(born 12 January 1957 as Mutsuo Hidaka) is a Japanese 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 t ...

wrestler from Nakatane,

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

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 n ...

. His highest rank was '' ōzeki''. He won two top division ''

yūshō is the term for a championship in Japanese. This article focuses on championships in the sport of professional sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual '' honbasho'' or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most bouts. ''Y� ...

'' or tournament championships. He retired in 1987 and founded Matsugane stable in 1990 (now known as Hanaregoma stable).

Career

He came from a family of farmers. He was a classmate of

Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, poet, and human-rights advocate, who is a prominent figure in Japanese popular music. He has sold more than 20 million records worldwide and has appeared in movies and television dramas. His wife Etsu ...

at junior high school. Wakashimazu wrestled for

Futagoyama stable was a stable of sumo wrestlers, created in 2004 when Takanohana Kōji took over the running of Futagoyama stable from his father Takanohana Kenshi. Formerly of the Nishonoseki '' ichimon'' or group of stables, it became the leader of a breaka ...

, joining in March 1975. Unlike most professional sumo wrestlers, he did not join from junior high school but instead joined after completing high school. He was a high school sumo champion but needed some persuasion from his stablemaster that he would be able to put on enough weight to succeed in professional sumo. He made his debut alongside future top division regulars Daijuyama and Kirishima. He reached the salaried ''

sekitori A ''sekitori'' (関取) is a '' rikishi'' (力士, sumo wrestler) who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: '' makuuchi'' and ''jūryō''. The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fra ...

'' ranks in March 1980 upon promotion to the ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. F ...

'' division and reached the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' division in January 1981. He scored 10 wins in his ''makuuchi'' debut. He moved quickly through the division, winning five special prizes, two for Fighting Spirit and three for Technique. He reached sumo's second highest rank of '' ōzeki'' in January 1983 after two runner-up performances and 34 wins out of 45 in the three preceding tournaments. After a 10–5 in his ''ōzeki'' debut, he broke his leg in the following tournament, but made a remarkably quick recovery, with a 13–2 score and runner-up honours in the next tournament in May 1983. Wakashimazu was popular with the crowds and his lean and swarthy appearance led to him being nicknamed the "Black Panther", His best year was in 1984, when he took two top division tournament championships in March and July, the second with a perfect 15–0 record, but he could manage only third place in the September 1984 tournament and missed out on promotion to the highest rank of ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

''. Nevertheless he finished 1984 with 71 wins out of a possible 90, more than any other wrestler (the three ''yokozuna'' at the time,

Kitanoumi , born , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He was the dominant wrestler in the sport during the 1970s. Kitanoumi was promoted to '' yokozuna'' at the age of 21, becoming the youngest ever to achieve sumo's top rank. He won 24 tournament ...

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 ...

and

Takanosato , real name , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Namioka, Aomori. He was the sport's 59th ''yokozuna'' from 1983 to 1986 and won four top division tournament championships. After retirement he established Naruto stable which he ran fr ...

were all restricted by injury during the year). March 1985 saw his sixth and final runner-up performance. From November 1985 his results started to decline, and in an attempt to change his luck he switched from his trademark

kelly green Shades of chartreuse are listed below. Historically, many of these colors have gone under the name of either yellow or green, as the specifics of their color composition was not known until later. Wrapping the spectrum into a color wheel In a ...

mawashi In sumo, a is the loincloth that (sumo wrestlers) wear during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a as part of the ring entry ceremony or . For top ranked professional , it is made of silk and comes in a v ...

'' to a light blue one, but soon switched back when results did not improve. He retired in July 1987 at the age of thirty, leaving the Futagoyama stable without anyone in the ''

san'yaku The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

'' ranks for the first time in over fifteen years.

Retirement from sumo

After his retirement Wakashimazu set up his own training stable, Matsugane, early in 1990. The retirement of Harunoyama in November 2006 left the stable with no wrestlers in the top two divisions. He finally produced another ''

'' in March 2010 when Matsutani (now Shōhōzan) was promoted to ''jūryō''. In 2014 he switched his

toshiyori A is a sumo elder of the Japan Sumo Association (JSA). Also known as , former wrestlers who reached a sufficiently high rank are the only people eligible. The benefits are considerable, as only ''toshiyori'' are allowed to run and coach in su ...

or elder name to a more prestigious one, Nishonoseki, and renamed his stable accordingly. In September 2010 he was demoted in the

Sumo Association The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling (called ''Ōzumō'', 大相撲) in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). '' Rikishi'' (activ ...

's hierarchy after he accepted lodgings in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

for the Haru tournament the previous March from a company president connected to

gangsters A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...

. In addition, two of his wrestlers, Matsutani and the ''

sandanme Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. For ...

'' ranked Wakarikido, were suspended for two tournaments for illegal betting on

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. However, he joined the Board of Directors in 2014, and was re-elected in 2016. Also in 2016 he became head of the judging department. In October 2017 he was injured in a fall from his bicycle in

Funabashi, Chiba is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 644,668 in 309,238 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . It is the Greater Tokyo Area's 7th most populated city (after pa ...

, and underwent emergency surgery for a

cerebral contusion Cerebral contusion, Latin ''contusio cerebri'', a form of traumatic brain injury, is a bruise of the brain tissue. Like bruises in other tissues, cerebral contusion can be associated with multiple microhemorrhages, small blood vessel leaks into ...

. He stepped down from his judging duties and did not run for re-election to the Sumo Association board in 2018. In December 2021, as he was approaching the mandatory retirement age of 65, he stood down as head coach of his stable, which was transferred to one of his coaches, the former ''maegashira'' Tamanoshima, and renamed Hanaregoma stable. He swapped elder names with the former ''yokozuna''

Kisenosato is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Ibaraki. He made his professional debut in 2002, and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in 2004 at the age of just 18. After many years in the junior ''san'yaku'' ranks, he reached the seco ...

, and became Araiso Oyakata. He is staying with the Sumo Association for a further five years as a consultant.

Personal life

He has been married to former pop/

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than '' ryūkōka'' music, ...

singer Mizue Takada since 1985. Upon his promotion to the top division in 1981 he mentioned Takada in an interview as an ideal wife, four years before it happened.

Fighting style

Wakashimazu's favourite ''

kimarite ''Kimarite'' ( ja, 決まり手) is the technique used in sumo by a '' rikishi'' (wrestler) to win a match. It is officially decided or announced by the '' gyōji'' (referee) at the end of the match, though judges can modify this decision. The r ...

'' or techniques were ''hidari-yotsu'', a right hand outside and left hand inside grip on his opponent's ''

'', ''yori-kiri'' (force out), ''uwatenage'' (overarm throw) and ''tsuri-dashi'' (lift out).

Career record

References

External links

Nishonoseki stable profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakashimazu Mutsuo 1957 births Living people Japanese sumo wrestlers Sumo people from Kagoshima Prefecture Ōzeki