Yōtsukasa Dai (born 23 September 1973, as Daishi Suzuki) 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 Matsusaka, Mie,

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 made his professional debut in January 1996, and reached the top division in May 1999. His highest rank was '' maegashira'' 11. He retired in November 2005. He became an

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 ...

of the Japan Sumo Association and worked as a coach at Irumagawa stable, leaving in 2012.

Career

He began doing sumo from the fourth grade of elementary school. At Nihon University he was a member of the Nichi-Dai Sumo Club and was in the same year as Kaihō. Because of his amateur achievements he was given special dispensation to begin his professional career at the bottom of the third highest '' makushita'' division. He joined Irumagawa stable, run by another Nihon University graduate, ex-'' 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 ...

. He made his debut in January 1996, fighting under his own surname of Suzuki. Upon reaching '' sekitori'' status in May 1998 he switched to the '' shikona'' of Yōtsukasa, the ''tsukasa'' suffix being a common one at his stable. His stablemaster liked the combination of the "fire" and "flower" kanji, hoping that his sumo would "ignite fire and transform himself as a brilliant flower". He reached the top '' makuuchi'' division a year later in May 1999. He withdrew injured from his third top division tournament and was demoted back to the '' jūryō'' division as a result. In November 2001 he lost ''sekitori'' status altogether after a 3–12 record at Jūryō 11 but he returned to the ''jūryō'' division in November 2002 and was promoted back to the ''makuuchi'' division in May 2003 after an absence of 22 tournaments. His last appearance in the top division was in March 2004.

Retirement

Yōksukaza's final tournament was in November 2005. Ranked right at the bottom of the ''jūryō'' division at no. 14 East, he lost every one of his first fourteen matches, defaulting on the final day to end with a rare 0–15 record. He was the first ''sekitori'' to suffer this embarrassing score since Hoshitango in 2000. He immediately announced his retirement rather than face demotion to ''makushita''. Yōtsukasa was unable to acquire permanent elder stock in the Japan Sumo Association and so had to borrow elder names owned by active wrestlers or stable-masters. He was variously known as Yōtsukasa (jun-toshiyori), Hatachiyama (owned by

Tochinohana is a former Japanese sumo wrestler from Yamagata, Iwate. A former amateur champion, he turned professional in 1995, reaching the top ''makuuchi'' division in 2000. His highest rank was ''komusubi''. He retired in 2008 and is now a sumo coach. Ca ...

), Wakafuji ( Otsukasa), Sekinoto ( Iwakiyama), Onogawa ( Kitanoumi), Sendagawa, ( Maenoyama) and Takenawa ( Tochinonada). He was finally forced to leave the Sumo Association in January 2012 when Tochinonada retired and no other elder names were available. He later worked for a cleaning company in Tokyo.

Fighting style

Yōtsukasa was an ''oshi-sumo'' specialist, preferring ''tsuki-oshi'' (pushing and thrusting)

techniques Technique or techniques may refer to: Music * The Techniques, a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group of the 1960s *Technique (band), a British female synth pop band in the 1990s * ''Technique'' (album), by New Order, 1989 * ''Techniques'' (album), by M ...

to fighting on the '' mawashi'' or belt. He won most of his bouts by a straightforward ''oshi-dashi'', or push out, although his personal favourite was ''tsuki-otoshi'', or thrust over.

Career record

References

External links