Tsurugidake Teruki

Tsurugidake Teruki - 剣武輝希 (born February 7, 1979) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Ogano, Saitama. He made his debut in March 2001 and wrestled for Fujishima stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 2011. His highest rank was maegashira 16 and he retired in May 2012.

Early Life[]

Kazuteru Miyamoto was born as the eldest son to a family who ran a ryokan (traditional inn) called "Miyamoto House" (宮本家) in Ogano, Saitama. He attended Saitama Urawa Nishi High School and later Nippon Sport Science University, where he was a member of the school's sumo club. Upon graduation from high school he joined Musashigawa (now renamed Fujishima) stable in March 2001.

Career[]

Early Career[]

Miyamoto made his debut alongside future Yokozuna Hakuho and in his first tournament, he produced a perfect 7-0 record and won the jonokuchi yusho. He breezed through the following two divisions and was promoted to makushita by his fifth professional tournament. Upon promotion to makushita, he changed his shikona from his family name to "Bukozan" (武甲山).

1134 — Tsurugidake prepare for his upcoming match (c. 2009)

However, after that, he suffered many different injuries and his rank became stagnant. He suffered from many different cases of retinal detachment and had his left eye operated thrice and his right eye once. He was considering retirement, but his stablemates and college teammate Kakizoe persuaded him to stay in sumo. After achieving his third promotion to makushita in January 2005, he was able to establish himself in the division. He continued to accelerate up the rankings and by the end 2006, he was consistently wrestling in the upper-levels of makushita.

In July 2007, he changed his shikona to "Takekabuto" (武甲). In January 2010, he changed his shikona to "Tsurugidake" (剣武). After this particular shikona change, he posted a spectacular 6-1 record and was promoted to makushita 5 for the March 2010 tournament. He produced a 4-3 in this and the following tournament which regulated him to the top of makushita. At this rank he produced a 3-4 record, but bounced back in the following tournament with a 4-3 record which earned him a spot in juryo for November 2010.

Juryo Career[]

Tsurugidakesumo — Tsurugidake launches at his opponent (c. 2011)

The 58 tournaments it took for Tsurugidake to reach elite sekitori status was the most ever for any university graduate (far exceeding the previous record held by Hananofuji at 40). Tsurugidake's juryo career was extremely lucky as he had many close calls that would have usually regulated him back to makushita. In his first tournament he produced a 7-8 record which sent him down from juryo 13 to 14. At juryo 14 east, he replicated his performance with another 7-8 record, but his rank just switched to juryo 14 west. At this rank he produced a 6-9 record, however, due to the match-fixing scandal which left many open slots, Tsurugidake was instead promoted to juryo 10. He was promoted to makuuchi in November 2011 after two winning records in juryo.

Makuuchi Career[]

Even though Tsurugidake defeated makuuchi regulars such as Kimurayama, Daido, and Tamawashi, he struggled throughout the tournaments and could only produce 4 wins. As a result he was demoted back down to juryo and he never returned to makuuchi.

Later Career[]

After demotion from makuuchi, Tsurugidake continued to struggle and in January 2012 he produced a losing record of 6-9 which sent him down to juryo 8. At this rank, he lost his first six matches and withdrew from the tournament on the seventh day. As a result he fell back down to makushita in May 2012.

Retirement from Sumo[]

On April 25th, 2015, Tsurugidake announced his retirement alongside stablemate Kakizoe. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on August 26th, 2015, at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. Upon retirement he moved back to his parent's house and planned on taking over his family's ryokan in 5 years, however, he took over in one year after his father was confined to a wheelchair after a traffic accident. His ryokan is currently one of the highest-rated Ryokans in his area.

Fighting Style[]

Tsurugidake was an oshi-sumo specialist, preferring pushing techniques to fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite was oshidashi (push out) but he was also very reliant on slap downs (hatakikomi).