Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro

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琴奨菊和弘
Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro
Personal information

Birth name	Kazuhiro Kikutsugi
Date of birth	January 30, 1984 (1984-01-30) (age 24)
Place of birth	Fukuoka, Japan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	153 kg (340 lb)
Web presence	website
Career*
Heya	Sadogatake
Current rank	Sekiwake
Record	266-190-2
Debut	January, 2002
Highest rank	Sekiwake (March, 2007)
Yusho	1 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes	Technique (2), Outstanding Performance (1)
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro (born January 30, 1984 as Kazuhiro Kikutsugi in Yanagawa, Fukuoka, Japan), is a sumo wrestler. The highest rank he has reached is sekiwake.

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

[edit] Career

Kikutsugi took up sumo whilst at school, becoming middle school yokozuna in 1998. He fought his first professional bout in January 2002 under the shikona of Kotokikutsugi. Rising quickly, he changed his name to Kotoshōgiku in January 2004 before reaching jūryō in July 2004 and the top makuuchi division in January 2005. He steadily climbed the top division ranks, reaching maegashira 1 in July 2006, but a disastrous 3-12 result sent him back to maegashira 7. However, two 10-5 results in the following two tournaments saw him rise back up to maegashira 1 and earned him his first Technique prize. He produced a strong 9-6 score in the 2007 New Year tournament.

In March 2007 he made his sanyaku debut at sekiwake rank, the first newcomer to the rank for nine tournaments.^[1]He made a terrible start to the tournament, losing eight of his first nine bouts, but he showed great strength of character in winning the last six in a row to finish with a 7-8 record. Further losing scores in the next two tournaments caused him to slip to maegashira 3 by September 2007. However a 10-5 mark in that tournament returned him to the titled ranks for November. In that tournament he defeated yokozuna Hakuhō on the opening day and picked up his second Technique prize.

In January 2008 he was amongst the tournament leaders until he injured his right knee on the eighth day in a loss to Hakuhō and had to withdraw. This was the first time in his career that he had missed any tournament bouts. It was initially reported that he would need ten days of rest, but his stablemaster (the former Kotonowaka) indicated that Kotoshōgiku was keen to return to action as soon as possible.^[2] He re-entered the tournament from the 12th day, winning three of his four bouts to finish with nine wins. This earned him promotion back to sekiwake for the March 2008 tournament, where he defeated the eventual tournament winner Asashōryū on the 12th day to earn the Outstanding Performance award.

Kotoshōgiku is regared as one of the most promising young Japanese wrestlers in sumo.

[edit] Top division record

Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro^[3]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2005	East Maegashira #16 5–10	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #14 10–5	East Maegashira #9 8–7	East Maegashira #6 7–8	East Maegashira #7 6–9
2006	West Maegashira #10 8–7	East Maegashira #8 9–6	East Maegashira #3 9–6	East Maegashira #1 3–12	West Maegashira #7 10–5	East Maegashira #2 10–5 T
2007	East Maegashira #1 9–6	West Sekiwake 7–8	West Komusubi 7–8	East Maegashira #1 5–10	West Maegashira #3 10–5	West Komusubi 9–6 T
2008	East Komusubi 9–4–2	West Sekiwake 8–7 O	West Sekiwake 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