Hokuten'yū Katsuhiko

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北天佑勝彦
Hokutenyu Katsuhiko
Personal information
Real name Katsuhiko Chiba
Date of birth August 8, 1960
Place of birth Hokkaido, Japan
Height 183.0cm (6'0")
Weight 149.0kg (lb)
Career*
Heya Mihogaseki
Rank retired
Record 645-413-47
Debut March, 1976
Highest rank Ozeki (July, 1983)
Yushos 2 (Makuuchi)
Special Prizes Outstanding Performance (2)
Fighting Spirit (4)
Technique (1)
Gold stars 3 (Wakanohana II (2), Chiyonofuji)

* Career information is correct as of March 2007.

Hokuten'yū Katsuhiko (北天佑勝彦?) (August 8, 1960June 23, 2006) was a sumo wrestler, from Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan. The highest rank he achieved was ozeki.

Hokutenyu made his professional debut in March 1976, joining Mihogaseki stable which was home to the great yokozuna Kitanoumi. He reached the second highest juryo division in May 1980 and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in November of that year. He made his sanyaku debut in July 1981 at komusubi rank.

At the beginning of 1983 Hokutenyu was promoted to sekiwake for the first time, and produced a strong 11-4 record. In March 1983 he shared second place with a 12-3 score, and in May he swept the rest of the field aside, losing only to Takanosato and winning his first tournament championship with a superb 14-1 record. After that tournament he was promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ozeki.

Hokutenyu took a second championship in July 1985, but never made a sustained challenge for yokozuna promotion. Nonetheless, he fought as an ozeki for 44 tournaments, which places him third on the all time list, behind Takanohana and Chiyotaikai.

Hokutenyu withdrew from the September 1990 tournament and announced his retirement from sumo at the age of 30. He opened up his own training stable, Hatachiyama-beya. He died of cancer of the kidney in June 2006 at age 45. This left the heya without a master, and eleven wrestlers transferred to the Kitanoumi-beya. Among them is Hakurozan.

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