Hokutoumi Nobuyoshi
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Real name | Hoshi Nobuyoshi | |
| Date of birth | June 22, 1963 | |
| Place of birth | Hokkaidō, Japan | |
| Height | 181.0cm (5'11") | |
| Weight | 151.0kg (333lb) | |
| Career* | ||
| Heya | Kokonoe | |
| Rank | retired | |
| Record | 591-286-109 | |
| Debut | March, 1979 | |
| Highest rank | Yokozuna (July, 1987) | |
| Yushos | 8 (Makuuchi) | |
| Special Prizes | Outstanding Performance (3) Fighting Spirit (3) Technique (5) |
|
| Gold stars | 1 | |
|
* Career information is correct as of January 2007. |
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Hokutoumi Nobuyoshi (北勝海 信芳, born June 22, 1963 as Hoshi Nobuyoshi (保志 信芳)) is a former sumo wrestler from Hokkaidō, Japan. He is the sport's 61st Yokozuna.
Contents |
[edit] Early Life
Hoshi was born in Hiroo town, Hiroo District, Tokachi, Hokkaido, Japan. An uncle was an acquaintance of former yokozuna Kitanofuji, who by then had retired from wrestling and was running Kokonoe stable, and at his invitation Hoshi moved to Tokyo. Upon leaving school, his first appearance in the ring was March 1979, aged just 15, using his own name as his shikona, or fighting name. Also starting at the same time was future yokozuna Futahaguro.
[edit] Makuuchi
It took him four years to reach the second highest jūryō division in March 1983, aged 19, the same time as fellow Tokachi district rival Ōnokuni entered makuuchi. By this time his stablemate Chiyonofuji had been promoted to yokozuna. Hokutoumi made his debut in the top makuuchi division in September 1983. In March 1986 at sekiwake rank he won his first yūshō or tournament title with a record of thirteen wins and two losses. He was not immediately promoted to the second highest ōzeki rank as there were already five ōzeki at that time. However, he carried on producing excellent results (11-4 in May and 12-3 in July) and secured his promotion that September, when Futahaguro's promotion to yokozuna left a vacancy at ōzeki level.
At this point he was still fighting under his real name, and his coach decided a new name was appropriate. He wished to acknowledge his home district of Tokachi, but the kanji for Tokachi (十勝) literally mean 'ten wins' and it was felt that this might be bad luck, limiting his wins in any tournament to ten. As a compromise, he took the name Hokutoumi (北勝海), taking the kanji 勝 ('win') from the second kanji of Tokachi but pronouncing it as the first kanji.
[edit] Yokozuna
After his second tournament title in March 1987 and a runner-up performance in May, he was promoted to yokozuna for the July tournament. In 1988 he suffered a severe back injury which kept him out of three tournaments. He also looked like missing the start of the January 1989 tournament, but the tournament was delayed due to the death of the emperor, and he came back to win the tournament. He also won the May tournament. In July, he took part in an historic playoff with Chiyonofuji - the first time ever that two yokozuna from the same stable had met in the ring (sumo rules mean that wrestlers from the same stable do not usually fight each other).
On the last day of the March 1990 tournament, he fought in a rare three-way play-off with ōzeki Konishiki and sekiwake Kirishima (who was promoted to ōzeki after the tournament). In a play-off, wrestlers fight each other in turn, the first to win two consecutive bouts winning the tournament. First, Hokutoumi fought Konishiki and lost. Konishiki was then drawn up against Kirishima. Konishiki only needed to win this bout for the tournament, but Kirishima won. Next was Kirishima against Hokutoumi, Kirishima needing just this bout for his first yūshō. Hokutoumi won. Hokutoumi then beat Konishiki in the next bout, thus winning the tournament.
On the fourteenth day of the March 1991 tournament, he injured his left knee during a bout with Ōnokuni, but managed to go on to win the tournament with 13 wins. After this, Hokutoumi had many absences due to his knee. At this time there were four yokozuna, but Chiyonofuji retired in May, Ōnokuni in July and Asahifuji in January of the next year (1992), leaving Hokutoumi the sole yokozuna in March 1992. Left with this responsibility he struggled on, but his injury forced him to remove his name from the May banzuke and retire at the age of 28 years and 10 months. In the space of just one year, all four yokozuna had retired. Hokutoumi had fought 29 bashos as yokozuna (appearing on 30 banzukes).
[edit] Retirement from the Ring
Hokutoumi retired in May 1992 at the age of 28 after a long injury lay-off, finishing with a career total of 591 wins, 286 losses and 109 absences, and eight tournament titles. Following his retirement he became a member of the Japan Sumo Association with the toshiyori name Hakkaku-oyakata. He opened up his own training stable, Hakkaku stable, which has had two makuuchi wrestlers, Hokutōriki Hideki and Kaihō Ryōji.
He occasionally appears on NHK sumo broadcasts as a commentator and analyst.
[edit] Makuuchi tournament results
| tournament | rank | wins | losses | absent | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1983 | M13W | 8 | 7 | 0 | - |
| November 1983 | M7E | 9 | 6 | 0 | Fighting Spirit prize |
| January 1984 | KE | 9 | 6 | 0 | Fighting Spirit prize |
| March 1984 | SW | 6 | 9 | 0 | - |
| May 1984 | M1E | 6 | 9 | 0 | - |
| July 1984 | M3W | 9 | 6 | 0 | - |
| September 1984 | KE | 7 | 8 | 0 | - |
| November 1984 | M1E | 9 | 6 | 0 | Technique prize Gold Star (Kitanoumi) |
| January 1985 | SW | 10 | 5 | 0 | Outstanding Performance prize |
| March 1985 | SE | 8 | 7 | 0 | - |
| May 1985 | S2E | 7 | 8 | 0 | - |
| July 1985 | KW | 10 | 5 | 0 | Technique prize |
| September 1985 | KE | 8 | 7 | 0 | - |
| November 1985 | SW | 9 | 6 | 0 | Technique prize |
| January 1986 | SE | 8 | 7 | 0 | Technique prize |
| March 1986 | SW | 13 | 2 | 0 | Championship Outstanding Performance prize Technique prize |
| May 1986 | SE | 11 | 4 | 0 | Fighting Spirit prize |
| July 1986 | SE | 12 | 3 | 0 | Runner-up Outstanding Performance prize |
| September 1986 | OE | 12 | 3 | 0 | Runner-up |
| November 1986 | OE | 8 | 7 | 0 | - |
| January 1987 | O2E | 11 | 4 | 0 | Runner-up |
| March 1987 | OW | 12 | 3 | 0 | Championship |
| May 1987 | OE | 13 | 2 | 0 | Runner-up |
| July 1987 | Y2E | 11 | 4 | 0 | - |
| September 1987 | YW | 14 | 1 | 0 | Championship |
| November 1987 | YE | 13 | 2 | 0 | Runner-up |
| January 1988 | YW | 11 | 4 | 0 | - |
| March 1988 | YW | 13 | 2 | 0 | Runner-up (lost playoff) |
| May 1988 | YE | 11 | 4 | 0 | - |
| July 1988 | YW | 0 | 0 | 15 | injured |
| September 1988 | Y2E | 0 | 0 | 15 | injured |
| November 1988 | Y2E | 0 | 0 | 15 | injured |
| January 1989 | Y2E | 14 | 1 | 0 | Championship (won playoff) |
| March 1989 | YE | 11 | 4 | 0 | - |
| May 1989 | Y2E | 13 | 2 | 0 | Championship (won playoff) |
| July 1989 | YE | 12 | 3 | 0 | Runner-up (lost playoff) |
| September 1989 | YE | 11 | 4 | 0 | Runner-up |
| November 1989 | YW | 11 | 4 | 0 | - |
| January 1990 | YW | 11 | 4 | 0 | Runner-up |
| March 1990 | YW | 13 | 2 | 0 | Championship (won playoff) |
| May 1990 | YE | 10 | 5 | 0 | - |
| July 1990 | YW | 10 | 5 | 0 | - |
| September 1990 | Y2E | 14 | 1 | 0 | Championship |
| November 1990 | YE | 9 | 6 | 0 | - |
| January 1991 | Y2W | 12 | 3 | 0 | Runner-up |
| March 1991 | YE | 13 | 2 | 0 | Championship |
| May 1991 | YE | 0 | 0 | 15 | injured |
| July 1991 | YW | 9 | 6 | 0 | - |
| September 1991 | YE | 0 | 0 | 15 | injured |
| November 1991 | YW | 4 | 4 | 7 | injured |
| January 1992 | YE | 0 | 0 | 15 | injured |
| March 1992 | YE | 0 | 3 | 12 | injured |
| total | 465 | 206 | 109 | - | |
[edit] External Links
- Japanese Sumo Association Biography (English)(Japanese)
- Hokutoumi's basho results from January 1989
- complete biography and basho results (Japanese)
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