Otsukasa Nobuhide

Otsukasa Nobuhide - 皇司信秀 (born February 18, 1971) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Miki, Hyogo. He made his debut in March 1993 and wrestled for Irumagawa stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1999. His highest rank was maegashira 4 and he retired in March 2009.

Early Life[]

Nobuhide Ouchi was born the second son to parents who worked at a metal processing company. Since his grandfather and father were fans of sumo, he decided to join the sumo club at Miki Shiritsu Miki Junior High School. He later attended Ichikawa High School and he played an active role in winning the team competition in the National High School Sumo Championships. He continued his amateur career at Nihon University where he played an active role in the All Japan Sumo Championships. He was recruited by the former sekiwake Tochitsukasa, also a Nihon University alumni and head of the then-newly formed Irumagawa stable.

Career[]

Early Career[]

He made his professional debut in March 1993. Due to his amateur achievements, he was given makushita tsukedashi status, meaning he could enter in the third-highest makushita division. Initially fighting under his real name of Ouchi, he won the makushita yusho or championship in only his second tournament, with a perfect 7-0 record. However, it was not until January 1996 that he became a sekitori by earning promotion to the second-highest juryo division, upon which he adopted the shikona of Otsukasa.

Juryo Career[]

Otsukasa dohyo — Otsukasa with his kesho-mawashi during dohyo-iri

Otsukasa struggled in his sekitori and produced a poor 4-11 record after losing his last ten matches. He was demoted back to makushita but won promotion back to juryo in November 1996. He was able to establish himself in juryo, but did not manage to produce any meaningful results. It was not until May 1999 when Otsukasa won the juryo yusho with a 11-4 record. He followed with a 9-6 record which earned him a promotion to makuuchi in September 1999. The 39 tournaments it took him from his professional debut to reach makuuchi is the third-slowest amongst former collegiate wrestlers.

Makuuchi Career[]

During his sekitori career (75 tournaments in total) Otsukasa was a classic "elevator" rikishi, too good for juryo but not quite good enough for the top division. He was promoted to makuuchi no less than 11 times in total. This is two fewer than the record of 13 promotions held by Oshio, a record Otsukasa said he would have liked to break. Otsukasa was ranked in the top division for three of the six tournaments held in 2007 but did not manage a majority of wins against losses in makuuchi after July 2004.

His last promotion in March 2008 made him the third-oldest postwar wrestler to earn promotion to the top division at 37 years. He won his first four bouts on his final return but then lost 10 in a row to finish with a 5-10 score. He won a second juryo championship in January 2005. After the retirement of Kotonowaka in November 2005 he was the oldest man in the sekitori ranks (the top two divisions). Restricted by a shoulder injury, he produced only one winning record after January 2008. After the 2009 Haru basho, Otsukasa would have dropped out of juryo (see retirement below). His departure left Tosanoumi, who is two days under a year younger than Otsukasa, as the oldest active sekitori.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Otsukasa pulled out of the March 2009 tournament on the 13th day with only one win, facing certain demotion to makushita for the first time since 1998. Before the start of the 14th day's matches, he officially announced his retirement from sumo at the age of 38. He said that although he would have liked to have reached a san'yaku rank, he left with no regrets. He has stayed in the sumo world as a coach at Irumagawa stable, having purchased the toshiyori name of Wakafuji. His danpatsu-shiki, or official retirement ceremony, was held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan on January 30, 2010. In February 2022 he transferred to Kise stable.

Personal Life[]

He married in October 2013 and the wedding reception was held in August 2014.
Otsukasa's hobbies is watching videos.

Fighting Style[]

His most frequently used kimarite or technique was a simple yorikiri or force out, but he also favored pushing or thrusting moves such as oshidashi and tsukiotoshi, and pull downs such as hatakikomi and hikiotoshi. At 1.75 m or 5 ft 9 in he was one of the shortest wrestlers in the top two divisions.