双羽黒光司 Futahaguro Koji |
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Futahaguro's handprint displayed on a monument in Ryōgoku, Tokyo |
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Personal information | |
Born | Koji Kitao August 12, 1963 Mie, Japan |
Height | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) |
Weight | 160 kg (350 lb; 25 st) |
Career | |
Heya | Tatsunami |
Record | 348-184-24 |
Debut | March, 1979 |
Highest rank | Yokozuna (July, 1986) |
Retired | December, 1987 |
Yūshō | 0 (Makuuchi) 1 (Jūryō) 1 (Jonokuchi) |
Sanshō | Outstanding Performance (5) Technique (2) |
Kinboshi | 3 (Kitanoumi, Chiyonofuji, Takanosato) |
* Career information is correct as of March 2007. |
Kōji Kitao (born August 12, 1963) is a former sumo wrestler and professional wrestler, born in Mie, Japan. He was sumo's 60th Yokozuna, and the only yokozuna in sumo history not to win a top division tournament championship.[1] He was forced to leave sumo at the end of 1987 after a falling-out with his stable master Tatsunami, and became a professional wrestler in 1990.
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Born in Tsu, Kitao made his professional sumo debut in March 1979 at the age of 15, joining Tatsunami stable, and he reached the top, makuuchi division in September 1984 after winning the championship in the juryo division. In his second tournament in the top division he defeated yokozuna Kitanoumi and was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize and promotion to komusubi. He made his sekiwake debut in May 1985. In July 1985 he was back in the maegashira ranks but defeated two more yokozuna and was tournament runner-up with twelve wins. After finishing runner-up once more in November 1985 he was promoted to the second highest rank of ozeki. Kitao continued his rapid rise with his third runner-up performance in May 1986, followed by a 14-1 score in July, his only loss being to Hoshi. He defeated yokozuna Chiyonofuji on the final day to force a playoff with him, which Kitao lost.
After this result the Japan Sumo Association were faced with a difficult decision as there was only one yokozuna on the ranking lists, but five ozeki, with a sixth wrestler (Hoshi), winner of the March 1986 tournament, already performing to ozeki standard. The Association decided to promote Kitao to yokozuna and Hoshi to ozeki. Kitao had won 36 bouts in the last three tournaments and been runner-up in the last two, so the defacto promotion standard of "two tournament championships or the equivalent" was interpreted rather loosely. He was just 23 years old and the first person to be promoted to yokozuna without any top division tournament titles since Terukuni in 1942.[2] The Sumo Association insisted that Kitao could no longer compete under his family name at such an exalted rank so he adopted the shikona of Futahaguro, the name being formed from two highly successful former yokozuna from his stable, Futabayama and Haguroyama.[2]
The decision to promote Futahaguro backfired and he proved to be a great embarrassment to the sumo establishment. His debut as a yokozuna in the September 1986 tournament saw him pull out on the seventh day with only three wins, and after two runner-up scores in November 1986 and January 1987 a series of mediocre performances followed. His best result as a yokozuna came in November 1987 when he was runner-up for the seventh time, with a 13-2 record. However, controversy was never far away from him. Several junior members of his stable refused to serve under him following an incident on the 1987 winter tour,[3] and as a result of this, in December 1987 he had a heated argument with his stable boss, Tatsunami, and stormed out, allegedly striking Tatsunami's wife on the way.[2] The elders of the Sumo Association responded, without giving Futahaguro a hearing, by voting to accept his "resignation". Futahaguro became the first yokozuna ever to be expelled from sumo this way.[2] He had lasted just eight tournaments at yokozuna rank and had proved unable to win a championship.
year in sumo | January Hatsu basho, Tokyo |
March Haru basho, Osaka |
May Natsu basho, Tokyo |
July Nagoya basho, Nagoya |
September Aki basho, Tokyo |
November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka |
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1984 | x | x | x | x | East Maegashira #8 8–7 |
West Maegashira #3 8–7 O★ |
1985 | West Komusubi 10–5 T |
East Komusubi 10–5 O |
West Sekiwake 6–6–3 |
East Maegashira #1 12–3 OT★★ |
West Sekiwake 11–4 O |
East Sekiwake 12–3 O |
1986 | East Ōzeki 10–5 |
West Ōzeki 10–5 |
East Ōzeki 12–3 |
East Ōzeki 14–1–P |
West Yokozuna 3–4–8 |
West Yokozuna 12–3 |
1987 | West Yokozuna 12–3–P |
West Yokozuna 7–3–5 |
West Yokozuna 10–5 |
West Yokozuna 8–7 |
East Yokozuna 9–6 |
West Yokozuna 13–2 |
1988 | East Yokozuna Retired 0–0–0 |
x | x | x | x | x |
Record given as win-loss-absent Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s) P=Playoff(s) |
Koji Kitao | |
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Ring name(s) | Koji Kitao Mitsuharu Kitao |
Billed height | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) |
Billed weight | 160 kg (350 lb) |
Born | August 12, 1963 Mie, Japan |
Trained by | New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo |
Debut | February 10, 1990 |
Retired | October 11, 1998 |
Upon being dismissed by the Sumo Association, Kitao was linked with a move to America's National Football League, but instead turned to professional wrestling. To mollify the association, he dropped the shikona and reverted to his real name.[5]
Trained at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo, he debuted as a wrestler on February 10, 1990, at the NJPW/AJPW Supershow in the Tokyo Dome, where he defeated Bam Bam Bigelow. Unfortunately, his stay in NJPW didn't last long, because later that July, he was fired for disrespectful conduct towards Riki Chōshū, using ethnic discrimination.
Upon joining SWS in November 1990, he teamed with fellow former sumo Genichiro Tenryu. In an appearance at the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania VII, Tenryu and Kitao defeated Demolition. According to sources, during his match with another former sumo-turned-pro wrestler in Earthquake on April 1, 1991, Kitao broke kayfabe by no-selling Earthquake's attacks and shooting on him. After the match was ruled a no contest, he immediately grabbed a microphone and began telling the audience that wrestling is fake, as other Japanese wrestlers attempted to restrain him. Because of this incident, he was subsequently fired from SWS.[6]
Kitao then wandered in martial arts, but in 1992 he returned to wrestling by challenging UWF International top star Nobuhiko Takada to a (worked) mixed martial arts match. Pre-match discussions over the outcome of the match led to an agreement being reached for a draw. Takada, however, saw an opportunity and double-crossed Kitao during the match, legitimately KO'ing him with a kick to the head. Takada had won, but the importance of the match was that Kitao was truly back into puroresu. Kitao would later make two more MMA appearances - these times not worked - a loss to Pedro Otavio at the first Universal Vale Tudo Fighting event, and at UFC 9, losing to Mark Hall on a referee's stoppage. At PRIDE 1, he defeated future WWE superstar Nathan Jones with an armlock.
In 1996, he had an appearance in the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie The Quest as the fighting representative of Japan.
In the following years he formed his own promotion called "Kitao Pro Wrestling", later a stable of the WAR promotion under the name Bukō Dōjō. Among the wrestlers that came out of the dojo were Masaaki Mochizuki and Takashi Okamura, who later became business partners of Último Dragón in his junior heavyweight ventures.
In 1997, Kitao changed his ring name to Mitsuharu Kitao. He won his only title, the WAR 6-Man Tag Team Championship, with Mochizuki and WAR rookie Nobukazu Hirai in October 1997, but retired from pro wrestling in October 1998.
Professional record breakdown | ||
3 matches | 1 win | 2 losses |
By knockout | 0 | 1 |
By submission | 1 | 1 |
By decision | 0 | 0 |
Result | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
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Win | 1-2 | Nathan Jones | Submission (keylock) | PRIDE 1 | October 11, 1997 | 1 | 2:14 | Tokyo, Japan | |
Loss | 0-2 | Mark Hall | TKO (doctor stoppage) | UFC 9 | May 17, 1996 | 1 | 0:40 | Detroit, Michigan, United States | |
Loss | 0-1 | Pedro Otavio | Submission (elbows) | Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 1 | April 5, 1996 | 1 | 5:49 | Japan |
In the summer of 2003 he made a surprise return to the world of sumo when he was invited to oversee some practice sessions at his former Tatsunami stable,[3] now under new management after the retirement of Kitao's old stablemaster in 1999.
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Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title |