Kotogaume Tsuyoshi (born 5 October 1963 as Satoru Kitayama) 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 Yatsuo, Nei District, Toyama Prefecture,

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 joined sumo in 1979 and made the top '' makuuchi'' division in 1985. His highest rank was '' sekiwake,'' which he held on twelve occasions. After his retirement in 1997 he worked as a coach at Sadogatake stable until 2007.

Career

In his youth he practiced judo and was a

black belt Black Belt may refer to: Martial arts * Black belt (martial arts), an indication of attainment of expertise in martial arts * ''Black Belt'' (magazine), a magazine covering martial arts news, technique, and notable individuals Places * Black B ...

, 1st dan. He made his professional sumo debut in March 1979, after finishing junior high school. Initially he fought under his own surname of Kitayama, before being given the'' shikona'' of Kotogaume ("

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

of the Plum"). In his early career he served as a '' tsukebito'' or personal attendant to '' ozeki'' Kotokaze. He made his first appearance in the titled '' sanyaku'' ranks of the top division in November 1985, the same tournament in which Kotokaze announced his retirement. He reached his highest rank of ''sekiwake'' for the first time in September 1986. In 1989 he came close to ''ozeki'' promotion by producing two double figure scores at ''sekiwake'' in July and September, but he fell short with only eight wins in November 1989. In his later career he suffered increasingly from diabetes and fell to the second '' jūryō'' division. He made his last appearance in ''makuuchi'' in January 1995 and retired in May 1997. Kotogaume earned two gold stars for defeating '' yokozuna'' whilst ranked as a '' maegashira,'' and at ''sekiwake'' in May 1988 he was also the last man to defeat

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 gr ...

before the latter embarked on his 53 bout winning streak. He also received seven special prizes. His best result in a tournament was third place in January 1988, behind Asahifuji and Konishiki.

Retirement from sumo

Kotogaume became an elder of the Sumo Association upon his retirement, but he did not own permanent '' toshiyori'' elder stock and had to borrow from wrestlers still active. He used Terao's Shikoroyama name until 2002, and then switched to Dejima's Onaruto name, but had to leave the Sumo Association in November 2007 when it was needed by the retiring Buyuzan, a member of Dejima's stable. After leaving sumo, he opened up a '' chankonabe'' restaurant in Tokyo, named Kotogaume. He has also worked as an assistant instructor at Shikoroyama stable.

Fighting style

Kotogaume throughout his career relied almost entirely on pushing and thrusting techniques, and seemed to have little interest in using his opponent's '' mawashi'' for throws. ''Oshi-dashi'', a straightforward push out, was the '' kimarite'' used in exactly half of his victories at '' sekitori'' level.

Career record

References

External links