Masutoo Akira

Masutoo Akira - 舛東欧旭 (born January 23, 1986) is a former Hungarian professional sumo wrestler from Szolnok. He made his debut in January 2005 and wrestled for Tokiwayama stable. He reached the makushita division in September 2008. His highest rank was makushita 8 and he retired in March 2021.

Early Life[]

Screen Shot 2021-02-03 at 8.53.35 PM — Attila Toth wins second place in the JWSC (c. 2004)

Attila Tóth was born on January 23, 1986, in the city of Szolnok, located in central Hungary’s Jász–Nagykun–Szolnok County. His name "Attila" is derived from Attila the Hun, a leader of a Tribal Empire in Eastern Europe during the 5th century. He started freestyle wrestling at the age of five and won many national championships.^[1]

He began sumo wrestling at the age of thirteen and won the European amateur sumo tournament. In 2004, he competed in the World Junior Sumo Championships and lost to Sawai (future-Goeido) in the last round of the open weight division. Nonetheless, he achieved second place in the competition and third place for the heavyweight division (he outperformed the future Kaisei and Tochinoshin in this tournament).^[2] As a result, he earned the attention of many sumo scouts and was recruited into Chiganoura stable. He was given the shikona "Masutoo" (舛東欧).^[1]

Career[]

He made his debut in the January 2005 tournament alongside Goeido, Tochiozan, Okinoumi, and Toyohibiki. He reached the sandanme division in January 2006, however, he struggled to accelerate past this division. He was promoted to makushita in September 2008. After promotion to makushita, Masutoo struggled to stay in the division and would constantly fall back down to sandanme. He established himself in the division after the July 2011 tournament, however, he suffered an injury in the May 2011 Technical Examination tournament and was regulated back to sandanme. He immediately returned back to makushita after one tournament, but he broke his right ankle in a match against Wakamisho (future yokozuna Terunofuji).^[3] As a result he sat out for four straight tournaments.^[4]

He returned in November 2012, and won the jonokuchi yusho after achieving a perfect 7-0 record. In January 2013 he was promoted to the jonidan division and won his first six matches, but lost his last match to ex-sekitori Amuru. He returned to makushita in May 2013. He returned back to his old sumo pattern, where he would wrestle mainly in the makushita division with the occasional fall to sandanme. In July 2019, he won six matches wile ranked at makushita 25 and as a result was promoted to his career-best makushita 8 for the following tournament.^[4]

Retirement from Sumo[]

He fell back to sandanme after producing a winless 0-7 record in September 2020. Even in sandanme Masutoo continued to struggle and his retirement was announced after the March 2021 tournament. After retirement, Masutoo remained in Japan and became a staff member at the Hungarian embassy in Tokyo's Minato Ward. His retirement ceremony, or danpatsu-shiki, was held on June 10, 2023, at a hotel in Tokyo.^[5]

Personal Life[]

Masutoo's hobbies is using his computer and games. He is also in charge of his stable’s blog and social media accounts.^[6]
Masutoo served as Baruto's tsukebito, or personal attendant, from September 2006 until Baruto's retirement in September 2013. Although Baruto belonged to Onoe stable and Masutoo to Chiganoura, Masutoo was chosen due to the small size of Onoe stable and its lack of available attendants.^[7]

Fighting Style[]

Masutoo is a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. His preferred grip is the migi-yotsu, or a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponent's mawashi.^[8] He won most of his bouts with a straightforward yorikiri, or force out. He also won many bouts with oshidashi (push out) and hatakikomi (slap down).^[9]