Tagaryu Shoji

Tagaryu Shoji - 多賀竜昇司 (born February 15, 1958) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hitachi, Ibaraki. He made his debut in March 1974 and wrestled for Kagamiyama stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 1982 and has 2 special prizes, 1 kinboshi and 1 top division championship. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in May 1991.

Early Life[]

Kurotani played soccer in elementary school before switching to baseball in junior high school. He was admitted to Toyo University Affiliated Ushiku Senior High School, but decided to not attend due to financial reasons. Instead, he attended a vocational school where he learned welding techniques. After graduating from the school, he got a job at a local construction company, but the construction company had relations with Kagamiyama stable and Kurotani was accepted to the stable.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Kurotani made his professional debut in March 1974 at the age of 16. He was promoted to sandanme in September 1975 and makushita in September 1976. He changed his shikona to "Tagaryu" (多賀竜) in July 1978. His shikona was derived from his junior high school, Hitachi Shiritsu Taga Junior High School (日立市立多賀中学校). He was not able to establish himself in makushita until he won the sandanme yusho in September 1978 with a perfect 7-0 record. He remained in makushita for two years and gradually climbed the ranks. In September 1980, he won the makushita yusho with another prefect record and was promoted to makushita 3 in November 1980 where he posted a 5-2 record which earned him a promotion to juryo in January 1981.

Juryo Career[]

Tagaryu could only manage 3 wins in his first tournament as a sekitori and he was demoted back down to makushita. He returned to juryo in July 1981, but finished with a poor 5-10 record and was demoted back down to makushita again. He returned for a third time in November 1981 where he was able to establish himself after posting a 9-6 record. He followed with two more winning records and was promoted to makuuchi in May 1982.

Makuuchi Career[]

Tagaryu immediately established himself in makuuchi after posting a solid 8-7 record in his first tournament. He made his san'yaku debut at sekiwake rank in November 1983 but lasted only one tournament there and fell back to the maegashira ranks.

Tagaryu Yusho — Tagaryu celebrates his yusho with his stablemaster (c. 1984)

At the September 1984 tournament, the last to be held at the Kuramae Kokugikan, Tagaryu was ranked maegashira 12 and knew that another make-koshi would leave him in danger of demotion from makuuchi altogether. Tagaryu started excellently, and the end of the middle day saw him the only wrestler with an eight-win clean sheet. Ozeki Wakashimazu, who had won the previous tournament 15–0, had only lost one bout thus far. Tagaryu lost to maegashira Tochitsurugi on the ninth day. Wakashimazu lost to Konishiki on the eleventh day, leaving him with two losses. The penultimate day saw Tagaryu, with one loss, drawn against Wakashimazu with two. Tagaryu defeated the ozeki by yoritaoshi, eliminating him from the title race. Tagaryu now stood on 13–1, one win ahead of Konishiki on 12–2. When Konishiki fell to Kotokaze on the final day, Tagaryu's subsequent loss to Asashio was immaterial. With thirteen wins and two losses, he was the tournament champion. He was the first winner from the maegashira ranks since Kaiketsu in 1976. In addition to the Emperor's Cup, he was awarded the Technique Prize and the Fighting Spirit Prize.

Later Career[]

Following his tournament win Tagaryu was promoted to komusubi but turned in a losing score and was demoted. In the January 1985 tournament he defeated yokozuna Kitanoumi in what was the latter's last ever bout. This was to be Tagaryu's only kinboshi. After a series of unimpressive results he was demoted back to the juryo division in July 1988 and promptly won the juryo championship. He thereby became the second person (after Wakanami) to accomplish the somewhat dubious feat of capturing the tournament championship in the second division after winning it in the first. He retired in May 1991.

Retirement from Sumo[]

D 11027526 — Kagamiyama Oyakata (c. 2016)

Tagaryu remained in the sumo world as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association. He became head coach of Kagamiyama stable in 1996 upon the death of his old coach in his days as an active wrestler, former yokozuna Kashiwado.

In 2002, he recruited his first foreign wrestler, Jason Walker of Texas, who wrestled under the shikona Kagamifuji, but he only lasted one year. His son Shota, born in 1986, is a wrestler at the stable under the ring name Ryusei, although he never rose higher than the makushita division. The only other wrestler in the stable is the former maegashira Kagamio. In February 2010 Kagamiyama was elected to the Sumo Association's board of Directors and he also serves as a ringside judge. In March 2021 he stood down from his roles as head of compliance and head of crisis management due to ill-health.

Personal Life[]

Tagaryu, faced Yokozuna Kitanoumi on the second day of the January tournament in 1985 and would go to win the bout and receive his only Kinboshi. This would prove to be the final match of Kitanoumi's career as the Yokozuna announced his retirement the following day.
Tagaryu's son Shota, born 1986, joined his stable in March 2003. He was one of two active wrestlers in Kagamiyama stable before the stable's closure in 2021 and has risen as high as makushita 4 in September 2016.
As an active wrestler, Tagaryu's hobby was playing baseball.

Fighting Style[]

Tagaryu preferred yotsu-sumo, or grappling techniques. His favored grip on the opponent's mawashi was migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position. He also liked uwatenage, or overarm throw, and uwatedashinage, or pulling overarm throw. His most common winning kimarite was yorikiri, the force out, used in about 40 percent of his victories.