Kotomitsuki Keiji

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

琴光喜啓司
Kotomitsuki Keiji
Personal information

Birth name	Keiji Tamiya
Date of birth	April 11, 1976 (1976-04-11) (age 32)
Place of birth	Aichi, Japan
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	154 kg (340 lb)
Career*
Heya	Sadogatake
Current rank	Ōzeki
Record	474-294-40
Debut	March 1999
Highest rank	Ōzeki (July, 2007)
Yusho	1(Makuuchi) 1(Jūryō) 1(Makushita)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (2) Fighting Spirit (4) Technique (7)
Gold stars	3 (Musashimaru)
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Kotomitsuki Keiji (born April 11, 1976 as Keiji Tamiya) is a Japanese sumo wrestler from Okazaki City in Aichi Prefecture. His highest rank has been ōzeki, a rank he achieved upon winning 35 out of 45 bouts in three consecutive tournaments up to July 2007.

1 Career
2 Top division record
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Career

Kotomitsuki had a successful college sumo career, winning 27 amateur national titles while at Nihon University. He made his professional debut in March 1999. Because of his achievements as an amateur, he was allowed to leapfrog the lower divisions. He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in May 2000 but missed the entire tournament through injury. On his proper debut three tournaments later, he was runner-up to yokozuna Akebono with an outstanding 13-2 record.^[1] He was awarded all three special prizes on offer; a rare achievement. He was immediately promoted to sekiwake.

Kotomitsuki took his first, and so far only, top division title in September 2001, whilst ranked as a maegashira. He won with a 13-2 record in a tournament that saw only one ōzeki and one yokozuna complete the entire 15 day tournament. He has since been runner-up in six further tournaments.

Kotmitsuki holds the record for most tournaments spent at sekiwake in the modern era. Although he could only manage four wins at his first attempt at sekiwake, he was ranked there for 22 tournaments in total, including eleven in a row from November 2005 to July 2007. He has been ranked in sanyaku in every tournament (with one exception) since March 2004. For most of that time he was consistent rather than spectacular, posting a succession of 8-7 scores.

In May 2007 ōzeki Tochiazuma retired, and Hakuhō was promoted to yokozuna. This meant that there were now only three ōzeki rather than five, and Kotomitsuki was once again a strong candidate for promotion.^[2] He followed up a 10-5 record in March with a 12-3 score and runner-up honours in May, with the Sumo Association indicating that 12 wins in the following tournament would be enough to clinch ōzeki promotion. In July 2007 Kotomitsuki produced a 13-2 score, defeating west yokozuna Hakuhō and once again finishing runner-up, this time to east yokozuna Asashōryū.

Kotomitsuki's ōzeki promotion, confirmed on 25 July 2007^[3], was of special significance to Kotomitsuki and the Sadogatake-beya. Having missed qualifying in 2002 due to a combination of injuries and bad timing, Kotomitsuki was seen by detractors as having insufficient will and being slightly advanced in age to attain ōzeki status. For comparison, retired ōzeki Tochiazuma (as of May 2007) is Kotomitsuki's junior by 7 months. At the age of 31 years 3 months, Kotomitsuki proved the naysayers wrong, becoming the oldest wrestler to attain the rank in the modern era.^[4] He scored a respectable ten wins on his ōzeki debut in September 2007. At the end of 2007 he underwent surgery to remove gallstones. He was not at his best in the 2008 New Year tournament but won his eighth bout on the final day to achieve a kachi-koshi or winning score. He produced another unremarkable 8-7 mark in March, but did manage to end his 28 consecutive defeats against his nemesis Asashōryū.^[5]

[edit] Top division record

Kotomitsuki Keiji^[6]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2000	x	x	Sat out due to injury	(Jūryō)	(Jūryō)	West Maegashira #9 13–2 FOT★
2001	West Sekiwake 4–11	West Maegashira #3 10–5 T★	East Komusubi 9–6 T	West Sekiwake 6–9	East Maegashira #2 13–2 OT★	West Sekiwake 9–6
2002	East Sekiwake 12–3 T	East Sekiwake 8–7	Sat out due to injury	West Maegashira #6 7–8	East Maegashira #7 12–3 F	West Sekiwake 8–7
2003	West Sekiwake 9–6	West Sekiwake 6–9	East Maegashira #2 0–5–10	East Maegashira #13 9–6	East Maegashira #6 11–4	West Maegashira #1 6–9
2004	West Maegashira #4 13–2 F	West Sekiwake 7–8	West Komusubi 9–6	East Komusubi 7–8	West Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 10–5
2005	East Komusubi 7–8	East Maegashira #2 9–6	East Komusubi 13–2 T	West Sekiwake 7–8	East Komusubi 9–6	West Sekiwake 8–7
2006	East Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 9–6
2007	East Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 12–3	East Sekiwake 13–2 FT	West Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 10–5
2008	West Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 8–7	East Ōzeki 8–7	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent Championship Retired Demoted from makuuchi Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira