Mitoizumi Masayuki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

水戸泉 眞幸
Mitoizumi Masayuki
Personal information
Birth name Masato Koizumi
Date of birth September 2, 1962 (1962-09-02) (age 45)
Place of birth Mito, Ibaraki
Height 1.94 m (6 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Weight 183 kg (400 lb)
Career*
Heya Takasago
Record 807-766-162
Debut March, 1978
Highest rank Sekiwake (September, 1986)
Retired September, 2000
Yusho 1 (Makuuchi)
1 (Juryo)
1 (Makushita)
Special Prizes Outstanding Performance (1)
Fighting Spirit (6)

* Career information is correct as of August 2007.

Mitoizumi Masayuki (born 2 September 1962 as Masato Koizumi) is a former sumo wrestler from Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. The highest rank he reached was sekiwake. Mitoizumi was nicknamed the "Salt Shaker", due to his habit of throwing enormous quantities of purifying salt onto the ring (dohyō) during the pre-match preliminaries.[1] He is now a coach, and is known as Nishikido-oyakata.

Contents

[edit] Career

Mitoizumi was discovered by Takamiyama, a famous Hawaiian born sumo wrestler, who met the 16 year old and his brother at a department store where he was making a personal appearance. Takamiyama persuaded him to join Takasago stable. Mitoizumi made his professional debut in March 1978. He was troubled early in his career by illness and in 1982 he seriously injured his knee and was hospitalised for four months, causing him to miss tournaments and plunge down the rankings.[2] This was just one of many injuries he would have to battle with over the course of his long career.

He made the breakthrough to the salaried sekitori ranks in May 1984 when he reached the juryo division, in the same tournament in which Takamiyama announced his retirement. Mitoizumi was promoted to the top makuuchi division just two tournaments later in September 1984. However, his injuries were to hamper him once again. Just before the May 1985 tournament he had a motor accident and subsequently fell back to juryo, and in September 1986, after he had recovered and reached his highest rank of sekiwake, he injured his knee yet again in a bout with Onokuni[3] and returned to the second division once more. It took him until January 1988 to fight his way back to the top division, but this time he was to remain there for the next eleven years.

Mitoizumi was ranked at sekiwake on several more occasions and won seven special prizes, but the highlight of his career came in July 1992, when he took the top division tournament championship for the first and only time, with a 13-2 record. He was never able to reach those heights again, but he remained in the top division until March 1999. He carried on fighting until September 2000, when he finally announced his retirement at the age of 38, [4]rather than be demoted to the third makushita division. He had been an active wrestler for more than 22 years. His tally of 807 career wins is the ninth highest in sumo history. He never earned any kinboshi, as all his victories over yokozuna came when he was fighting at komusubi or sekiwake rank.

Mitoizumi remained in the sumo world as a coach at Takasago stable and he effectively led it during the illness of its head, former komusubi Fujinishiki. However, he lost out on the chance to succeed him, control passing instead to former ozeki Asashio who merged it with Wakamatsu stable. As a result, in December 2002 Mitoizumi instead opened up his own training stable, or heya, Nishikido stable, operating out of the old Takasago building. It has yet to produce any juryo or makuuchi wrestlers.

Mitoizumi's younger brother, Umenosato, was also a sumo wrestler at Takasago stable. He fought for 21 years from 1980 to 2001 but only made the juryo division on one occasion in July 1993.[5]

[edit] Top division record

Mitoizumi[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
1984 x x x x West Maegashira #11
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #13
8–7
 
1985 East Maegashira #10
11–4
F		 West Maegashira #1
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #2
2–5–8
 		 West Maegashira #14
3–12
 		 (Jūryō) (Jūryō)
1986 (Jūryō) West Maegashira #12
12–3
F		 West Maegashira #1
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #6
10–5
F		 West Sekiwake
1–3–11
 		 Sat out due to injury
1987 Sat out due to injury (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō)
1988 (Jūryō) East Maegashira #13
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #8
9–6
F		 East Maegashira #2
8–7
 		 West Komusubi
10–5
O		 East Komusubi
0–2–13
 
1989 Sat out due to injury West Maegashira #8
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #2
8–7
 		 West Komusubi
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #1
9–6
 		 East Komusubi #1
11–4
F
1990 East Sekiwake
7–8
 		 East Komusubi
2–9–4
 		 East Maegashira #7
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #3
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #7
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #14
8–7
 
1991 East Maegashira #11
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #13
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #12
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #9
10–5
 		 East Maegashira #2
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #2
8–7
 
1992 East Maegashira #1
8–7
 		 West Komusubi
8–7
 		 West Komusubi
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #1
13–2
F		 West Sekiwake
8–7
 		 West Sekiwake
1–12–2
 
1993 West Maegashira #10
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #7
4–11
 		 East Maegashira #14
10–5
 		 West Maegashira #5
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #1
4–10–1
 		 Sat out due to injury
1994 East Maegashira #11
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #6
4–11
 		 East Maegashira #14
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #13
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #11
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #14
8–7
 
1995 East Maegashira #13
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #15
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #7
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #13
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #9
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #2
8–7
 
1996 West Maegashira #1
3–12
 		 East Maegashira #8
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #10
9–6
 		 West Maegashira #3
4–11
 		 East Maegashira #8
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #2
4–11
 
1997 East Maegashira #8
7–8
 		 East Maegashira #10
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #5
4–11
 		 East Maegashira #10
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #6
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #11
8–7
 
1998 East Maegashira #10
6–9
 		 West Maegashira #14
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #10
6–9
 		 East Maegashira #13
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #8
5–10
 		 West Maegashira #14
8–7
 
1999 West Maegashira #11
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #10
5–10
 		 (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō)
2000 (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō) (Jūryō) 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

  1. ^ My Superstition (English). The Observer (2000-09-03). Retrieved on 2007-06-10.
  2. ^ Patmore, Angela (1990). The Giants of Sumo. MacDonald & Co. ISBN 0-356-18120-0. 
  3. ^ Lewin, Brian (December 2005). Brothers In Sumo (English). sumofanmag.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-10.
  4. ^ Musashimaru stays on top (English). BBC News (2000-09-018). Retrieved on 2007-06-10.
  5. ^ Lewin, Brian (December 2005). Brothers In Sumo (English). sumofanmag.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-10.
  6. ^ Mitozumi Masayuki Rikishi Information (English). Sumo Reference. Retrieved on 2007-07-15.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Languages