Towanoyama Yoshimitsu

鳥羽の山 喜充 Towanoyama Yoshimitsu
Personal information
Born	Akihito Kobayashi (1977-07-10) July 10, 1977 Tokyo, Japan
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in)
Weight	202 kg (445 lb; 31.8 st)
Career
Stable	Dewanoumi
Current rank	see below
Debut	November, 1993
Highest rank	Maegashira 13 (March, 2002)
Championships	2 (Makushita)
* Career information is correct as of Nov 2011.

Towanoyama Yoshimitsu (born July 10, 1977 as Akihito Kobayashi) is a sumo wrestler from Toshima, Tokyo, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1993. His highest rank has been maegashira 13, achieved in March 2002. He has had many injury problems and has had perhaps the unluckiest (and shortest) top makuuchi division career of any wrestler in sumo, being injured before even fighting a match in the division.

Career

Towanoyama made his professional debut in November 1993, joining Dewanoumi stable straight from high school. At the time Dewanoumi stable was extremely strong and he had many powerful training partners. He served as a personal attendant to such top division men as Kushimaumi, Oginohana and Oginishiki. In March 1999 he won the makushita division championship with a perfect 7-0 record and earned promotion to the second highest jūryō division, becoming an elite sekitori wrestler. He suffered an injury to his right ankle which required surgery and affected his performances, resulting in demotion back to makushita after only four tournaments. However, in May 2001 he won his second makushita championship and returned to the second division. A strong 11-4 record in January 2002 earned him promotion to the top makuuchi division, alongside Shimotori.

At the time Towanoyama was the heaviest Japanese wrestler in sumo, weighing over 200 kilos. He was the highest ranked wrestler in his stable and was able to use his immense weight to good advantage. However, on the day of his first match in the top division in March 2002, he injured his knee in training and was forced to pull out of the tournament without participating in a single bout.^[1] He has not got back to the top division since. After winning only five bouts in the next tournament he fell to makushita once again. He was able to return to the jūryō division in November 2003, but on the tenth day of the March 2004 tournament, whilst trying to force a throwing move against Wakakosho, he fell badly and tore his patella tendon.^[1] He was hospitalised for four months, requiring transplant surgery for thigh tendons. He missed five tournaments in a row, which meant he fell greatly in rank, ending up in the second lowest jonidan division. After rehabilitation and weight training programs he returned to the ring in March 2005 and has made his way slowly back up the rankings since then. He has been ranked in the third makushita division since July 2006 but has yet to regain sekitori status. A 6-1 score in May 2008 moved him up to Makushita 6 for July, his highest ranking since his 2004 injury. He produced a 5-2 score there, putting him on the brink of promotion back to jūryō. However after two losing scores he slid down the makushita division again. In 2009 he rebounded again with three consecutive winning records.

If Towanoyama finishes his career without returning to the top division, he will be the first wrestler since 1926 to have been ranked in the top division without winning any bouts there.

Fighting style

Towanoyama is a yotsu-sumo specialist, preferring grappling techniques to pushing or thrusting. His favoured grip on his opponent's mawashi is migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position. His most common winning kimarite is yori-kiri, a straightforward force out, which accounts for about 45 percent of his career victories.

Career record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile