Tamakasuga Ryoji

Tamakasuga Ryoji - 玉春日良二 (born January 7, 1972) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Seiyo, Ehime. He made his debut in January 1994 and wrestled for Kataonami stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1996 and has 5 special prizes as well as 7 kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in September 2008.

Early Life[]

Ryoji Matsumoto was born in the town of Nomura (currently Seiyo) in Ehime Prefecture. He was the third son of a farmer and he began sumo wrestling during his third year at elementary school. He continued his amateur career all the way to the collegiate level where he competed for Chuo University. He was had a successful career in college, but was overshadowed by future ozeki Dejima who was two years his junior.

Career[]

Early Career[]

He joined Kataonami stable in March 1994, adopting the shikona (fighting name) of Tamakasuga ("Tama", meaning "jewel", being a common prefix at his stable). Because of his achievements in amateur sumo he was allowed to enter at the bottom of the third makushita division, skipping the lower divisions. After steady but unspectacular progress he reached the juryo division in March 1995.

Juryo Career[]

Tamakasuga produced a solid 9-6 record in his juryo debut and followed with an 8-7 record. In his third and fourth juryo tournaments he replicated his previous results and posted another 9-6 and 8-7 record. By this time he was ranked at the top of juryo where he won ten of his fifteen matches and was promoted to makuuchi in January 1996. At the time of his makuuchi promotion, he had not produced a single losing record.

Makuuchi Career[]

He scored ten wins in his top division debut and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize.

Tamakasuga had a long career in the top makuuchi division of sumo, earning seven gold stars for defeating yokozuna. He upset yokozuna Akebono, Wakanohana and Takanohana in three successive tournaments from September 1998 to January 1999. The highest rank he achieved was sekiwake, but he never achieved a kachi-koshi win/loss ratio as a san'yaku wrestler, managing only a 7–8 score in his sekiwake debut, and then a 6–9 as komusubi in the next tournament. Subsequently, he spent his career either as a rank and file maegashira, or fighting his way back into the top division, as he was demoted to juryo a number of times.

Tamakasuga made something of a comeback in 2006, and was awarded the Technique Prize in July of that year, following his 11–4 performance which gave him his best ever top division score and a share of third place. His previous special prize, for Outstanding Performance, was in May 1997, 55 tournaments earlier. This is the longest ever gap between awards. He was promoted all the way up to maegashira 4 in September 2007, fighting the top rankers for the first time in several years. He remained in makuuchi until July 2008, where he was the oldest man in the top division, but could only manage three wins in that tournament and withdrew on the final day, citing a neck injury.

Retirement from Sumo[]

He announced his retirement in September 2008, at the age of 36, after posting a losing record in that tournament. He remained in the sumo world as a coach at Kataonami stable, under the toshiyori (elder) name Tateyama-oyakata. His danpatsu-shiki, or official retirement ceremony, was held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan on 30 May 2009. In February 2010 he swapped elder names with his old head coach (former sekiwake Tamanofuji) and took charge of the stable.

Personal Life[]

Tamakasuga has an asteroid named after him. Known as 8432 Tamakasuga, it was named by astronomers at an observatory in his home prefecture.
It was reported in 2008 that Tamakasuga has a pet Golden Retriever which he named "Taro".
On October 8, 2019, the Japan Sumo Association announced that he changed his real name from Ryoji Matsumoto to Ryoji Akiyama.

Fighting Style[]

Tamakasuga was a solidly oshi-sumo wrestler, relying on pushes to the opponent's chest as opposed to grabbing the mawashi. His most popular winning technique was oshidashi, a simple push-out. He also frequently employed pull-down moves such as hatakikomi and hikiotoshi.

Record[]

Division Results[]

Total: 603-636-39/1235 (89 basho)
Makuuchi: 444-537-24/977 (67 basho)
Juryo: 126-83-15/209 (15 basho)
Makushita: 33-16/49 (7 basho)

Championships[]

1 Juryo Championship (May 2003)

Achievements[]

Special Prizes: Fighting Spirit Prize (2), Technique Prize (2), Outstanding Performance Prize (1)
Kinboshi: 7: (3) Takanohana, (2) Wakanohana, (1) Musashimaru, (1) Akebono