Wakanohana Kanji II

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若乃花幹士
Wakanohana Kanji
Personal information

Birth name	Katsunori Shimoyama
Date of birth	April 3, 1953 (1953-04-03) (age 55)
Place of birth	Aomori
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	129 kg (280 lb)
Career*
Heya	Futagoyama
Record	656-323-85
Debut	July, 1968
Highest rank	Yokozuna (May, 1978)
Retired	January, 1983
Yusho	4 (Makuuchi)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (2) Technique (4)
Gold stars	3 (Kitanoumi)
* Career information is correct as of August 2007.

Wakanohana Kanji II (若乃花幹士, born April 3, 1953) is a former sumo wrestler from Aomori, Japan. He was the sport's 56th Yokozuna.

1 Early career
2 Yokozuna
3 Retirement from the ring
4 Top division record
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Early career

Born as Katsunori Shimoyama, he began his sumo career as a 15 year old in July 1968. He fought under the sumo name of Wakamisugi. It took him five years to reach the status of a salaried sekitori wrestler. He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in November 1973. From September 1974 to January 1975 he won three consecutive technique prizes and was promoted to sekiwake. Over the next two years he had some up and down results, but from September 1976 to January 1977 at sekiwake rank he put together three 11-4 marks, won three more special prizes and was promoted to ozeki. In May 1977 he won his first yusho, or tournament championship, with a 13-2 record.

[edit] Yokozuna

In 1978 Wakamisugi emerged as the chief rival to Yokozuna Kitanoumi, as the other grand champion at the time, Wajima, was producing inconsistent results. Wakamisugi finished runner-up to Kitanoumi in January 1978 and then fought two playoffs with him for the yusho in March and May. Although he was not able to win either, his record of 40 wins out of a possible 45 over the last three tournaments was enough for promotion to yokozuna. Indeed, it was the best postwar total for any yokozuna candidate.^[1] Wakamisugi changed his name to Wakanohana, which was the shikona of his stable master.

Wakanohana had reached sumo's top rank at the age of just 25, and fans were naturally hoping for a long rivalry with Kitanoumi. But it was not to be. He did win three further tournaments, in November 1978 (with a perfect 15-0 score), May 1979 and September 1980. However in 1981 he was pressured into marrying the daughter of his stable master, and during this brief and unhappy marriage he won no tournament championships and was frequently absent from the dohyo due to injury and illness.^[1] The couple divorced shortly before Wakanohana announced his retirement from sumo in January 1983 at the relatively early age of 29.^[1]

[edit] Retirement from the ring

In 1984 Wakanohana established his own stable, Magaki, and is now known as Magaki Oyakata. The stable currently has one top division wrestler, the promising young Russian Wakanoho. Magaki Oyakata is a senior member of the Japan Sumo Association, serving as a Director, where he is responsible for the running of the honbasho held in Osaka each year. He suffered a minor stroke in March 2007.

In May 2008 it emerged that he had beaten one of his wrestlers with a bamboo stick.^[2] Although such rough treatment of juniors was not uncommon at sumo stables in the past, since the death of trainee Takashi Saito at the Tokitsukaze stable in 2007 coaches have been instructed to cut out the practice. The Sumo Association reprimanded him by giving him a 30% pay cut for three months. Kokonoe-oyakata the former Chiyonofuji and head of the Sumo Association's public relations division, criticised Magaki for initially attempting to justify his actions, saying "In addition to his excessive punishment of the wrestler, he invited misunderstanding that such actions are common in all stables."^[3]

[edit] Top division record

Wakanohana Kanji II^[4]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1973	x	x	x	x	x	East Maegashira #13 6–9
1974	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #13 8–7	East Maegashira #11 9–6	East Maegashira #6 8–7	East Maegashira #3 10–5 T	West Komusubi 11–4 T
1975	West Sekiwake 9–6 T	East Sekiwake 9–6	East Sekiwake 2–8–5	East Maegashira #8 9–6	West Maegashira #2 9–6 ★	West Komusubi 8–7
1976	West Komusubi 4–11	West Maegashira #4 9–6 ★	East Komusubi 7–8	East Maegashira #1 9–6 ★	West Sekiwake 11–4 T	East Sekiwake 11–4 O
1977	East Sekiwake 11–4 O	West Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 10–5
1978	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 14–1	West Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 15–0
1979	East Yokozuna 11–4	West Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 11–4	West Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 12–3
1980	West Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 10–5	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 13–2
1981	West Yokozuna 10–5	East Yokozuna 3–4–8	West Yokozuna 0–3–12	Sat out due to injury	East Yokozuna 11–4	Sat out due to injury
1982	East Yokozuna 9–6	East Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 11–4	West Yokozuna 10–5	Sat out due to injury
1983	West Yokozuna 2–4–retired	x	x	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