Shimotori Norio

Shimotori Norio (born March 18, 1978) is a former sumo wrestler from Arai, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. A former amateur champion, he made his professional debut in 2000 and first reached the top division in 2002, although due to injuries he had trouble maintaining that position. He earned one special prize, for Fighting Spirit. His highest rank was ''komusubi''. He was forced to retire in April 2011 after an investigation by the Japan Sumo Association found him guilty of match-fixing.

Career

Shimotori competed in amateur sumo at Tokyo University of Agriculture, but did not manage to win a major national title. He was recruited by the Tokitsukaze stable and made his professional debut in May 2000, almost a year later than intended due to injuries from a traffic accident. Due to his amateur record he was given ''makushita tsukedashi'' status and began at the bottom of the third highest ''makushita'' division.

Shimotori reached ''sekitori'' status in May 2001 upon promotion to the second highest ''jūryō'' division, and he made steady progress, rising to ''jūryō'' 3 by January 2002, where a 12-3 score and a playoff for the '' yusho'' or championship with Takamisakari earned him promotion to the top ''makuuchi'' division for March 2002. In July 2002 in only his third top division tournament he earned a ''kinboshi'' or gold star for defeating Musashimaru in his first ever bout against a ''yokozuna'', easily the best win of his career. He was also awarded the Fighting Spirit prize in this tournament. He was not able to follow up this promising performance however, and slipped back into the ''jūryō'' division briefly in 2003. In January 2004 he produced a strong 11-4 record from the ''maegashira'' 7 ranking (although fighting only his fellow ''maegashira'') and was promoted all the way to ''komusubi'' for the March 2004 tournament. However he managed only a 6-9 score fighting all the top ranked wrestlers in his ''komusubi'' debut and never managed to return to the titled ''sanyaku'' ranks.

After missing the whole of the November 2005 tournament through injury Shimotori struggled to maintain his position in the top division, spending most of 2006 in ''jūryō''. He returned to the top division in March 2007, but his stay was short-lived as he was unable to compete at all in the May 2007 tournament due to a herniated disk suffered during training in April. In November 2007 he produced a 10-5 score at the rank of ''Jūryō'' 4 which was enough to earn promotion back to the top division for the January 2008 tournament. A recurrence of his injury in winning his opening bout forced him to withdraw from the rest of this tournament and sent him back in the ''jūryō'' division for another year.

Shimotori ensured himself of his seventh promotion to the top division with his 10-5 performance at the rank of ''jūryō'' 2 in January 2009, and came through with a winning record at ''Maegashira'' 14 in March. He could score only 4-11 at ''Maegashira'' 8 in September 2009 but his final day victory over Masatsukasa kept him in the division. In the May 2010 tournament he was on the leaderboard early on after going 6-0 and then 8-2, although he finished on 10-5. This was his first top division winning record in double figures since January 2004. He maintained his top division position until he turned in a poor 2-13 record at ''Maegashira'' 11 in January 2011, which would have seen him demoted to ''juryo'' had the March 2011 tournament not been cancelled.

Unusually for the sumo world, he used his family name as his fighting name. For a short interim from July 2007 until January 2008 he changed his fighting name to the similar sounding Shimoōtori, but returned to using his family name after it brought no change in fortune.

Retirement from sumo

Shimotori was one of 23 wrestlers found guilty of fixing the result of bouts after an investigation by the Japan Sumo Association, and he was forced to retire in April 2011. He also had to give up the rights to the elder name of Nishikijima which he would have used to stay in sumo as a coach.

Fighting style

Shimotori was a ''yotsu-sumo'' wrestler, preferring grappling techniques and grabbing his opponent's ''mawashi'' or belt. His favourite grip was ''migi-yotsu'', which is left hand outside, right hand inside his opponent's arms. His most common winning technique was ''yori-kiri'', a straightforward force-out, which accounted for roughly half his wins.

Career record

See also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of past sumo wrestlers
*List of komusubi

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimotori, Norio
1978 births
Living people
Japanese sumo wrestlers
Sumo people from Niigata Prefecture
Komusubi
Sumo wrestlers who use their birth name
Sportspeople banned for life