Wakanosato Shinobu

Wakanosato Shinobu
若の里 忍
Personal information
Born	Kogawa Shinobu (1976-07-10) July 10, 1976 Aomori
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Weight	156 kg (344 lb; 24.6 st)
Web presence	Tagonoura stable website
Career
Stable	Tagonoura
Current rank	see below
Debut	March, 1992
Highest rank	Sekiwake (January 2001)
Championships	4 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Jonokuchi)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (4) Fighting Spirit (4) Technique (2)
Gold Stars	2 (Wakanohana III (1), Asashōryū (1))
* Up to date as of Apr 27, 2015.

Wakanosato Shinobu (born July 10, 1976 as Shinobu Kogawa) is a professional sumo wrestler from Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. He made his debut in the top division in 1998, and his highest rank has been sekiwake. He holds the record for the most consecutive tournaments ranked in the junior san'yaku ranks of sekiwake and komusubi (19 from 2002 until 2005). He has won ten special prizes and has twice been runner-up in a tournament. He is also tied for fourth on the list of gold star earning active wrestlers by defeating yokozuna as an untitled wrestler.

Early life and sumo background

He first tried sumo in the third grade when he entered a competition for fourth graders and up and came in third. By middle school he was training every day at a sumo dojo. He met Takahanada (later the 64th yokozuna Takanohana) when a regional tour came to Hirozaki City, getting into the ring with him.^[1] He entered professional sumo in March 1992 after completing middle school, although he had been admitted to Hirosaki Jitsygyo High School. He had received offers from four or five different heya upon his graduation, but the small and relatively new Naruto stable appealed to him.

Career

As with many sumo wrestlers, he initially competed under his family name, Kogawa, but upon reaching the second highest jūryō division in November 1997 he was given the fighting name of Wakanosato, reminiscent of his stablemaster, former yokozuna Takanosato.

Wakanosato against Kotomitsuki

He entered the top makuuchi division for the first time in May 1998. He was holding his own that year and even recorded his first kinboshi or gold star win against yokozuna Wakanohana, but the very next day he broke his ankle in a match with Musōyama and had to miss the last day of the tournament and all of the following tournament. He suffered a more serious injury in November 1999, rupturing anterior cruciate ligaments. He sat out two successive tournaments after having surgery and was demoted to the jūryō division . He won consecutive jūryō championships upon his comeback, in May and July 2000, and was promoted back to makuuchi in September. He quickly made the titled san'yaku ranks, making komusubi in November 2000 and recovering from 2-6 down to finish 9-6. As a result he was promoted to sekiwake for the first time in January 2001.

In his early top division career, Wakanosato was considered a promising candidate for ōzeki. From January 2002 until January 2005 he spent 19 consecutive tournaments ranked at either komusubi or sekiwake, an all time record. However, he was never able to break through the "great barrier" (the literal meaning of ōzeki), just failing to attain the necessary 33 wins over three tournaments. He was runner-up in the January 2003 tournament, and again in September 2003, where his 11-4 score was probably his best chance to make ōzeki. However, he could only manage seven wins in the following tournament. He was never able to consistently beat the top ranked wrestlers, being unable to beat Takanohana in nine attempts and winning only five times out of 32 meetings against ōzeki Chiyotaikai.^[2] Nevertheless he has been awarded ten sanshō or special prizes for good performances in tournaments during his career.

In more recent years Wakanosato has again suffered from injury problems, being forced to withdraw from his final (to date) san'yaku-ranked tournament in September 2005 and missing all of the next. Though he defeated yokozuna Asashōryū on the second day of the 2006 May tournament, he could only manage a 6-9 record overall. He was then again forced to sit out all of the September 2006 tournament and fell to the second division once again. However, he made something of a comeback in May 2007, turning in a strong 10-5 record at maegashira 7. He won his 600th career bout in September 2007, and turned in another good performance in May 2008, again finishing on 10-5.

Wakanosato winning by tsuridashi, or lift out

He withdrew from the March 2009 tournament after breaking a metatarsal bone in his right foot during his 11th day bout with Kotoshōgiku. He had surgery on 8 April which put him out of action for at least two months, meaning he had to sit out the following tournament in May. He came back very strongly in July, winning his fourth jūryō championship with a 14-1 record. He reached Maegashira 1 in March 2010, his highest rank in over four years. After that he comfortably maintained a position in the mid-to-upper maegashira ranks until he was injured in the November 2011 tournament, resulting in yet another fall to jūryō. However he immediately returned to makuuchi after scoring 11-4 in January 2012.

After a poor 4–11 record at maegashira 15 in September 2013, Wakanosato was once again demoted to jūryō, but for the first time for a non injury-related reason. He has been ranked in makuuchi only once more since then, in the July 2014 tournament. Despite these troubles, he is still one of the few active wrestlers on the all-time top ten list of most career wins and career bouts.

Fighting style

Wakanosato specialises in yotsu-sumo, or techniques that involve grabbing hold of the opponent's mawashi. He is known as being particularly difficult to beat once he has got a migi-yotsu, or right hand inside, left hand outside grip. About 40 percent of his wins are by yori kiri, or force out, but he is also good at pushing and thrusting, winning many bouts by oshi-dashi or push out. His two most commonly used throws are sukuinage (scoop throw) and uwatenage (overarm throw).^[3]

Trivia

Wakanosato initially had an excellent head-to-head record against Hakuhō, defeating him the first six times they met. However, the last of these victories came in 2005 and since then he has lost eleven in a row against him. Nevertheless, only Harumafuji and Kisenosato have more wins over the yokozuna among active wrestlers.

Family

Wakanosato was married in April 2004. His stablemaster reported that his bride weighed just 39 kg.^[4]

Career record

See also

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

References

External links

• Wakanosato Shinobu's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage