Tosayutaka Yūya

土佐豊 祐哉 Tosayutaka Yūya
Personal information
Born	Morishita Yūya (1985-03-10) March 10, 1985 Kōchi, Japan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	140 kg (310 lb; 22 st)
Career
Stable	Tokitsukaze
Current rank	see below
Debut	March 2007
Highest rank	Maegashira #1 (July 2011)
Championships	1 (Makushita) 3 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonidan)
* Career information is correct as of Nov 2013.

Tosayutaka Yūya (born 10 March 1985) is a sumo wrestler from Tosa City, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in March 2007, reaching the top makuuchi division in July 2009. His highest rank has been maegashira 1.

Early years and entry into sumo

Morishita Yūya went to high school in his home prefecture, Kōchi. While attending the Kōchi Prefecture Industrial High school he took the high school sumo championship. Upon entering Tokyo Agricultural University, he was very active in sumo, but never achieved one of the four amateur titles that would have allowed him makushita tsukedashi status, which is can be conferred to allow experienced wrestlers to start professional sumo at a higher division than other wrestlers. The shikona that he eventually settled on takes the two Chinese characters used for the city of his birth Tosa City and the third kanji was taken from one of the characters from his father's dharma name. There are other wrestlers in the past from the same Tokitsukaze stable that used this character in their ring names but this is coincidental.

Career

In his May, 2007 jonokuchi division debut tournament, he posted an impressive 6-1 record. In the next three tournaments he would go on to win three consecutive championships in each successive division. His third consecutive championship, which he achieved at his makushita debut ranked at #33, was not enough to promote him directly to the next jūryō division, but his 5-2 record ranked at makushita #4 in the following January 2008 tournament was more than enough to grant him a jūryō promotion. In the achievement of this feat, he logged 30 wins in a row, a record for a wrestler in makushita and below. During this span, after his defeat on the 6th day of the May 2007 tournament he did not lose again until his bout with Aran on the 11th day of the January 2008 tournament. He had made juryo in just six tournaments from his professional debut, tying the long-standing record held by Itai.

His fortunes would change somewhat for his jūryō debut in the following tournament. Possibly due to stress from the then ongoing investigation into the hazing scandal at his stable, as well as an injury to his toe on the 12th day, Tosayutaka only managed an uncharacteristic 6-9 record. His first demotion dropped him to the top makushita slot, but a convincing 4-3 record put him straight back in jūryō for the July 2008 tournament in Nagoya. In his next 5 consecutive jūryō appearances after this, he only had one make-koshi.

He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in September 2009, and came through with a winning record. After a 6-9 in November, he had two kachi-koshi performances of 8-7 and 10-5 in his next two makuuchi appearances, which saw him promoted to the upper maegashira ranks for the first time. He defeated ozeki Kotooshu but could win only two other bouts. After a quiet year or so in the mid-maegashira ranks, he was promoted to his highest rank to date of maegashira 1 following a 10-5 score in the May 2011 Technical Examination Tournament. In the July tournament he was injured in a bout on Day 3 against Kotooshu and had to withdraw for the first time in his career. He could manage only a 4-11 record on his return in September, and was demoted to jūryō. Although he made an immediate return to makuuchi for the January tournament, he was unable to re–establish himself in the top division and recorded another 4–11 score. He was unable to compete after pulling out of the July 2012 tournament due to injury at the rank of jūryō 8 and dropped to the fourth sandanme division. However, after finally returning at this rank, he had made a complete recovery and achieved a perfect record and the sandanme championship after a playoff win.

Fighting style

Tosayutaka lists his favourite techniques as migi yotsu, a left hand outside and right hand inside grip on the opponent's mawashi, and nage or throws. His most common winning kimarite is yori kiri (force out), which has accounted for nearly half his victories in his short career to date.^[1]

Trivia

• Many of his fans think Tosayutaka's face is similar to a gorilla, and on a number of occasions he has been sent keshō-mawashi with gorilla designs on them.
• He was born one day before yokozuna Hakuhō.

Career record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

External links

• Japanese Sumo Association Biography
• Complete biography and basho results (Japanese)