Sadanoumi Takashi

is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kumamoto. He made his debut in 2003, and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division eleven years later in 2014. His highest rank has been ''maegashira'' 1. He has been a runner-up in one tournament, and has won two special prizes for Fighting Spirit and one gold star for defeating a ''yokozuna.''

Early life and sumo background

Matsumura was born the oldest son of Sadanoumi Kōji, a sumo wrestler active in the 1980s who reached the rank of ''komusubi''. Although he has no memories of his father as a wrestler, since the latter retired when Matsumura was 1 year old, he aspired to follow in his father's footsteps since he was three years old. Matsumura is nevertheless familiar with the sumo world since his father, under the name of Tagonoura, was a coach at Dewanoumi stable and his family regularly attended the '' senshūrakus after parties. On the advice of his father, he began to discover other sports such as football but upon graduation from junior high school in 2003 he joined Sakaigawa stable on his father's advice, that particular stable being founded by former ''komusubi'' Ryōgoku who had himself been a protege of the senior Sadanoumi.

Career

From the January 2004 tournament, he took the ''shikona'' surname of his father. Being a lighter wrestler, he struggled to succeed for a number of years, but in November 2007 he managed to take the ''sandanme'' division championship with a perfect 7–0 record. This championship catapulted him from ''sandanme'' 44 into the third division at the rank of ''makushita'' 27. Despite this achievement he would struggle in ''makushita'' for 3 more years until January 2010 when he took his second championship with another 7–0 record. This would put him in upper ''makushita'' where after two tournaments he was promoted to the salaried ranks of ''jūryō'' for the first time, along Kaisei, in July 2010. This was the first time in 14 years that the son of a former ''sekitori'' was promoted to ''sekitori'' himself; the last time being the father and son Tochiazuma Tomoyori and Tochiazuma Daisuke. Sadanoumi's promotion is also the ninth time in sumo history that a father and son have both attained the rank of ''sekitori''. Sadanoumi lasted eight tournaments in the division before being demoted again, sitting out his last tournament in ''jūryō'' with a dislocated ankle. As before he began to struggle again in ''makushita'' and would remain there for twelve tournaments before working his way back up and finally re-entering ''jūryō'' in January 2014. This time around he found his stride quickly and was able to rise through ''jūryō'' in only two tournaments with two strong performances. He was promoted to the top division ''makuuchi'' in May 2014. He earned a 10–5 record and the Fighting Spirit prize. Sumo historians noted that Sadanoumi had repeated his father's same impressive achievement of earning the Fighting Spirit prize in his ''makuuchi'' debut 34 years earlier in 1980.

For a few tournaments after his ''makuuchi'' debut, when he appeared in the ring entering ceremony, Sadanoumi wore a '' keshō-mawashi'' with the official Kumamoto prefectural mascot Kumamon on it to promote his home prefecture. Sadanoumi wore the ''keshō-mawashi'' again at the May 2016 tournament to show his support for the disaster victims of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes.

Sadanoumi has a chronic disease of the cornea which severely limits his vision. In order to avoid risky surgery he wears special hard contacts every night that dramatically improve his vision for the following day.

He first fought all the top wrestlers ranked at ''maegashira'' #2 in the March 2015 tournament and posted a respectable 7–8 score that kept him ranked high enough to face all the top competition in the following tournament, where he scored his first ''kinboshi'' for defeating a ''yokozuna'' Harumafuji and posted a winning record of 8–7, also beating the eventual tournament champion, Terunofuji. He was nominated for the Outstanding Performance Prize, normally given to those who beat the tournament champion or a ''yokozuna'' and manage a winning record, but there was opposition since he posted a bare minimum winning record with one win by default and the prize was not awarded. Nonetheless he was promoted to his highest rank to date of ''maegashira'' 1 for the July 2015 tournament. Since then his results have been disappointing and he slid down the ''maegashira'' ranks with seven consecutive ''make-koshi'' or losing scores from July 2015 to July 2016. He was able to get a winning record in September 2016 with an 8–7, however he got another losing record in the November 2016 tournament, scoring only 3–12 which was his worst record to date in the top division. He was demoted to the ''jūryō'' division after the March 2017 tournament, breaking a run of 18 straight tournaments at a ''maegashira'' rank, the longest amongst active wrestlers. However, a 9–6 record at the rank of ''Jūryō'' 1 East was enough for an immediate return to the top division. He missed the first five days of the September 2017 tournament because of an injury to his right leg, and although he entered from Day 6, he could not prevent demotion to ''jūryō''. In March 2018 he won the ''jūryō'' division championship with an 11–4 record, beating Akiseyama in a playoff, to ensure his return to ''makuuchi''. Upon reaching his thirties, Sadanoumi began to consult doctors and specialists to condition his body to fight as long as possible, he himself wanting to fight until 40 years old. Despite never rising higher than ''maegashira'' 8 he remained in the top division until January 2021. After four tournaments in ''jūryō'' he returned to ''makuuchi'' in November 2021. In May 2022 he scored eleven wins against four losses to share runner-up honours alongside Takanoshō and Daieishō, and received his second Fighting Spirit Prize and first since 2014. In November 2022, Sadanoumi won his match against '' Ōzeki'' Shōdai. This match was the first time in three years that the two Kumamoto natives faced each other.

Fighting style

Sadanoumi is a ''yotsu-zumō'' wrestler who prefers grappling techniques to pushing or thrusting. His favored grip on his opponent's ''mawashi'' or belt is ''migi-yotsu'', a left hand outside, right hand inside position. His most common winning ''kimarite'' is yori-kiri, a straightforward force out, which accounts for around 40 per cent of his victories. He is also fond of ''uwate-nage'' (overarm throw). In his twentieth professional year, Sadanoumi began taking Jujutsu lessons and trained with karatekakas. A martial influence he attributes to the period of confinement associated with COVID that forced him to rethink his style.

Personal life

Sadanoumi was married in June 2017 to a nurse who lives nearby his '' heya,'' after a five year relationship. Around 600 guests attended their wedding ceremony. The couple has three children, two girls and a boy. He is also a big baseball fan and a supporter since his early elementary school days of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Career record

See also

*List of sumo tournament top division runners-up
*List of sumo tournament second division champions
* List of active gold star earners
*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of active sumo wrestlers
* Active special prize winners

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadanoumi, Takashi
1987 births
Living people
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Sumo people from Kumamoto Prefecture