Kotonishiki Katsuhiro

Kotonishiki Katsuhiro - 琴錦功宗 (born June 8, 1968) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Misato, Gunma. He made his debut in March 1984 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 1989 and has 18 special prizes, 8 kinboshi and 2 top division championships. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in September 2000.

Early Life[]

He was born in the former Misato, Gunma. At the wish of his father, he practiced both sumo and judo from a young age. After competing in the National Junior High School Sumo Championships at the age of 14, he met former yokozuna Kotozakura who persuaded him to join Sadogatake stable.

Career[]

Early Career[]

He made his professional debut in March 1984. His first shikona or fighting name was Kotomatsuzawa, based on his own surname. He rose up the ranks rather quickly and was promoted to sandanme in July 1985 and makushita in July 1986. He rose as high as makushita in July 1987, but posted a losing record of 3-4. In the following tournament he changed his shikona to Kotonishiki and three tournaments later, he was promoted to juryo.

Juryo Career[]

Kotonishiki made his juryo debut on March 1988 at the age of 19, but he could only manage 4 wins and was demoted back down to makushita. He returned two tournaments later in September 1988 and posted a 10-5 record in his first tournament back. In March 1989, Kotonishiki produced an 11-4 record, but missed out on the yusho after losing to Kushimaumi in the playoff. Nevertheless, he was promoted to makuuchi in the following May 1989 tournament.

Makuuchi Career[]

Kotonishiki steadily made his way up the maegashira ranks, and in May 1990 earned his first sansho or special prize, for Fighting Spirit. In this tournament he also defeated yokozuna Hokutoumi to win the first of his eight kinboshi. He made his debut in the titled san'yaku ranks at komusubi in September 1990 and came through with a winning record. This earned him promotion to sekiwake for November. He was to spend a total of 34 tournaments ranked at either sekiwake or komusubi, which is an all-time record.

Sekiwake kotonishiki — Kotonishiki (c. 1991)

In the latter half of 1991 Kotonishiki made a strong drive for ozeki promotion. He recovered from losing his sekiwake rank after the July tournament and falling back to the maegashira ranks, by coming back to win the tournament championship or yusho in September 1991, blowing away Mainoumi in seconds on the final day to finish with a 13-2 record, one win ahead of ozeki Kirishima. There were no yokozuna completing this tournament, with Hokutoumi absent and Asahifuji withdrawing partway through. Kotonishiki followed up with an excellent 12-3 in November, finishing as runner-up to Konishiki, the closest any maegashira yusho winner has come to repeating the feat in the next tournament. He needed one more good performance in the following January 1992 tournament to earn promotion to ozeki, but he lost his opening four matches and could only score 7-8. He made a second attempt in late 1992 when he produced two consecutive runner-up performances, but after standing at 7-3 on the 10th day of the January 1993 tournament he collapsed to lose his last five bouts and finished with a losing 7-8 score. Although he produced many good performances over the next few years, he was never consistent enough to mount another challenge for ozeki promotion, and was overtaken by younger wrestlers such as the Hanada brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana, and then Takanonami and Musashimaru.

Later Career[]

Jpn010-img794 — Kotonishiki celebrates with his family after winning his second yusho (c. 1998)

In May 1998 Kotonishiki was runner-up for the fourth time and returned to komusubi, but he was sidelined through injury in the next tournament and managed only five wins on his return. This sent him down to maegashira 12 for the November 1998 tournament, his lowest rank since his top division debut in May 1989. Kotonishiki responded by winning his first 11 matches and though he lost to yokozuna Wakanohana on Day 12, he defeated Takanohana and Takanonami over the next two days to clinch the championship. He finished with an outstanding 14-1 record. This victory made him the only wrestler ever to win two tournaments from the maegashira ranks. The seven-year gap between his first and second championships is also the longest ever. He was also awarded special prizes for the final time, receiving his eighth Technique and seventh Outstanding Performance Award. These plus his three Fighting Spirit Prizes gave him a total of eighteen career sansho, the most ever at the time (although he was overtaken the following year by Akinoshima).

Now over 30 years of age, Kotonishiki was no longer able to maintain a position in the san'yaku ranks, but he was still a threat, as he defeated yokozuna in three consecutive tournaments from March to July 1999.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Screen Shot 2021-04-25 at 12.12.41 PM — Asahiyama Oyakata (c. 2016)

In March 2000 Kotonishiki had to withdraw on the 5th day of the tournament through injury, with only two wins. As a result, he fell to the juryo division for the first time since 1989. On his comeback in July he scored an 8-7 majority of wins at the rank of juryo 1 but did not get promoted back to the top division; an extremely rare occurrence. In the September 2000 tournament, after losing six of his first seven bouts, he announced his retirement from sumo, saying that he had reached his physical limit and could no longer overcome his various injuries. His top division winning record was above 50 percent, with 506 wins against 441 losses, which is unusual for a non-ozeki.

Kotonishiki remained in the sumo world as a coach, initially at Sadogatake stable and later at the affiliated Oguruma stable. For many years he was unable to acquire a permanent toshiyori or elder name. For the first two years of his retirement he had jun-toshiyori status and was known as Kotonishiki Oyakata. When that expired he borrowed the Wakamatsu name in 2002 and then the Takenawa name in 2003. From July 2007 until January 2009 he borrowed Kaio's Asakayama name. He then used Kisenosato's toshiyori kabu of Araiso. In September 2009 he switched to the Hidenoyama kabu vacated by the retiring Hasegawa, now owned by ozeki Kotoshogiku. In January 2014 he switched to yet another kabu (owned by Yoshikaze) and was known as Nakamura until January 2016, when he finally acquired a permanent elder name, Asahiyama, and started the Asahiyama stable in June 2016.

Personal Life[]

Kotonishiki's hobbies are playing video games, watching baseball games, and driving. He is a supporter of the baseball team Chiba Lotte Marines.
French President Jacques Chirac was a big sumo fan and his favorite rikishi was Kotonishiki. During his tenure, he often conversed with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi about Kotonishiki.
In early 1991 Kotonishiki's personal life hit the headlines when it was revealed he had proposed to one woman having already secretly married another. In the event he returned to his legal wife and they had a daughter together. It was announced in February 2017 that his 18 year old son, Akihide Matsuzawa, would be joining his Asahiyama stable as a professional sumo wrestler upon graduation from high school in March. His shikona was Wakaseido and he retired in July 2022 with his highest career rank being sandanme 70.

Fighting Style[]

Kotonishiki was regarded as an oshi-sumo specialist, favouring tsuki (thrusting) and oshi (pushing) techniques. His high-speed style was called "F1 Sumo." However, he was also capable of fighting on the mawashi or belt. Somewhat unusually, his preferred grip on the mawashi was morozashi, with both arms inside his opponent's. His most common winning kimarite was yorikiri (force out), closely followed by oshidashi (push out). Together these two techniques accounted for half his victories at sekitori level. He very rarely employed throwing moves, with the exception of sukuinage, a beltless scoop throw.

Record[]

Division Results[]

Total: 663-557-58/1216 (100 basho)
Makuuchi: 506-441-43/944 (66 basho)
Juryo: 48-50-15/97 (8 basho)
Makushita: 54-30/84 (12 basho)
Sandanme: 25-17/42 (6 basho)
Jonidan: 25-17/42 (6 basho)
Jonokuchi: 5-2/7 (1 basho)

Championships[]

2 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (September 1991)
- 2nd (November 1998)

Achievements[]

Special Prizes: Technique Prize (8), Outstanding Performance Prize (7), Fighting Spirit Prize (3)
Kinboshi: 8: (3) Wakanohana, (2) Takanohana, (1) Chiyonofuji, (1) Akebono, (1) Hokutoumi
Record: 1st most tournaments ranked in junior san'yaku - komusubi and sekiwake ranks (34)
Record: 2nd most special prizes (18 special prizes)