Kasugaō Katsumasa

Kasugaō Katsumasa (春日王 克昌, born 1 July 1977, as Kim Seong Taek) is a former sumo wrestler from Incheon, South Korea. He was the first sumo wrestler to reach the top ''makuuchi'' division officially representing South Korea. (Several other top wrestlers in the past have hid a Korean or half-Korean background). He joined sumo in 1998, making the top division for the first time in 2003. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 3. In September 2009, he acquired Japanese citizenship. In April 2011 he was ordered to retire by the Japan Sumo Association after an investigation found him guilty of match-fixing.

Early life and sumo background

His father died when he was just three years old and his mother brought the family up alone, working days and nights as a cleaner.
He went to Bupyeong High School, as did South Korean footballer Kim Nam-Il, and they remain very close friends. After winning a national Ssireum competition in 1998, he was invited by the stablemaster of the recently opened Kasugayama stable to come to Japan. He saw the opportunity to support his family back in Korea, and took a leave of absence from his university.

Career

He made his professional debut in November 1998. For his first couple of tournaments he fought under the ''shikona'' of Kimu, but this was soon changed to Kasugaō, the name adapted from both his stable and his stablemaster's old fighting name of Kasugafuji.

Kasugaō reached the ''jūryō'' division in July 2002 and the top ''makuuchi'' division just three tournaments later in January 2003, after winning the second division championship in November 2002 by defeating Asasekiryū on the last day. On the same day Asashōryū won the ''makuuchi'' division title, making it the first time that two foreign born wrestlers had won the top two divisions in the same tournament. Kasugaō sent all his prize money of two million yen home to his mother.

In his top division debut Kasugaō scored an impressive ten wins and was awarded the Fighting Spirit Prize. He progressed to ''maegashira'' 6 but then a series of poor results sent him back down to the ''jūryō'' division. In 2004 the Japan Sumo Association organized a tour of Seoul, and even though he had fallen to ''jūryō'' Kasugaō was still highly sought after by the Korean sumo fans.

After moving between the top two divisions a couple of times he won promotion back to ''makuuchi'' in September 2005 and reached his highest rank of ''maegashira'' 3 in March 2007. He was forced to withdraw from the May 2008 tournament with only three wins, after suffering a knee injury on the 8th day, which resulted in demotion back to the ''jūryō'' division. He also missed out on an exhibition tour of Los Angeles in June. He scored nine wins in the July 2008 tournament, returning him to the top division for September, but he could only turn in a disastrous 2-13 there, and was demoted to ''jūryō'' once again. After four tournaments away, he returned to ''makuuchi'' for the July 2009 tournament and came through with a winning record. He applied for Japanese citizenship in June 2009 and became a citizen three months later in September. A poor 3-12 score in November 2009 saw him demoted to ''jūryō'' again for the January 2010 tournament, but a 9-6 score was enough for an immediate re-promotion to the top division. On this occasion he lasted only one tournament before being demoted again, but he won promotion to ''makuuchi'' for the eighth time in September 2010 after another 9-6 in July. In January 2011 he took his second ''jūryō'' division championship, more than eight years after his first, with a 12-3 record and a play-off win over Tochinowaka.

Retirement from sumo

After an investigation by the Sumo Association into allegations of bout-rigging prompted by the discovery of text-messages on a mobile phone belonging to former ''maegashira'' Kasuganishiki, Kasugaō was one of 23 wrestlers and coaches found guilty of involvement. He was ordered to retire, and submitted his letter of resignation on April 4, 2011. His ''danpatsu-shiki,'' or official retirement ceremony was held on May 28, 2011, with guests such as Hiroki Matsukata, Yoo Ji-tae and Choi Hong-man attending.

Fighting style

Like many wrestlers, Kasugaō was fond of ''yotsu-sumo'' or grappling techniques, his most common winning move being ''yori-kiri'' or force out. His favourite grip on the ''mawashi'' was ''migi-yotsu'', with his left hand outside and right hand inside his opponent's arms. However, he was also adept at throws, his next two most often used techniques being ''kote-nage'', the armlock throw, and ''uwate-nage'', the outer-arm throw.

Career record

See also

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

References

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasugao, Katsumasa
1977 births
Living people
Japanese people of Korean descent
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Naturalized citizens of Japan
Sportspeople from Incheon
South Korean emigrants to Japan
South Korean sumo wrestlers
South Korean ssireum practitioners
Sportspeople banned for life