Wakanohana Masaru
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Real name | Masaru Hanada | |
| Date of birth | January 20, 1971 | |
| Place of birth | Suginami, Tokyo | |
| Height | 180.0cm (5'10") | |
| Weight | 134.0kg (295lb) | |
| Career* | ||
| Heya | Fujishima -> Futagoyama | |
| Rank | Yokozuna | |
| Record | 573-286-124 | |
| Debut | March, 1988 | |
| Highest rank | Yokozuna (November, 1998) | |
| Yushos | 5 (Makuuchi) 1 (Juryo) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonokuchi) |
|
| Special Prizes | Outstanding Performance (3) Technique (6) |
|
| Gold stars | 2 (Asahifuji) | |
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* Career information is correct as of March 2006. |
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Wakanohana III Masaru (若乃花 勝) (born January 20, 1971 as Masaru Hanada (花田 勝 Hanada Masaru)) is a former sumo wrestler who belongs to a very famous sumo family. As an active wrestler he achieved sumo's highest rank of Yokozuna.
Wakanohana is the elder son of the former Ozeki Takanohana I who was the Futagoyama stablemaster until his death in 2005. He is also the nephew of Wakanohana I, a famous Yokozuna of the 1950s. He entered sumo in March 1988, at the same time as his younger brother Takanohana Koji, and also Akebono Taro and Kaio Hiroyuki.
Wakanohana earned the rank of Yokozuna in 1998 after winning his fifth top division championship. However, an ill-timed leg injury in September 1999 ensured that he became only the second Yokozuna ever to finish a 15-day tournament with more losses than wins (the other Yokozuna to suffer this fate was Onokuni). He immediately submitted his resignation to the Sumo Association but had it turned down, and so resolved to wrestle on. However, by his own admission, his injury failed to heal and he retired in March 2000 without adding to his tally of championship wins.
In the early part of his career he wrestled under the name Wakahanada, being given his uncle's fighting name a few tournaments prior to his promotion to Ozeki.
After a brief spell as a member (or elder) of the Japan Sumo Association, he eventually left sumo completely and has worked as an entertainer in Japan, as well as trying to enter the professional world of American Football.
At the time of the death of their father, stablemaster Futagoyama (formerly Takanohana I), a bitter rift between Wakanohana and Takanohana was widely reported in the Japanese media. Upon his father's death, Takanohana was very critical of both his brother and his mother: his attacks on his brother (Wakanohana) relating to the struggle between them to control their father's funeral rites; the attacks on his mother condemning her for her extra-marital affair (which led to her divorce from Futagoyama, and had only been rumored up to that point). There has been some suggestion that all of this relates to who will control their father's estate.[1]
Wakanohana now owns and operates a chain of chanko nabe (literally "meal pot", the staple food of sumo wrestlers) restaurants in Japan called "Chanko Dining Waka"[2]
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