Chikubayama Masakuni

Chikubayama Masakuni (born August 21, 1957 as Makoto Tazaki) is a former sumo wrestler from Ukiha, Fukuoka, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1973, breaking into the top makuuchi division thirteen years later in 1986. His highest rank was maegashira 13. After retiring in 1989 he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association. He is the head coach of the Miyagino stable and his most successful wrestler is yokozuna Hakuhō.

Career

He did sumo from a young age but played baseball at junior high school as there was no sumo team available. He joined Miyagino stable after graduation. His ring name (shikona) was named after former yokozuna Yoshibayama, his stablemaster, ^[1] and it also references Chikugo, Fukuoka. His active career was relatively modest. He made his professional debut in March 1973 (alongside future sekiwake Koboyama), using his real name of Tazaki as his shikona. In March 1974 upon promotion to the sandanme division he became Chikubayama. He first reached sekitori status in November 1978 when he was promoted to the juryo division but he lasted only one tournament, falling back to the unpaid ranks. It took over four years, until January 1983, for him to win promotion back to juryo and again he had a losing record and was demoted after only one tournament. After regular and intense training sessions with top division wrestler Kaiki of the Tomozuna stable he won promotion for the third time in March 1984, and finally established himself in juryo. However he did not reach the top makuuchi division until September 1986, 81 tournaments after his professional debut – the second slowest ever at the time. He spent only two tournaments in the top division, peaking at maegashira 13. He was small compared to his contemporaries, at just 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) tall and weighing around 116 kg (256 lb; 18.3 st).

Retirement from sumo

He retired from being an active wrestler in January 1989 and became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name Nakagawa. However, following the sudden death in June of the same year of the head of the Miyagino stable (the former Hirokawa) he became the Miyagino stablemaster. The first sekitori he produced was Wakahayato in 1994, and Kōbō followed in 1999. In December 2000 he recruited later yokozuna Hakuhō Shō,^[2] after making a promise to then maegashira Kyokushuzan of the affiliated Oshima stable, who had invited his fellow Mongolian to Japan for trials.^[3] No other stable would take Hakuho, as he weighed just 62 kg (137 lb; 9.8 st). at the time.^[4] However after making his debut in March 2001 at the age of 16, Hakuho trained hard and gained weight and muscle, and reached juryo in January 2004.^[3]

He was forced to give up the Miyagino name and head coach position in August 2004 when it was acquired by the former Kanechika (he had apparently only been renting it from the widow of the previous coach), but he remained in the stable under the name Kumagatani, and was still regarded as Hakuhō's mentor. In December 2010 he regained the Miyagino name and status of head coach after Kanechika was demoted by the Japan Sumo Association for being caught on tape discussing alleged match-fixing.^[5] Miyagino has also coached Ryuo, Yamaguchi and Ishiura to the top division.

Fighting style

Chikubayama was a tsuki-oshi specialist who preferred pushing and thrusting techniques and did not like to fight on the mawashi or belt. He won most of his bouts by a straightforward oshi-dashi or push out.

Career record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo elders
• List of sumo tournament second division champions

References

1. ↑ 竹葉山 真邦 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2008-07-14. 
2. ↑ "Hakuho wrestles his way into the history books". The Japan Times. 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2008-07-09. 
3. 1 2 Perran, Thierry (May 2006). "Hakuho: The white phoenix flies towards the summit". Le Monde Du Sumo. Retrieved 13 December 2016. 
4. ↑ "GRAND MILESTONE / Hakuho becomes fastest wrestler to join 1,000-win club". Yomiuri Shimbun. November 23, 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016. 
5. ↑ "Stablemaster bout-rigging claim hit". Japan Times. 25 December 2010. Retrieved 31 December 2010. 
6. ↑ "Chikubayama Masakuni Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2012-09-06.