Takekaze Akira

豪 風 旭
Takekaze Akira

Personal data
real name	Narita Akira
Born	June 21, 1979
place of birth	Akita Prefecture, Japan
size	1.71 m
Weight	151 kg
Career
Heya	Oguruma
rank	Maegashira 12
Career record	557-581-46 486-548-31 (Makuuchi)
debut	May 2002
Highest rank	Sekiwake (September 2014)
Tournament victories	1 (Jūryō)
Status: Aki-Basho 2015.

Takekaze Akira ( Japanese 豪 風 旭 ; born June 21, 1979 in Akita Prefecture ), actually Narita Akira ( 成 田 旭 ), is a sumo wrestler in the Japanese Makuuchi division.

Sumo career

Narita attended Chūō University in Tokyo and was already successful in sumo at that time. In 2001 he won several amateur tournaments and shortly afterwards joined the Oguruma-beya stable to become a professional. Due to his success in amateur sumo , he was allowed to start immediately as Makushita Tsukedashi in the third highest division. On his debut in May 2002, he remained unbeaten for six days, defeating Ama (later yokozuna Harumafuji ) in his very first fight. However, he lost his last fight against Toyozakura, which was the tournament winner. At the following tournament, Narita made his kachi-koshi perfect after five fights . In the end, a balance of 4-3 was enough for promotion to the Jūryō division. He then took the ring name Takekaze.

He was also able to assert himself immediately in Jūryō. A close 8-7 on his debut was followed by two tournaments with a balance of 10-5. After only five professional tournaments, he was promoted to the Makuuchi division. His makuuchi debut in March 2003 had to quit Takekaze after only three days due to injury and was therefore downgraded to the Jūryō division. In September 2003 he achieved a strong 13-2 record and won the Aki Basho in Jūryō. This also ensured that he would return to the Makuuchi Division. This time Takekaze first settled in the top division before an injury threw him back in January 2005. With an 11-4 record, he managed to gain direct ascent and beat, among other things, the eventual tournament winner Kotoshōgiku . In January 2006, Takekaze started as Maegashira 3 , which represented a new highest career rank for him. Although he only finished the tournament with a 4-11 record, he defeated two Ōzeki with Chiyotaikai and Kaiō .

Two years later he achieved his best result so far in makuuchi with a 12-3. For this he was subsequently awarded the Kantō-shō and promoted to the rank of Komusubi for the first time . His debut in the San'yaku ranks was less successful (3-12). In September 2010, Takekaze scored a 12-3 a second time. The result was enough this time for the Jun-Yusho (tournament runner-up) behind overall winner Hakuhō and the second Kantō-shō of his career. At the Nagoya Basho 2014 he achieved a 9-6 as maegashira 4 and won over yokozuna Harumafuji on day 9 , for which he received the first kinboshi of his career at the age of 35 . He was then promoted to Sekiwake for the first time . This makes him the oldest Sekiwake debutant of the post-war period. A 7-8 in September 2014 only demoted him to komusubi . A disastrous 2-13 in November followed, however, slipping him back to the maegashira ranks.

Takekaze has been fighting non-stop in the Makuuchi Division for over ten years.

Combat Statistics

year	Hatsu (January)	Haru (March)	Natsu (May)	Nagoya (July)	Aki (September)	Kyushu (November)
2002			Makushita 15 TD 6-1	Makushita 3 West 4-3	Juryo 12 West 8-7	Juryo 10 East 10-5
2003	Juryo 3 West 10-5	Maegashira 13 W 1-3-11	Juryo 8 East 0-0-15	Juryo 8 East 9-6	Juryo 5 East 13-2 Y	Maegashira 11 W 9-6
2004	Maegashira 6 West 4-11	Maegashira 11 West 9-6	Maegashira 8 East 9-6	Maegashira 5 East 6-9	Maegashira 7 West 8-7	Maegashira 6 West 6-9
2005	Maegashira 8 West 0-0-15	Juryo 3 East 11-4	Maegashira 15 East 9-6	Maegashira 11 East 8-7	Maegashira 9 East 7-8	Maegashira 9 West 9-6
2006	Maegashira 3 East 4-11	Maegashira 9 West 9-6	Maegashira 4 West 2-13	Maegashira 13 W 9-6	Maegashira 10 East 10-5	Maegashira 4 East 6-9
2007	Maegashira 8 West 8-7	Maegashira 4 West 7-8	Maegashira 5 East 8-7	Maegashira 3 East 4-11	Maegashira 8 East 9-6	Maegashira 5 East 6-9
2008	Maegashira 7 East 12-3	Komusubi 1 West 3-12	Maegashira 8 West 6-9	Maegashira 12 East 7-8	Maegashira 14 East 9-6	Maegashira 8 East 9-6
2009	Maegashira 3 East 7-8	Maegashira 4 East 8-7	Maegashira 2 East 4-11	Maegashira 9 East 8-7	Maegashira 5 West 9-6	Maegashira 1 East 6-9
2010	Maegashira 4 West 6-9	Maegashira 8 West 5-10	Maegashira 12 East 8-7	Maegashira 11 East 6-9	Maegashira 12 W 12-3 y	Maegashira 4 West 6-9
2011	Maegashira 7 East 8-7	called off	Maegashira 4 West 7-8	Maegashira 4 West 8-7	Maegashira 3 East 5-10	Maegashira 7 West 10-5
2012	Maegashira 1 East 4-11	Maegashira 8 West 9-6	Maegashira 3 West 7-8	Maegashira 4 West 7-8	Maegashira 5 West 8-7	Maegashira 3 West 4-11
2013	Maegashira 9 West 6-9	Maegashira 11 East 9-6	Maegashira 6 West 9-6	Maegashira 1 East 1-9-5	Maegashira 11 East 9-6	Maegashira 3 West 7-8
2014	Maegashira 4 West 6-9	Maegashira 6 West 9-6	Maegashira 1 West 6-9	Maegashira 4 West 9-6	Sekiwake 1 West 7-8	Komusubi 1 East 2-13
2015	Maegashira 9 West 9-6	Maegashira 4 East 4-11	Maegashira 8 East 8-7	Maegashira 4 West 5-10	Maegashira 8 East 5-10

Web links

• Info page of the Japanese Sumo Association
• Profile on Sumo Reference

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Takekaze is the family name, Akira the first name.