Enazakura Tooru

Enazakura Tooru (born 29 July 1960 as Toru Hayakawa) is a former sumo wrestler from Sakashita, Gifu, Japan. He made his professional debut in March 1977 and reached the top division in November 1987. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 1. Upon retirement from active competition in 1994 he became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association, leaving in July 1999.

Career

He was recruited by the former ''ozeki'' Daikirin and joined Oshiogawa stable in March 1977 at the age of 16. He began fighting under his own surname of Hayakawa, receiving the ''shikona'' of Enazakura (meaning ″the cherry blossoms of Ena″, a region in his native Gifu Prefecture) in 1980. He was not particularly large, at around 180 cm and 120 kg, so it took him nine years of toil in the lower divisions before he became an elite ''sekitori'' ranked wrestler in March 1986. He won promotion to the top ''makuuchi'' division in November 1987, alongside Kotoinazuma and Nankairyu, and all three came thorough with ''kachi-koshi'' or winning records. In July 1989 he earned what was to be his only '' sansho'' or special prize, for Fighting Spirit after a fine 10–5 score. He never reached the ''sanyaku'' ranks, peaking at ''maegashira'' 1 which he reached in November 1990 at the age of 30. He was unable to defeat a ''yokozuna'' in his career, but won both of his two matches against '' ōzeki'' Konishiki.

Enazakura enjoyed cooking and listening to traditional Japanese music, and was an enka singer himself.

Retirement

Enazakura′s last appearance in the top division was in March 1993, and he was demoted from the second ''juryo'' division a year later. He retired in July 1994 after two losing scores in the unsalaried ''makushita'' division. He remained in a sumo as a coach at Oshiogwawa stable, under the elder name Shikoroyama which was owned by the former ''komusubi'' Wakabayama. He switched to the Takenawa elder name in 1995, but when this was needed by the retiring Tochinowaka in July 1999, Enazakura had to leave the sumo world. He received a 2 million yen retirement payoff. Afterwards he ran a sumo-themed chanko restaurant.

Fighting style

Enazakura was a solid if unspectacular wrestler who favoured pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the ''mawashi'' or belt. He regularly used ''oshi dashi'' (push out), ''tsuki otoshi'' (thrust over), ''hataki komi'' (slap down), ''hiki otoshi'' (pull down) and ''yori kiri'' (force out). He rarely employed throwing moves, occasionally using ''sukuinage'' (scoop throw).

Career record

See also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of past sumo wrestlers
*List of sumo tournament second division champions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Enazakura, Tooru
1960 births
Living people
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Sumo people from Gifu Prefecture