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Kotonowaka Terumasa (born May 15, 1968 as Mitsuya Kamatani) is a former sumo wrestler from Obanazawa, Yamagata prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1984 and after reaching the top ''makuuchi'' division in 1990 he remained there for 15 years until his retirement in 2005. His highest rank was ''sekiwake'' and he earned seven special prizes and eight gold stars during his long ''makuuchi'' career. He is now the head coach of Sadogatake stable. ==Career== At junior high school he practiced judo and shotput, and even represented his prefecture at the All Tohoku Shotput Championships. He was already tall by the age of 14. He was scouted into sumo by a supporter of Sadogatake stable.〔 He had intended to join in March 1984 alongside Kotonishiki, but failed the physical because of high blood pressure, delaying his entry by two months.〔 At first he wrestled under the name Imano and then Kotoimano before finally settling on Kotonowaka in 1988. It took him six years to achieve ''sekitori'' status by reaching the ''jūryō'' division in July 1990. He first reached ''makuuchi'' in November 1990 and remained continuously in the top division from March 1991. He advanced several times into the ''san'yaku'' ranks, first making ''komusubi'' in September 1993. However he had to wait until January 1999 to achieve his highest rank of ''sekiwake'', following a strong 10-5 showing at ''komusubi'' the previous November. Kotonowaka never won a tournament, but he nevertheless triumphed eight times against ''yokozuna'', with three coming against Takanohana. He also received five Fighting Spirit and two Outstanding Achievement prizes in the course of his long career, the first coming in July 1995, nearly five years after his top division debut. He was ranked in the top division for 89 consecutive tournaments, which is the fourth best in history, and he was one of only a handful of ''rikishi'' to win over 600 top division bouts. He was relatively injury-free until March 2000, when he suffered a serious injury to his left knee in training which was to bother him for the rest of his career. He injured the knee again in November 2003. His good looks meant he was popular with female sumo fans.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kotonowaka Terumasa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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