named after it. It first appeared in the late eighteenth century and was re-e ...

. In August 2020 it was announced that he had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, although he had not been displaying symptoms and was not believed to have been in close contact with other sumo personnel during the most recent tournament.

Fighting style

Tamarikidō preferred to fight on the opponent's '' mawashi'', and his favoured grip was (somewhat unusually) ''morozashi'', or double hand inside. His most common winning '' kimarite'' was ''yori-kiri'', a straightforward force out.

Career record

References

External links