Toki Susumu
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Real name | Tamashiro Jun | |
| Date of birth | July 4, 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Chiba, Japan | |
| Height | 189.0cm (6'2") | |
| Weight | 165.0kg (364lb) | |
| Career* | ||
| Heya | Takasago | |
| Rank | retired | |
| Record | 511-518-24 | |
| Debut | January 1991 | |
| Highest rank | Komusubi (September 2003) | |
| Yushos | 1 (Juryo) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Sandanme) |
|
| Special Prizes | none | |
| Gold stars | none | |
|
* Career information is correct as of January 2007. |
||
Toki Susumu (闘牙 進), born July 4, 1974 as Tamashiro Jun, is a Japanese former sumo wrestler, from Chiba Prefecture.
Toki began his career in January 1991 after joining the late Tochinishiki's sumo stable Takasago beya. Just like ex-sekiwake Takamiyama, who was a member of the same heya during the 1970s and 80s, Toki wore long sideburns as a distinctive feature.
In 1998 Toki managed to enter the Makuuchi division for the first time and quickly became a regular Maegashira, although his results were not sufficient to make him a Sanyaku wrestler (although he was a Komusubi for a short time in September 2003, but he could not retain this rank).
Toki relied almost exclusively on slapping and pushing techniques, making his style very predictable, yet often surprisingly successful. However, he was very vulnerable when his opponents got hold of his Mawashi, and he was not a great challenge to the top wrestlers in his Makuuchi days. For example, he lost every bout he fought against both Musashimaru and Takanohana.
On December 18, 2000 in Osaka Toki was behind the wheel of a car which hit a pedestrian and killed her. He should not have been driving at all because the Sumo Association had banned all rikishi from doing so following a previous incident. Toki was forced to sit out the January 2001 tournament as a result, and fell to the Juryo division. This left the Takasago stable without any top division rikishi for the first time in its 123 year history. However, Toki was immediately promoted back to Makuuchi following his return to the ring in March 2001.
In 2004, Toki suffered a shoulder injury which eventually led to him dropping to Juryo once more. He did not succeed in making a sustained comeback to the Makuuchi, although he managed to return temporarily twice. He suffered increasingly from back problems related to spinal stenosis, which was the reason why he missed six days of Hatsu-basho 2006. This also reduced the power of his pushes and thrusts to his opponents. After a disastrous make-koshi in March, Toki was demoted to Makushita in May and announced his retirement on the day the tournament started.
Toki had his official retirement ceremony on January 27, 2007 and is now working as a coach at his stable.
