Takanosato Toshihide - 隆の里 俊英 (born September 29, 1952 - November 7, 2011) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Namioka, Aomori. He made his debut in July 1968 and last wrestled for Futagoyama stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 1975 and has 7 special prizes, 2 kinboshi and 4 top division championships. He was the 59th yokozuna and he retired in January 1986.
Early Life[]
Takaya was born the second son of farmers in the town of Namioka in Aomori Prefecture. He played soccer and judo before turning into soccer. He was from the same area of Japan as Wakanohana Kanji II and the two entered professional sumo together in July 1968, joining Futagoyama stable.
Career[]
Early Career[]
He initially wrestled under his surname "Takaya" before switching to the shikona "Takanosato" (隆の里) in March 1971. He was promoted to sandanme in November 1969 and makushita in July 1971. In March 1973, Takanosato was promoted to the rank of makushita 3, but he finished with a 3-4 record after losing to three juryo-ranked wrestlers. Nevertheless, he bounced back and in September 1974, he produced a 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 1 and was promoted to juryo for the November 1974 tournament.
Juryo Career[]
Even though Takanosato struggled in the unsalaried ranks for six years, he breezed through juryo in only three tournaments. In his first tournament, he produced a strong 10-5 record, but missed out on the juryo yusho after losing to Banryuyama in a playoff. He followed with an 8-7 record and a 10-5 record which earned him a promotion to makuuchi for the May 1975 tournament.
Makuuchi Career[]
Takanosato reached the top makuuchi division in May 1975 but had some indifferent results and fell back to the juryo division on several occasions. A late developer, he did not reach the san'yaku ranks until 1979, by which time Wakanohana was already a yokozuna.
In July 1980, he produced a 12-3 record and was runner-up to yokozuna Kitanoumi's 15-0 record; Takanosato was awarded the Fighting Spirit Prize. In the following September tournament, he produced a strong 13-2 record, which included wins over yokozuna Kitanoumi and yokozuna Wajima (his only career kinboshi's) and was runner up to stablemate Wakanohana's 14-1 record; he was awarded both the Fighting Spirit and the Outstanding Performance Prize. In the following November tournament, he produced an 11-4 record at the rank of sekiwake and was awarded his second Outstanding Performance Prize. Even though, he was ranked at sekiwake and had accumulated 36 wins in the past three tournaments, he was promoted to ozeki as he was ranked at maegashira 12 in one of the tournaments which is deemed to low. He finished with a 9-6 record in January 1981 and had accumulated 33 wins over the past three tournaments, but since the 9-6 record was not a double-digit kachi-koshi, he was not promoted to ozeki. In September and November 1982, he posted double-digit winning records at the san'yaku level and followed with a 12-3 runner-up performance in January 1983 which earned him a promotion to ozeki in March 1982.
Ozeki Career[]
Following his promotion he announced that he had been suffering from diabetes for many years, and had devised a special diet to keep the illness under control. In his first tournament as ozeki, he finished with an 11-4 record which was his fourth runner-up performance. He won his first top division championship in September 1982 with a perfect 15–0 record. He was runner-up in the March and May 1983 tournaments, and then took his second championship in July. Following this tournament, he was promoted to yokozuna.
Yokozuna Career[]
Takanosato was almost thirty one years old when he reached sumo's highest rank, and the 91 tournaments it took him to reach yokozuna from his professional debut is the second slowest in sumo history, behind only Mienoumi. Most yokozuna struggle to perform well in the tournament immediately following their promotion, but Takanosato won it with a perfect record—the first yokozuna to do so since Futabayama in the 1930s. Although his yokozuna career was relatively short, he had a great rivalry with fellow yokozuna Chiyonofuji. In the four tournaments from July 1983 to January 1984, the two wrestlers came into the final day with the same score. This is a unique occurrence in sumo. It was Takanosato who won three out of the four tournament-deciding bouts, and he was one of the few wrestlers to have a winning record against Chiyonofuji. He studied Chiyonofuji's fighting style through watching videotapes of his bouts over and over, and was often able to keep his rival from getting his favoured left hand grip on his mawashi. Takanosato defeated Chiyonofuji eight times in a row from July 1981 to September 1982 and overall emerged victorious from 18 of their 31 encounters.
Takanosato's fourth tournament championship in January 1984 proved to be his last, and thereafter his yokozuna career was disappointing. He missed most of 1985 due to injury, only managing to complete one tournament, but did take part in the three day exhibition tournament held in the United States at Madison Square Garden in June. He announced his retirement in January 1986 at the age of 33.
Retirement from Sumo[]
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Naruto Oyakata with his top wrestler Kisenosato (c. 2009)
Takanosato took the name Naruto upon joining the Sumo Association as an oyakata, or elder, and in 1989 opened his own Naruto stable in Matsudo, Chiba, which has produced several top division wrestlers. The first was Rikio in 1996 and he was followed by Wakanosato in 1998, Takanowaka in 1999, Takanotsuru in 2003, Kisenosato in 2004, and Takayasu and Takanoyama in 2011. It was a close-knit stable and Naruto Oyakata did not let his wrestlers go out and train at other stables (degeiko), believing that they did not need outside help. Naruto also worked as a judge of tournament bouts and for NHK as a sumo commentator.
Death[]
In October 2011 the Sumo Association launched an investigation into allegations made by the news magazine Shukan Shincho that Naruto had beaten a former junior member of his stable with a block of wood and had injected Takanoyama with insulin so that the barely 100 kg wrestler would increase his appetite and put on weight. Both Naruto and Takanoyama were summoned for questioning by chairman Hanaregoma. Just days later, on November 7, 2011, Naruto died of respiratory failure in Fukuoka at the age of 59. At the end of the Kyushu tournament held later the same month, Kisenosato was promoted to ozeki, something Naruto had always dreamed of seeing.
Personal Life[]
Nicknamed "Popeye" (ポパイ) because of his brawny physique, he was one of the few wrestlers in his day to use weight training, which is now commonplace in sumo.
Takanosato was a fan of Manny Pacquiao and would often talk about him with Takayasu who was half Fillipino.
Struggles with Diabetes[]
Takanosato began suffering from diabetes in 1972 while as an unsalaried wrestler. His blood sugar level was over 408 and he was immediately hospitalized after he confessed to his stablemaster. The causes of his diabetes stemmed from his heavy drinking and genetics. He subsequently changed his diet to a more healthy based solution. His chankonabe consisted mostly of vegetables and tofu for protein. He avoided fatty meat (the most common type of meat in chankonabe) and opted for fish instead. In addition, he also only ate egg whites and would discard the yoke. He later published a book in July 1981 about his success in combating diabetes called I Beat Diabetes (糖尿病に勝った!).
Fighting Style[]
Takanosato defeats Chiyonofuji by tsuridashi (lift out)
Takanosato's most common winning kimarite or technique was overwhelmingly yorikiri or force out, which accounted for about 45 percent of his victories at sekitori level. He preferred a migi-yotsu grip (the same as Chiyonofuji), with his left hand outside and right hand inside his opponent's arms. He also regularly won by uwatenage (overarm throw) and tsuridashi (lift out), the latter a technique seldom seen today due to the increasing weight of wrestlers.
Record[]
Division Results[]
- Total: 693-493-80/1180 (106 basho)
- Makuuchi: 464-313-80/771 (58 basho)
- Juryo: 85-65/150 (10 basho)
- Makushita: 78-62/140 (20 basho)
- Sandanme: 31-25/56 (8 basho)
- Jonidan: 30-26/56 (8 basho)
- Jonokuchi: 5-2/7 (1 basho)
Championships[]
- 4 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (September 1982)
- 2nd (July 1983)
- 3rd (September 1983)
- 4th (January 1984)
- 1 Juryo Championship (March 1970)
Achievements[]
- Special Prizes: Fighting Spirit Prize (5), Outstanding Performance Prize (2)
- Kinboshi: 2: (1) Kitanoumi, (1) Wajima
Shikona History[]
- Takaya Toshihide (1968.07 - 1971.01)
- Takanosato Toshihide (1971.03 - 1986.01)
Gallery[]
