Kitabayama Hidetoshi

北葉山 英俊
Kitabayama Hidetoshi
Personal information
Born Hidetoshi Yamada
May 17, 1935(1935-05-17)
Hokkaido, Japan
Died July 20, 2010(2010-07-20) (aged 75)
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight 119 kg (260 lb)
Career
Heya Tokitsukaze
Record 522-327-21
Debut May, 1954
Highest rank Ozeki (July 1961)
Retired May, 1966
Yūshō 1 (Makuuchi)
1 (Juryo)
1 (Makushita)
1 (Sandanme)
Sanshō Outstanding Performance (1)
Fighting Spirit (2)
* Career information is correct as of July 2007.

Kitabayama Hidetoshi (17 May 1935 - 20 July 2010) was a former sumo wrestler and coach from Muroran, Hokkaidō, Japan. His highest rank was ozeki.

Contents

Career

Kitabayama entered sumo in May 1954, joining Tokitsukaze stable. He was recruited by the legendary former yokozuna Futabayama. He was 173 cm tall and weighed 119 kg, which would make him extremely small by today's sumo standards. After winning the juryo championship in September 1958 with a 14-1 record he entered the top makuuchi division in November 1958. He was a runner-up in only his second top division tournament and quickly made the sanyaku ranks, reaching sekiwake in November 1959. He was to remain at sekiwake rank for nine of the next ten tournaments. After finishing runner-up to maegashira Sadanoyama in the May 1961 tournament with an 11-4 record he was promoted to ozeki. He had won 28 bouts over the previous three tournaments, not normally enough for ozeki promotion, but there were only two ozeki at the time, and two ageing yokozuna (Asashio and Wakanohana) and so the standard was lowered slightly. In an era dominanted by Taihō he was only able to win one tournament championship, in July 1963, when he defeated Sadanoyama in a playoff. He was also runner-up for a third time in the May 1964 tournament. He held his ozeki rank for a total of 30 tournaments over a period of five years.

Retirement from sumo

Kitabayama retired from active competition in May 1966, following two losing scores in his last two tournaments (a third would have seen him demoted from the ozeki rank). He remained in the sumo world as an elder under the toshiyori name Edagawa and worked as a coach at Tokitsukaze stable. He was also on the board of Directors of the Japan Sumo Association and worked as a shinpan or judge of tournament bouts. He left the Sumo Association in 2000 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of sixty-five. He died in 2010 from cancer of the liver.

Fighting style

Kitabayama's favoured techniques were hidari-yotsu (a right hand outside, left hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi), yori kiri (force out) and utchari (ring edge throw). Other kimarite he regularly used were uwatenage (overarm throw) and tsuridashi (lift out).

Top division record

Kitabayama Hidetoshi[1]
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
1958 x x x x x West Maegashira #13
9–6
 
1959 East Maegashira #10
11–4
 		 West Maegashira #4
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #3
9–6
 		 East Komusubi
8–7
 		 East Komusubi
8–7
 		 West Sekiwake
8–7
 
1960 West Sekiwake
9–6
 		 East Sekiwake
10–5
F		 East Sekiwake
7–8
 		 East Komusubi
11–4
 		 East Sekiwake
11–4
F		 West Sekiwake
9–6
 
1961 East Sekiwake
8–7
 		 East Sekiwake
9–6
 		 East Sekiwake
11–4
O		 East Ōzeki #2
8–7
 		 East Ōzeki #2
8–7
 		 West Ōzeki
10–5
 
1962 East Ōzeki
8–7
 		 West Ōzeki
9–6
 		 East Ōzeki
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki #2
11–4
 
Sat out due to injury
0–0–15
1963 West Ōzeki #2
9–6
 		 East Ōzeki #3
8–7
 		 East Ōzeki #2
9–6
 		 East Ōzeki #3
13–2–P
 		 West Ōzeki
10–5
 		 West Ōzeki #2
8–7
 
1964 West Ōzeki #2
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki
10–5
 		 East Ōzeki
12–3
 		 East Ōzeki
12–3
 		 West Ōzeki
11–4
 		 East Ōzeki #2
8–7
 
1965 East Ōzeki #2
8–7
 		 East Ōzeki #2
3–6–6
 		 East Ōzeki #2
10–5
 		 West Ōzeki
4–11
 		 East Ōzeki #2
8–7
 		 East Ōzeki
5–10
 
1966 West Ōzeki
8–7
 		 West Ōzeki
7–8
 		 West Ōzeki
Retired
6–9–0		 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)
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

References

  1. ^ "Kitabayama Hidetoshi Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?shikona=kitabayama&heya=-1&shusshin=-1&b=-1&high=-1&hd=-1&entry=-1&intai=-1&sort=1. Retrieved 2007-09-20.