Takekaze Akira

Takekaze Akira - 豪風旭 (born June 21, 1979) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kitaakita, Akita. He made his debut in May 2002 and wrestled for Oguruma stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 2003 and has 2 special prizes as well as 1 kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in January 2019.

Early Life[]

Akira Narita was born in Moriyoshi, Akita (now Kitaakita city) on June 21st, 1979. He began practicing sumo in elementary school and intended to continue sumo at the junior high school level, however, the junior high school he attended had no sumo club, so he switched to judo. He later switched back to sumo after attending Kanaashi Agricultural High School. After graduation from high school he enrolled at Chuo University where practiced sumo in college and was a very dominant wrestler, having achieved the student equivalent of yokozuna after winning the Kokutai (Japan Games) and All Japan University Championship sumo tournaments in 2001 in his fourth. He made his professional debut in May 2002, joining former ozeki Kotokaze's Oguruma stable.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Upon entry he was given makushita tsukedashi status and allowed to enter at the rank of makushita 15 due to his amateur achievements. In his first professional tournament, Narita was in contendership for the division yusho throughout majority of the tournament until he lost his last match to Toyozakura. Still finishing with a strong 6-1 record, he was promoted to makushita 3 for the following tournament where he produced a 4-3 record. As a result he was promoted to the juryo division in September 2002 after only two tournaments in the unsalaried division.

Juryo Career[]

Takekaze2007 — Takekaze at the makuuchi dohyo-iri (c. 2007)

To celebrate this occasion, he changed his shikona form his family name to "Takekaze". He produced an 8-7 record in his juryo debut, but followed this record with an impressive pair of 10-5 records. As a result he was promoted to the top makuuchi divison in March 2003 and was the first sumo wrestler from his stable to achieve this.

Makuuchi Career[]

Takekaze had to pull out of his debut tournament in the top division due to injury and fell back to the juryo division. However upon winning the juryo championship in September 2003 with a 13–2 record he was promoted back to the top division. He took time to adjust to the stronger opposition in makuuchi and did not achieve a kachi-koshi or winning record above the mid maegashira ranks until May 2007. However, in January 2008 he produced his best score in the top division, 12–3, which included a defeat of ozeki Kotooshu. He was awarded his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. Consequently, in the March, 2008 tournament he debuted at the komusubi rank, finally breaking into san'yaku. He was the first wrestler from his stable to make the titled ranks.

Takekaze could manage only three wins in his komusubi debut and was demoted to maegashira 8 for the May 2008 tournament. However, an 8–7 score at maegashira 4 in March 2009, which included a defeat of ozeki Kotomitsuki, saw him climb to maegashira 2 for the May 2009 tournament. He also reached maegashira 1 in November 2009. In September 2010 he finished runner-up in a tournament for the first time, and was awarded his second Fighting Spirit prize, shared with stablemate Yoshikaze.

Ph140722-4 — Takekaze defeats Harumafuji to earn first career kinboshi

In July 2014 Takekaze earned his first kinboshi or gold star for a defeat of a yokozuna with a win over Harumafuji. His 9–6 score at maegashira 4 was enough to earn him promotion to sekiwake for the first time, as everyone else in the division from sekiwake down to maegashira 3 had a losing score, with the exception of sekiwake Goeido who was promoted to ozeki. Not only did Takekaze become the oldest sekiwake debutant since the end of World War II at the age of 35 years two months, but the 64 tournaments it took to reach the sekiwake rank from his top division debut is also a record. He performed creditably in the September 2014 tournament, only just missing out on kachi-koshi with a 7–8 record. He remained in the san'yaku ranks at komusubi for the following tournament in November, but could only score 2–13. In 2015 he managed only two winning tournaments and dropped down the rankings. By January 2016 he had fallen to maegashira 13, his lowest rank for seven years but secured his top division status with a 10–5 result. He went on to secure four winning records out of six tournaments in 2016.

Later Career[]

In September 2017 Takekaze appeared in his 83rd top division tournament, a record for a college graduate and 10th all-time. He has also fought more top division matches than any other former amateur champion and is in the top ten all-time. His 5–10 record in the January 2018 tournament saw him demoted to juryo for the first time since 2005, but he resolved to continue wrestling, and earned immediate promotion back to makuuchi, becoming at 38 years and 10 months the second oldest wrestler to do so since the beginning of the Showa era after Aminishiki. However he lasted only one tournament and was demoted back to juryo after the May 2018 basho.

Retirement from Sumo[]

He announced his retirement during the January 2019 tournament after his eighth loss at the low rank of juryo 12 made demotion to the makushita division virtually certain. He is the owner of the Oshiogawa toshiyori kabu and is staying in sumo as a coach at Oguruma stable. His danpatsu-shiki was held in front of a 9000 crowd at the Ryogoku Kokugikan on 1 February 2020, with his son taking part in a bout with him, and around 200 to 300 people participating in the hair-snipping ritual.

In February 2022 Oguruma stable closed and he branched out to open his own Oshiogawa stable, taking former makuuchi wrestlers Yago and Amakaze and a number of other personnel with him.

Personal Life[]

Takekaze was married in August 2006. He has a son, born at the end of 2007.
Takekaze received the prestigious Akita Prefectural Honor Award (秋田県県民栄誉章) and served as the ambassador for his hometown of Kitaakita, Akita Prefecture.
Takekaze's hobby is cycling and his favorite food is yakiniku.

Fighting Style[]

Takekaze was almost entirely reliant on oshi-sumo or pushing techniques, and usually lost if his opponents grabbed hold of his mawashi or belt. He commented, "Sumo at the mawashi is not my style – I haven't learned to do it." He has won only around four percent of his career matches by yori-kiri (force out), which is the most popular overall technique in sumo. As well as oshidashi (push out) he also regularly employed hikiotoshi, the pull-down, and tsukiotoshi, the thrust over. At just 172 cm (5 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in) he was of the shortest wrestlers in the top division.