Kotozakura Masakatsu

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琴櫻傑將
Kotozakura Masakatsu
Personal information

Birth name	Kamatani Norio
Date of birth	November 26, 1940(1940-11-26)
Place of birth	Kurayoshi, Japan
Date of death	August 14, 2007 (aged 66)
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	150 kg (330 lb)
Career*
Heya	Sadogatake
Record	723-428-77
Debut	January 1959
Highest rank	Yokozuna (January 1973)
Retired	July 1974
Yusho	5 (Makuuchi) 2 (Juryo)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (4) Fighting Spirit (2)
Gold stars	2 (Kashiwado, Sadanoyama)
* Career information is correct as of Auguest 2007.

Kotozakura Masakatsu (琴櫻傑將, November 26, 1940 - August 14, 2007) was a former sumo wrestler from Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 53rd Yokozuna.

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

[edit] Career

Born Norio Kamatani, he came from a sumo background, as his father was involved in organising regional amateur sumo tournaments and his grandfather's brother had been a professional rikishi.^[1] The young Kamatani at first competed in judo, achieving shodan level while still in middle school.^[1] However, after doing well in a national high school sumo competition he decided on a career in professional sumo. Initially his parents wanted him to continue with judo but they were persuaded by former komusubi Kotonishiki Noboru to let him join Sadogatake stable.^[1]

Kotozakura made his professional debut in January 1959. He reached the juryo division in July 1962 and the top makuuchi division in March 1963. After making his sanyaku debut at komusubi in January 1964 he suffered an injury and returned to juryo, but he quickly recovered. After an 11-4 record at sekiwake in September 1967 he was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize and promotion to ozeki. He won two tournament championships in July 1968 and March 1969, but by the early 1970s he had begun to be regarded as something of a "perpetual ozeki", often struggling with injuries and finding it difficult to come up with the necessary wins to maintain his rank.^[1] He was kadoban, or in danger of demotion from ozeki, three times during this period. Remarkably however, he won consecutive championships in November 1972 and January 1973 to earn promotion to yokozuna at the age of thirty two, after thirty two tournaments at ozeki. In July 1973 he defeated Kitanofuji in a playoff to win his only championship as a yokozuna. After injuring his knee in 1974 he withdrew from several tournaments and announced his retirement that July.

[edit] After Retirement

Kotozakura had been expecting to open up his own training stable after his retirement, but when his stablemaster died suddenly just days later, he took over Sadogatake stable instead. He produced many top division wrestlers over the years, such as ozeki Kotokaze, Kotooshu, and Kotomitsuki and sekiwake Kotogaume, Kotofuji, Kotonishiki, and Kotonowaka. Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of sixty five in November 2005 he passed on ownership of the stable to Kotonowaka, who had become his son-in-law. Shortly after attending the ozeki promotion ceremony of Kotomitsuki, Kotozakura died on August 14, 2007. He had battled diabetes for several years and had also suffered the trauma of a leg amputation.

[edit] Top division record

Kotozakura^[2]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1963	x	East Maegashira #13 6–9	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #15 9–6	West Maegashira #9 12–3 F	East Maegashira #1 8–7 O
1964	West Komusubi #1 3–4–8	Sat out due to injury	East Maegashira #15 5–10	(Jūryō)	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #12 10–5
1965	West Maegashira #4 10–5	West Komusubi 8–7	West Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 6–9	East Maegashira #1 9–6 O★★	West Komusubi 10–5
1966	East Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 5–10	East Maegashira #3 10–5	East Komusubi 9–6	West Sekiwake 7–8	West Komusubi 10–5 O
1967	East Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 7–8	East Komusubi 10–5	West Sekiwake 11–4 F	East Sekiwake 11–4 O	East Ōzeki 8–7
1968	West Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 6–5–4	East Ōzeki 10–5
1969	East Ōzeki 5–10	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 8–7	East Ōzeki 11–4	West Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 9–6
1970	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 11–4	West Ōzeki 8–7	East Ōzeki 9–6
1971	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 2–4–9	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 2–4–9
1972	West Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 1–2–12	West Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 14–1
1973	East Ōzeki 14–1	East Yokozuna 11–4	West Yokozuna 10–5	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 9–6	West Yokozuna 11–4
1974	West Yokozuna 3–3–9	West Yokozuna 8–7	West Yokozuna 0–4–11	West Yokozuna Retired 0–0–15	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

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Kuroda, Joe (October 2006). Rikishi Of Old. sumofanmag.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
^ Kotozakuara Masakatsu (English). Sumo Reference. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.