Kotozakura Masakatsu

琴 櫻 傑 將
Kotozakura Masakatsu

Personal data
real name	Kamatani Norio
Born	November 26, 1940
place of birth	Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture
Died	August 14, 2007
size	1.82 m
Weight	150 kg
Career
Heya	Sadogatake
Career record	553-345-77 (makuuchi)
debut	January 1959
Highest rank	Yokozuna (January 1973)
Tournament victories	5 (Makuuchi) 2 (Juryo)
resignation	July 1974

Kotozakura Masakatsu ( Japanese 琴 櫻 傑 將 , proper Kamatani Norio 紀 雄 鎌 谷 ; born November 26, 1940 in Kurayoshi , Tottori Prefecture ; † August 14, 2007 in Chiba Prefecture ) was a Japanese sumo wrestler . He was the 53rd yokozuna .

At 1.82 m and at the time of his greatest success around 150 kg, he was a relatively heavy wrestler, but he was also very prone to knee injuries, which ultimately forced him to end his active career. The "wild bull" was known for its ability to overrun its opponents at the beginning of the fight (Tachi-ai) with a charge and then to push them out of the ring. He often used nodo-wa , blows to the opponent's neck.

Kotozakura was already a successful judoka as a middle school student and turned to amateur sumo in his high school days. At a tournament he was able to take third place at the national level. Ex- Komusubi Kotonishiki , then stable master (oyakata) of Sadogatake-beya, brought him into his wrestling stable . Kotozakura played his first tournament in January 1959 under his maiden name. Soon afterwards he received the fighting name (Shikona) "Kotozakura" from his oyakata .

In January 1960, Kotozakura won his first tournament as a fighter in the Sandanme Division; he had won at least six of the (then still) eight matches in each tournament since its introduction up to this point. In July 1962 he was accepted into the ranks of the privileged sekitori with the rise in the Jūryō Division . After two tournament wins (yusho) in this division, he was finally in the highest league of the Japanese professional sumo, the Makuuchi division, in March 1963 .

Initial difficulties let him briefly fall back to the second division, but Kotozakura achieved immediate resurgence and fought his way to the front maegashira ranks by November 1963 . During the tournament, two of his heya colleagues fell victim to incorrectly prepared fugu . Shocked by the tragedy, Kotozakura lost his concentration and, after a series of defeats, barely managed the kachi-koshi , but received the special prize for outstanding performance.

In January 1964, resigned as Kotozakura komusubi and for the first time as sanyaku to -Ringer. In this tournament, he narrowly lost to Yokozuna Kashiwado after the Gyōji had been overruled by the Shimpan , but suffered multiple ankle fractures and a dislocation of the knee during the basho . As a result, he fell back to the bottom of the table. In May 1964 he suffered a 5–10 make-koshi , which had not yet been fully healed, and thereby slipped into the juryo . However, he quickly made up for this severe setback, returned to the makuuchi within two tournaments and also fought for a place at the top of the table.

In the September 1967 tournament , Kotozakura defeated both the reigning yokozuna Kashiwado and Sadanoyama and the Ōzeki Yutakayama and Kitanofuji (who later became grandmaster). He finished the basho at 11–4 and was raised to this rank himself, having overcome three Ōzeki in July. The further rise to yokozuna honors was denied to him for the time being, and he won his next yusho in the tournaments in July 1968 and March 1969. During this time he suffered constant injuries. Three times he was in danger of losing his rank (Kadoban) .

It wasn't until his thirtieth basho as Ōzeki in November 1972 that the turning point was to be brought about. He won this as well as the following Hatsu basho with 14–1. After five years, Kotozakura was promoted to yokozuna. After another triumph at the Nagoya basho in 1973, however, the new yokozuna could not enter another yusho. Instead, recurring knee injuries forced him to take a break in 1974 before resigning shortly before the July tournament of the year. After 66 tournaments in the Makuuchi, his fight record was 553 wins to 345 defeats, in 77 fights he had not started.

Kotozakura initially acquired the Shiratama share and planned to set up his own wrestling stable, but when his old oyakata died ten days later, he took over his sadogatake-beya. When he retired due to old age in 2005, he handed over management to his son-in-law, the former Sekiwake Kotonowaka . He died of a weak heart.

Web links

• Biography in Sumo Fan Magazine by Joe Kuroda (English)
• Sheet and video clips on the website of NSK (English)