is a Japanese former professional

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 t ...

wrestler from

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

. He was the sport's 61st ''

yokozuna , 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 ...

'' and won eight top division championships. He wrestled for Kokonoe stable, as did

Chiyonofuji , born , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler and the 58th ''yokozuna'' of the sport. Following his retirement as a wrestler, he was the stable master of Kokonoe stable until the time of his death. Chiyonofuji was considered one of the gre ...

, and the two were the first ''yokozuna'' stablemates to take part in a play-off for the championship, in 1989. After a number of injury problems he retired in 1992, and is now the head coach of Hakkaku stable. In November 2015 he was appointed chairman of 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 ...

, following the death of

Kitanoumi , born , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He was the dominant wrestler in the sport during the 1970s. Kitanoumi was promoted to '' yokozuna'' at the age of 21, becoming the youngest ever to achieve sumo's top rank. He won 24 tournament ...

, initially to serve until the end of March 2016. He was then elected as head for a full term by his fellow board members in a vote held in March 2016, and was re-elected in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

Early life

Hoshi was born in Hiroo, Hokkaidō. An uncle was an acquaintance of former ''yokozuna''

Kitanofuji is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Asahikawa, Hokkaidō. He made his professional debut in 1957, reaching the top '' makuuchi'' division in 1964. He was the sport's 52nd '' yokozuna'', a rank he attained in 1970. He won ten to ...

, who by then had retired from competition and was running Kokonoe stable, and at his invitation Hoshi moved to

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 37.46 ...

. Upon leaving school, his first appearance in the ring was March 1979, aged just 15, using his real name as his ''

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'' ...

'' or ring name. Also starting at the same time was future ''yokozuna'' Futahaguro.

''Makuuchi''

It took him four years to reach 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. F ...

'' division in March 1983, aged 19, the same time as fellow Tokachi district rival Ōnokuni entered the top division. By this time his stablemate

had been promoted to ''yokozuna''. Hokutoumi made his debut in 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 o ...

'' division in September 1983. He changed the spelling of his ''shikona''s given name to in November 1985. In March 1986 at the ''

sekiwake , 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 o ...

'' rank he won his first ''

yūshō is the term for a championship in Japanese. This article focuses on championships in the sport of professional sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual '' honbasho'' or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most bouts. ''Y� ...

'' or tournament championship with a record of thirteen wins and two losses. Despite this impressive result he was not immediately promoted to the second-highest '' ōzeki'' rank as he had not done particularly well in the previous two tournaments, only managing 30 wins in the most recent three tournaments when 33 is generally required. It also did not help his cause that there were already five ''ōzeki'', leaving the

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'' (activ ...

with no incentive to loosen the promotion criteria. However, he carried on producing excellent results with an 11–4 in May, and then went 12–3 in July, securing his promotion for the September tournament. Futahaguro was promoted to ''yokozuna'' at the same time. At this point, his coach decided a new ring name was appropriate. He wished to acknowledge his home district of Tokachi, but the ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subsequ ...

'' for it literally means "ten wins" and it was felt that this might be bad luck, limiting his wins in any tournament to ten. As a compromise he adopted the surname Hokutoumi, taking ("win") from the second ''kanji'' in Tokachi, but pronouncing it ''to'' like the first ''kanji'' in the district's name. He also changed the spelling of Nobuyoshi back to his legal way.

''Yokozuna''

After his second tournament title in March 1987 and a runner-up performance in May, he was promoted to ''yokozuna'' for the July tournament. In 1988 he suffered a severe back injury which kept him out of three tournaments. It also appeared he would miss the start of the January 1989 tournament, but it was delayed due to the death of the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

, and he went on to win the tournament. He also won the May tournament. In July, he took part in an historic play-off with Chiyonofuji – the first time ever that two ''yokozuna'' from the same stable had met in the ring (the rules of sumo state that wrestlers from the same stable can only fight each other in a play-off). On the last day of the March 1990 tournament, he fought in a rare three-way play-off with ''ōzeki''

Konishiki Saleva'a Fuauli Atisano'e (born December 31, 1963), professionally known as is an American former sumo wrestler.Franz LidzMeat Bomb, 05.18.92 - ''Sports Illustrated'' He was the first non-Japanese-born wrestler to reach '' ōzeki'', the second ...

and ''sekiwake'' Kirishima. In a play-off, wrestlers fight each other in turn, the first to win two consecutive bouts winning the tournament. First, Hokutoumi fought Konishiki and lost. Konishiki was then drawn up against Kirishima. Konishiki only needed to win this bout for the tournament, but Kirishima won. Next was Kirishima against Hokutoumi, Kirishima needing just this bout for his first ''yūshō''. Hokutoumi won. Hokutoumi then beat Konishiki in the next bout, thus winning the tournament. On the fourteenth day of the March 1991 tournament, he injured his left knee during a bout with Ōnokuni, but managed to go on to win the tournament with 13 wins. After this, Hokutoumi had many absences due to his knee. In October 1991 he was awarded the Japan Festival Trophy after winning an exhibition tournament at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. At the start of 1991 there were four ''yokozuna'', but Chiyonofuji retired in May 1991, Ōnokuni in July and Asahifuji in January of the next year (1992), leaving Hokutoumi the sole ''yokozuna''. Left with this responsibility he struggled on, but he withdrew from the March 1992 tournament after losing his first two matches to

Mitoizumi Mitoizumi Masayuki (born 2 September 1962 as Masato Koizumi) is a former sumo wrestler from Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. His professional career spanned 22 years, from 1978 until 2000. The highest rank he reached was ''sekiwake''. He won over 800 career ...

and Kushimaumi, and announced his retirement shortly before the May 1992 tournament at the age of 28 years and 10 months. Citing shoulder, elbow and knee injuries, he said he had "lost my fighting spirit to continue training." In the space of just one year, all four ''yokozuna'' had retired. Hokutoumi had fought 29 ''basho'' as ''yokozuna''. Following his retirement, there were no ''yokozuna'' on the ''banzuke'' for the first time in 60 years, and sumo went without one for the next eight months, until the promotion of Akebono in January 1993.

Retirement from the ring

Following his retirement Hokutoumi became a member of the

with the ''

toshiyori A is a sumo elder of the Japan Sumo Association (JSA). Also known as , former wrestlers who reached a sufficiently high rank are the only people eligible. The benefits are considerable, as only ''toshiyori'' are allowed to run and coach in su ...

'' name Hakkaku-''oyakata''. He opened up his own training stable, Hakkaku stable, which has had four top division wrestlers, Hokutōriki, Kaihō, Okinoumi, and Hokutofuji. He occasionally appears on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

sumo broadcasts as a commentator and analyst. On December 18, 2015, he was appointed chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, after former chairman

died in office on November 20, 2015. He had been serving as an executive director of the board under Kitanoumi since 2012. His appointment lasted until the end of March 2016. He then won a contested ballot on March 28, 2016, defeating Takanohana, and was confirmed for a further two-year term. He was re-elected for additional two-year terms in 2018, 2020 and 2022. Taking advantage of his abundant work experience and broad perspective, such as the general manager of the public relations department and the general manager of the business department, he implemented various reforms and fan services as the chairman. In January 2017, the "Social Contribution Department" was established for the purpose of supporting areas affected by various disasters. At the Nagoya Basho in July of the same year, a donation box was set up in the venue to support the areas affected by the heavy rains in northern Kyushu, and he said, "I hope it helps."

Fighting style

Hokutoumi was primarily an ''oshi-sumo'' specialist, preferring pushing and thrusting techniques that got his opponents out of the ring as quickly as possible. He had a powerful ''

tachi-ai The is the initial charge between two sumo wrestlers at the beginning of a bout. It is a combination of two Japanese words that mean “stand” and “meet”. There are several common techniques that wrestlers use at the tachi-ai, with the ai ...

'', or initial charge, and his specialty was ''nodowa'', a single-handed push to the throat. To do this he would lock up his opponent's right arm with his left (a technique known as ''ottsuke'') and thrust with his right. His most common winning ''

kimarite ''Kimarite'' ( ja, 決まり手) is the technique used in sumo by a '' rikishi'' (wrestler) to win a match. It is officially decided or announced by the '' gyōji'' (referee) at the end of the match, though judges can modify this decision. The r ...

'' by far were ''oshi-dashi'' and ''yori-kiri'', which together accounted for around 60 percent of his wins at ''

sekitori A ''sekitori'' (関取) is a '' rikishi'' (力士, sumo wrestler) who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: '' makuuchi'' and ''jūryō''. The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fra ...

'' level. When fighting 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 v ...

'' he preferred a ''migi-yotsu'' (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip. He said in an interview with

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

television that the technique he most enjoyed was ''tsuri-dashi'' or lift out, although he was only credited with this ''kimarite'' once in official tournament competition (against Terao in November 1989).

Career record

References

External links

Hokutoumi's basho results from January 1989
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hokutoumi Nobuyoshi 1963 births Living people Japanese sumo wrestlers Yokozuna Sumo people from Hokkaido Kokonoe stable sumo wrestlers