Yoshikaze Masatsugu

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嘉風雅継
Yoshikaze Masatsugu
Personal information

Birth name	Masatsugu Ōnishi
Date of birth	March 19, 1982 (1982-03-19) (age 26)
Place of birth	Oita, Japan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	126.5 kg (279 lb)
Career*
Heya	Oguruma
Current rank	Maegashira 14
Record	175-150-1
Debut	January 2004
Highest rank	Maegashira 9 (July 2006)
Yusho	1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonokuchi)
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Yoshikaze Masatsugu (born March 19, 1982 as Masatsugu Ōnishi) is a sumo wrestler from Sakai, Oita Prefecture, Japan. His highest rank has been maegashira 9.

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

[edit] Career

Yoshikaze was an amateur sumo champion at Nihon Taiiku University, and won the college equivalent of the yokozuna title in his third year. Because he wanted to wait until after his graduation from university before joining professional sumo, he missed out on the chance to enter at the level of the third makushita division. He joined Oguruma stable and made his debut at maezumo level in January 2004. He was of course considerably older and more experienced than most of the competition there and quickly worked his way up the ranks, winning two tournament titles in the jonokuchi and sandanme divisions with perfect 7-0 records. He initially competed under his own surname of Onishi, but upon reaching the second highest jūryō division in July 2005 he changed his shikona to Yoshikaze.

He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in January 2006. It took him only 12 tournaments to make the top division from his professional debut, equal to the second fastest rise ever since the six tournaments per year system was introduced in 1958.^[1] However, he has not yet managed to rise above the mid maegashira ranks and has fallen back to the second division twice so far.

In the November 2007 tournament he defeated fan favourite Takamisakari with the rare but spectacular technique of utchari, or spin throw from the edge of the ring. However he was able to win only three other bouts in that tournament and fell to the bottom of the division. An 8-7 record in January 2008 kept him in makuuuchi.

[edit] Top division record

Yoshikaze Masatsugu^[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
2006	West Maegashira #13 5–10	West Maegashira #16 8–7	West Maegashira #14 9–6	East Maegashira #9 6–9	East Maegashira #12 5–10	(Jūryō)
2007	West Maegashira #13 8–7	West Maegashira #12 5–10	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #13 6–9	West Maegashira #15 10–5	West Maegashira #10 4–11
2008	West Maegashira #15 8–7	West Maegashira #12 6–9	West Maegashira #14 7–8	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