|
Tosanoumi Toshio (born February 16, 1972 as Toshio Yamamoto in Aki City, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan), is a former sumo wrestler. He first reached the top division of professional sumo in 1995, winning 13 special prizes and earning 11 gold stars for defeating ''yokozuna'' over his long career. The highest rank he reached was ''sekiwake''. He retired in 2010 to become a coach at his stable, Isenoumi stable under the name of Tatekawa. ==Career== After success in amateur sumo competitions while at Doshisha University, where he was a two-time winner of the All Western Japan Sumo Championships in 1992 and 1993, Yamamoto was recruited by former ''sekiwake'' Fujinokawa and joined Isenoumi stable. He was given the ''shikona'' of Tosanoumi, meaning "sea of Tosa", from his native Kōchi Prefecture. Because of his amateur achievements he had ''makushita tsukedashi'' status and entered professional sumo in the third, ''makushita'' division in March 1994. He entered ''jūryō'' four tournaments later. Another four tournaments later he was promoted to the highest, ''makuuchi'' division. Because he had won the ''yūshō'' or tournament championship with a 14-1 record from the rank of ''jūryō'' 1, he entered at ''maegashira'' 7, the second highest ever rank at which to enter the top division after Daiju in 1970. For his first ''makuuchi'' bouts he was drawn against some tough opponents; first ''ōzeki'' Wakanohana, followed by ''yokozuna'' Takanohana the second day. He lost both bouts, and would finish the tournament 7-8. Recovering from this, his first ever ''make-koshi'', Tosanoumi continued to rise through the ranks, reaching ''komusubi'' in January 1996 and ''sekiwake'' in May 1997. His best result in a tournament came in November 1998, when he finished as runner-up to Kotonishiki with 12 wins. Although he never rose higher than ''sekiwake'', he held the rank for seven tournaments in total, the last being in May 2005. He was also ranked at ''komusubi'' on thirteen occasions, for a total of twenty tournaments in the ''san'yaku'' ranks. He remained in ''makuuchi'' continuously from July 1995 until January 2006, when a 5-10 result at ''maegashira'' 14 resulted in demotion to ''jūryō''. He reappeared in ''makuuchi'' just two tournaments later in May 2006, but remained at the bottom of the division. He fell to ''jūryō'' on three further occasions, in May 2007, March 2008 and September 2008, but each time made an immediate return to the top division. Tosanoumi won a total of thirteen prizes (equal to the seventh highest ever) and eleven gold stars (the fourth highest ever) in his long ''makuuchi'' career. He defeated two ''yokozuna'' in the same tournament on four separate occasions. He earned four gold stars from Takanohana, and three each from Wakanohana and Akebono. His last gold star came in 2003 when he beat Musashimaru, in what was the latter's last bout before retirement. In July 2007 he recorded his 600th career win, which came by default when his opponent withdrew. Tosanoumi is eighth on the all-time list of most top division appearances, and ninth for most tournaments ranked in the top division. He became the oldest active ''sekitori'' after the March 2009 tournament following the retirement of Ōtsukasa. However, he was unable to maintain his ''makuuchi'' position, dropping to jūryō 6 after winning only four matches at ''Maegashira'' 15. An 8-7 record in May was not enough to return him to the top division this time. He could manage only a 5-10 score in July, his first ever ''jūryō'' ''make-koshi''. He recorded his 700th career win in the January 2010 tournament, the first ''makushita tsukedashi'' entrant to achieve this feat. Following the large number of demotions to the ''jūryō'' division in September 2010 after six wrestlers were suspended from competition he made a surprise return to the top division, becoming at 38 years and six months the oldest man ever to do so. He was however out of his depth and scored only 2-13, resulting in demotion straight back to ''jūryō''. 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「Tosanoumi Toshio」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|