Tochisakae Atsushi

Tochisakae Atsushi (born June 27, 1974 as Atsushi Okamoto) is a former sumo wrestler from Saga Prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1993, reaching the top division for the first time in 2000. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 1. He suffered many illness and injury problems throughout his career. He retired in 2008 and is now an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name of Mihogaseki, working as a coach at Kasugano stable.

Career

Okamoto was born and raised in Nakano, Tokyo, although both his parents were from Saga and as he was fond of the city as well he chose to list it as his birthplace on the ''banzuke'' ranking sheets when he joined professional sumo. As a child he practised kendo, but was drawn to sumo after entering a Nakano ward Sumo Tournament in the fourth grade and finishing third. He trained at several '' heya'', including Fujishima, Futagoyama and Dewanoumi, and while at middle school he trained at Nihon University Sumo Club with several future top division wrestlers such as Kushimaumi, Hamanoshima and Mainoumi. This led him to Saitama Sakae High School, where he became the High School Yokozuna in 1992.

Rather than go to university, he instead joined Kasugano stable in January 1993 through a connection of his uncle, after graduating straight from high school - the first High School Yokozuna to enter professional sumo in this way. He initially wrestled under his own surname of Okamoto and then used the sumo name of Tochinoiwa, before adopting his familiar name of Tochisakae in January 1999. He progressed through the lower divisions fairly quickly but shortly after winning the '' yusho'' in the ''makushita'' division he had surgery for empyema and side effects of the anaesthetic saw him lose the use of almost all the muscles in the right side of his body. He refused to miss tournaments, and after a long period of rehabilitation with acupuncture treatment he eventually made a full recovery.

He first reached a salaried rank in March 1998 when he was promoted to the ''jūryō'' division, but after pulling out with an injury towards the end of the tournament he fell back to ''makushita.'' More misfortune was to follow him when he earned promotion back to jūryō in November 1998, only to miss the entire tournament with another injury. After falling down to the fourth ''sandanme'' division he fought his way back up the ranks and was promoted to ''jūryō'' for the third time in May 2000. He made his debut in the top ''makuuchi'' division just two tournaments later in September 2000.

He reached his highest rank of ''maegashira'' 1 in January 2001, and fought all the ''yokozuna'' and '' ozeki'' for the first time, defeating ''ozeki'' Dejima. However, more injury problems struck him in July 2001 when he had to pull out with broken heel bones, and in 2002 he had to withdraw from three consecutive tournaments due to phlegmon, resulting in demotion back to ''jūryō''. He won the ''jūryō'' championship in March 2003 and returned to the top division in July. After missing the whole of the January 2005 tournament he fell to the second division once again. His 26th and last tournament in ''makuuchi'' was in January 2006. In May 2007 at the rank of ''Jūryō 3'' he lost his first ten bouts and pulled out on the 11th day, resulting in a return to ''makushita'' for the first time since 2000.

Retirement from sumo

In January 2008 Tochisakae announced his retirement. He stayed with the Sumo Association as an elder under the name Takenawa, the stock borrowed from his still active stablemate Tochinonada. His ''danpatsu-shiki'', or official retirement ceremony, was held jointly with another stablemate, Tochinohana, at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in January 2009. In January 2011 he switched to the Kiyomigata elder name, owned by active wrestler Tochiozan, but in August 2014 he acquired the Mihogaseki stock for himself and is now known as Mihogaseki Oyakata.

Fighting style

Tochisakae was an oshi-sumo specialist, favouring pushing and thrusting techniques. His most common winning ''kimarite'' was ''oshi-dashi'' (push out), followed by ''tsuki-otoshi'' (thrust over) and ''hiki-otoshi'' (pull down). By contrast, he won only around four percent of his matches by'' yori-kiri'' (force out), normally the most frequently used technique in sumo.

Career record

See also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of sumo tournament second division champions
*List of past sumo wrestlers
*List of sumo elders

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tochisakae Atsushi
1974 births
Living people
Japanese sumo wrestlers
People from Saga (city)
Sumo people from Tokyo