Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro

Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro
琴奨菊 和弘
Personal information
Born	Kazuhiro Kikutsugi (1984-01-30) 30 January 1984 Fukuoka, Japan
Height	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	178 kg (392 lb; 28.0 st)
Web presence	website
Career
Stable	Sadogatake
Current rank	Ōzeki
Debut	January, 2002
Highest rank	Ōzeki (November, 2011)
Championships	1 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes	Technique (4), Outstanding Performance (3)
* Up to date as of Apr 27, 2015.

Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro (born 30 January 1984 as Kazuhiro Kikutsugi (菊次 一弘, Kikutsugi Kazuhiro) in Yanagawa, Fukuoka, Japan), is a sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 2002, reaching the top division in 2005. He has earned seven special prizes in his career and been runner-up in three tournaments. He wrestles for Sadogatake stable. In 2011 he achieved the standard for promotion to the second highest rank of ōzeki of winning 33 bouts over three tournaments, and he was formally promoted by the Japan Sumo Association on 28 September.^[1]

Career

Kikutsugi took up sumo whilst at school, becoming middle school yokozuna in 1998. He fought his first professional bout in January 2002 under the shikona of Kotokikutsugi. Rising quickly, he changed his name to Kotoshōgiku in January 2004 before reaching jūryō in July 2004 and the top makuuchi division in January 2005. He steadily climbed the top division ranks, reaching maegashira 1 in July 2006, but a disastrous 3–12 result sent him back to maegashira 7. However, two 10–5 results in the following two tournaments saw him rise back up to maegashira 1 and earned him his first Technique prize. He produced a strong 9–6 score in the 2007 New Year tournament.

In March 2007 he made his san'yaku debut at sekiwake rank, the first newcomer to the rank for nine tournaments.^[2] He made a poor start to the tournament, losing eight of his first nine bouts, but he showed great strength of character in winning the last six in a row to finish with a 7–8 record and remain in san'yaku, albeit at the lower rank of komusubi. Further losing scores in the next two tournaments caused him to slip to maegashira 3 by September 2007. However, a 10–5 mark in that tournament returned him to the titled ranks for November, again at komusubi. In that tournament he defeated yokozuna Hakuhō on the opening day and picked up his second Technique prize.

Kotoshōgiku warms up for his first match in the May 2009 tournament.

In January 2008 he was amongst the tournament leaders until he injured his right knee on the eighth day in a loss to Hakuhō and had to withdraw. This was the first time in his career that he had missed any tournament bouts. It was initially reported that he would need ten days of rest, but his stablemaster (the former Kotonowaka) indicated that Kotoshōgiku was keen to return to action as soon as possible.^[3] He re-entered the tournament from the 12th day, winning three of his four bouts to finish with nine wins.

Kotoshōgiku was promoted back to sekiwake for the March 2008 tournament, where he defeated the eventual tournament winner Asashōryū on the 12th day (his second career win over a yokozuna) to earn the Outstanding Performance award. He maintained his sekiwake rank for three tournaments but returned to the maegashira ranks after scoring only 6–9 in July 2008. In July 2009 he returned to the san'yaku ranks for the first time in six tournaments, at komusubi, and came through with a winning record. He made sekiwake again in September, but fell short with a 6–9 record. He returned to komusubi for the January 2010 tournament, following a strong 10–5 performance at the rank of maegashira 2 the previous November. However, he had only one win over a san'yaku wrestler in this tournament (ōzeki Kaiō) and could score only a make-koshi 6–9. In July 2010 he returned to the sekiwake rank after scoring 9–6 at komusubi in May. Despite admitting some involvement with gambling the wake of the scandal surrounding his stablemate Kotomitsuki, it was not deemed serious enough to warrant a suspension. He scored only 5–10 in this tournament.

Returning to sekiwake once again in January 2011, he produced double digit wins for the first time in the san'yaku ranks, scoring 11–4 and winning his third Technique Prize. Sumo Association official Takanohana indicated that Kotoshōgiku would be considered for ōzeki promotion if he won or came close to winning the following tournament in March.^[4] However, that tournament was cancelled due to a match-fixing scandal, and in the following May 2011 'technical examination' tournament he finished out of contention on 10–5. Needing to win at least twelve bouts in July to be considered for ōzeki promotion,^[5] Kotoshogiku seemed on course by Day 11 when he defeated Hakuho for just the second time to move to 9-2.^[6] However, he then lost two in a row to rank-and-filers Okinoumi and Wakanosato, dashing any hopes of immediate promotion. He finished the tournament on 11-4 and was awarded his second Outstanding Performance prize.

Ōzeki

In the September 2011 tournament Kotoshogiku put in another strong performance, faltering only against fellow sekiwake Kakuryū and maegashira Tochiozan before beating Hakuhō for the second time in a row on Day 13. This put both men on 10-2 and left open the possibility of a playoff for the yūshō on the final day. In the event however, Kotoshōgiku lost his last bout to ōzeki Baruto while Hakuhō won to clinch his twentieth championship.^[1] Nevertheless Kotoshogiku on 12-3 had achieved the necessary number of 33 wins over the last three tournaments to earn ōzeki promotion. Takanohana commented "Beating the yokozuna was a big factor. It was close to a unanimous decision by the judging committee to promote him."^[1] Kotoshogiku became the first Japanese wrestler to be promoted to ōzeki since his former stablemate Kotomitsuki in 2007.^[7] He was also awarded special prizes for Outstanding Performance (his third) and Technique (his fourth).^[1] In his debut ōzeki tournament he won his first nine matches, although he lost to two fellow ōzeki and yokozuna Hakuho and finished on 11-4. He did not win more than ten bouts in a basho over the next year, and had to withdraw from the September 2012 tournament after suffering a knee injury.^[8] He was injured again and withdrew early in the November 2013 tournament; after returning he had two mediocre performances followed by a very poor 5-10 in May 2014 and was kadoban, at risk of losing his ōzeki status, in the July 2014 tournament. He responded with his best performance as an ōzeki, and was tied for the lead going into the final day before losing to Goeido and finishing 12-3. This was his first runner-up performance as an ōzeki and the third overall in his career. After a mediocre 9-6 in September, he once again fell kadoban after a poor 6-9 performance in the November tournament. However, he comfortably held his rank in the opening tournament of 2015.

Personal life

Kotoshōgiku announced his engagement in February 2015, revealing that he had proposed the previous October. He credited his fiancée with helping him through his injury in the Kyushu 2013 tournament.^[9] Kotoshōgiku had previously announced an engagement in November 2012, but that was broken off three months later.

Fighting style

Kotoshōgiku is a yotsu-sumo specialist, preferring techniques which involve grabbing the opponent's mawashi or belt. He favours a right hand outside, left hand inside grip (hidari-yotsu). His most common winning technique is a straightforward yori-kiri or force out, which he has used in over half his career victories.^[10] His trademark is gaburi-yori, which involves using his torso to bump his opponent out.^[1] The next most often used technique is oshi-dashi or push out. He seldom employs throwing techniques.

Career record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

External links

• Kotoshōgiku Kazuhiro's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage
• complete biography and basho results (Japanese)