Kotokaze Koki

Kotokaze Koki - 琴風豪規 (born April 26, 1957) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tsu, Mie. He made his debut in July 1971 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1977 and has six special prizes, six kinboshi and two top division championships. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in November 1985.

Early Life[]

Nakayama attended Tsu Munincipal Takajaya Elementary School. He wanted to attend cooking school, but was ridiculed by the people around him, so he decided to take up sumo. Even though he had no interest, his father, grandfather and grandmother were all avid sumo fans.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Scouted by the 53rd Yokozuna Kotozakura, he joined Sadogatake stable in July 1971 and was given the shikona Kotokaze. He was only 14 years old and still at junior high school, and in his early days in the jonidan division he was excused from fighting some matches to attend school, not traveling to the regional tournaments and fighting only on Sunday in the Tokyo ones. He was promoted to sandanme in July 1973 and makushita in May 1974. In September 1975, he posted a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 1 and was promoted to juryo in November 1975 at the age of 18 years and 5 months.

Juryo Career[]

Kotokaze produced three consecutive winning records from his debut and was promoted to juryo 2 in May 1976, where he finished with a 5-10 record. Nevertheless, Kotokaze bounced back and produced another three consecutive winning records and was promoted to makuuchi in January 1977 at the young age of 19.

Makuuchi Career[]

Kotokaze steadily climbed the ranks of maegashira and in November 1977, Kotokaze defeated yokozuna Kitanoumi to earn his first kinboshi and finished with a 10-5 record to earn his Outstanding Performance Prize. He was promoted to sekiwake in the following tournament, but could only manage 5 wins at that rank.

In January 1979, he suffered a severe injury to his left knee joint which forced him to miss several tournaments and plunge all the way down to the unsalaried makushita division. He returned to action in July 1979 at the rank of makushita 30 where he finished with a 6-1 record (his only loss came against Kaio). He followed with a perfect 7-0 record at the rank of makushita 8 which earned him a direct promotion to juryo. In his return to juryo, he finished with a near-perfect 14-1 record and was promoted back to makuuchi.

In his return, Kotokaze posted three consecutive double-digit kachi-koshi's (winning record) and was awarded special prizes in each tournament. By March 1981 he had returned to sekiwake and in September 1981 he captured his first tournament championship with a 12–3 record, finishing one win ahead of yokozuna Wakanohana II. He was immediately promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ozeki.

Ozeki Career[]

Kotokaze was runner-up in July 1982 where he finished with a solid 11-4 record. He took his second championship in January 1983 with a 14–1 score, beating Asashio in a playoff. In September 1984 he defeated a newcomer to the division who was in contention for the tournament title, the gigantic Konishiki, in a mammoth two-minute struggle on the final day. Kotokaze later recalled this bout as his most memorable ever. In May 1985 he suffered another serious injury, this time to his right knee, and he decided to retire in November 1985 at the age of twenty eight after losing his ozeki rank.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Kotokaze became an elder of the Sumo Association under the name Oguruma Oyakata. In 1987 he left Sadogatake to set up his own Oguruma stable. He gives all of his new recruits shikona with the suffix "kaze" (wind), taken from his own fighting name.

In 1992, he was invited by the refereeing department to become a judge, but he refused as he could not sit properly due to his knee injuries. Kotokaze is also a regular commentator on NHK's sumo tournament broadcasts.

The first wrestler from the stable to achieve sekitori status was Tomikaze in July 2000. As of March 2019, Oguruma stable has produced six wrestlers with top division experience, Takekaze, Yoshikaze, Kimikaze, Amakaze, Yago and Tomokaze. Another, Wakakirin, (who originally came from a different stable) was dismissed from the Sumo Association because of cannabis use in February 2009. Oguruma was demoted from his post in the Association as a result. In September 2010, two men were arresting for attempting to blackmail Kotokaze, sending him a letter threatening to reveal his connections to a "violent criminal gang" (usually a euphemism for yakuza) in his younger years. In April 2011 he was hit with another demotion after a juryo division wrestler from his stable, Hoshikaze, was forced to retire after a match-fixing scandal. However, in February 2012 he was elected to the Sumo Association board of directors. In April 2012 he was hospitalized after injuring his cervical spine in a fall at Obama, Fukui. In 2019 he instructed wrestlers that they would no longer be allowed to grow five o'clock shadows during tournaments for superstitious reasons, in order to maintain a suitable appearance on the dohyō. As head of the Sumo Association's legal compliance committee, he announced the one-year suspension for Asanoyama in June 2021 for breaking COVID-19 protocols. Earlier in the same year he had warned that tournaments could be cancelled due to rising COVID-19 infections.

Kotokaze announced on 25 December 2021 that his stable would close following the January 2022 sumo tournament. He reached the standard retirement age for an elder of 65 years in April 2022, but was employed for a further five years on a reduced salary as a sanyo or consultant.

On May 11th 2024, he announced that he was leaving the JSA, a few years before his consultancy period expiration. He expressed the desire to give way for enthusiastic younger coach. His elder stock of the Oguruma name has been returned to Sadogatake stable.

Fighting Style[]

Kotokaze's most common winning kimarite or technique was overwhelmingly a straightforward yorikiri or force out, which accounted for over half his wins at sekitori level. He favored hidari-yotsu, or a right hand outside, left hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi. He very rarely employed throwing moves.

Record[]

Division Results[]

Total: 561-352-102/908 (87 basho)
Makuuchi: 395-249-80/639 (49 basho)
Juryo: 70-50-15/120 (9 basho)
Makushita: 45-18-7/63 (10 basho)
Sandanme: 29-20/49 (7 basho)
Jonidan: 19-11/30 (10 basho)
Jonokuchi: 3-4/7 (1 basho)

Championships[]

2 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (September 1981)
- 2nd (January 1983)
1 Juryo Championship (November 1979)
1 Makushita Championship (September 1979)

Achievements[]

Special Prizes: Outstanding Performance Prize (3), Fighting Spirit Prize (2), Technique Prize (1)
Kinboshi: 6: (3) Kitanoumi, (1) Wajima, (1) Wakanohana II, (1) Mienoumi