Kongo Masahiro

Kongo Masahiro - 金剛正裕 (born November 18, 1948 - August 12, 2014) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Fukagawa, Hokkaido. He made his debut in May 1964 and last wrestled for Nishonoseki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1970 and has three special prizes, three kinboshi and one top division championship. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in September 1976.

Early Life[]

Yoshizawa was born in the village of Ichiyan (currently Fukagawa City) in Hokkaido prefecture. He excelled in baseball and was scouted by Hokkai High School. However, he disliked studying and aspired to become a sumo wrestler after meeting with yokozuna Taiho, who also came from Hokkaido, in the summer of 1963.

Career[]

Early Career[]

He joined the Nishonoseki stable (home of the great Taiho) in May 1964 at the age of 15. He initially wrestled under the shikona of Oyoshizawa, based on his own surname. He first appeared on the banzuke ranking sheets in July 1964 and won all seven of his bouts, taking the jonokuchi championship with a perfect 7–0 record. However his progress slowed somewhat after that. He was promoted to sandanme in January 1965 and makushita in March 1966. In 1966 he made the third makushita division, and gradually climbed up to makushita 3 before dropping to makushita 6 for the July 1969 tournament. There he took his second divisional championship, again with an unbeaten 7–0 score, and was promoted to the second juryo division, giving him elite sekitori status.

Juryo Career[]

He was relatively light for a sumo wrestler at just 82 kg (181 lb). To mark his promotion he was given the new name of Kongo. He remained in the juryo division for just over a year, recording a couple of make-koshi or losing scores, but in May and July 1970 he won two consecutive juryo championships to earn promotion to the top makuuchi division.

Makuuchi Career[]

20140815k0000m050057000p size5 — Kongo becomes the winner of the July 1975 tournament

He had put on a little more weight, and was now around 100 kg (220 lb), but he remained in the maegashira ranks until May 1972, when a 9–6 score saw him reach the titled san'yaku ranks for the first time at komusubi. He was unable to maintain the rank however, scoring only 5–10. In September 1974 he defeated yokozuna Kitanoumi on the opening day, earning him his first kinboshi or gold star, and at the end of the tournament he was awarded his first sansho or special prize for Outstanding Performance. He returned to komusubi for the following tournament.

The highlight of his career came in July 1975 when he won the top division championship from the maegashira 1 ranking. Yokozuna Wajima and ozeki Takanohana both missed the tournament through injury. Kongo defeated Kitanoumi once again on the 7th day and finished one win ahead of fellow maegashira Aobajo with a fine 13–2 record. He won his third Outstanding Performance prize and was promoted straight to sekiwake for the following tournament. This was to be his highest rank, as he could score only 6-9 in the September 1975 tournament and never managed to return to sekiwake.

Retirement from Sumo[]

In 1975 Kongo's stablemaster, former ozeki Saganohana, died and his widow asked Kongo to marry her second daughter and take over the running of Nishonoseki stable. Kongo agreed and he retired from active competition in 1976 at the age of 27. However, before the marriage could be officially registered, the daughter ran out on Kongo and so the widow adopted him as her foster son instead. and he changed his name to Masahiro Kitamura. Veteran Kirinji, already in the top division when Kongo took over, remained active until 1988, and Kongo produced several other sekitori, such as Hoo, Daitetsu and Daizen.

NishonosekiOyakataKongo — Nishonoseki Oyakata

In 1995, he was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department for mahjong gambling, and was dismissed from the judging department and received a 20% salary cut for six months. Nevertheless, he eventually became a director of the Japan Sumo Association in 2008. He recruited the Chinese wrestler Ryutei in March 2004. Ryutei later became a naturalized Japanese citizen which allowed Kongo to recruited Mongolian wrestler Kengo, but the wrestler's career was cut short after he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

However, with the stablemaster in poor health it went into a gradual decline. Kongo was hospitalized following a stroke in October 2012. In January 2013, the stable's three remaining wrestlers retired and the stable was closed. Kongo himself retired from the Sumo Association in June 2013.

Death[]

He died of pneumonia on August 12, 2014 at the age of 65.

Fighting Style[]

Kongo was unusual in that he prefers a maemitsu grip on his opponent's mawashi or belt – grabbing the front part directly below the stomach area. His most common kimarite was yorikiri (force out), followed by uwatenage (overarm throw) and yoritaoshi (frontal crush down).