page_title: Terao Tsunefumi
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Terao Tsunefumi / Career
caption_attribution_description: Tegata by sumo wrestler Terao
context_page_description: Terao Tsunefumi is a Japanese former sumo wrestler. He was born in Tokyo, but brought up in Kajiki, Aira District, Kagoshima, Japan. He fought out of Izutsu stable. The highest rank he reached was sekiwake. Despite his relatively light weight he had an extremely long career, spanning 23 years from 1979 until 2002, and was known as the "iron man" of sumo. He is now the head coach of Shikoroyama stable.
context_section_description: He took up sumo shortly after his mother died of cancer. He joined Izutsu stable, which was run by his father, alongside his two brothers. He started competing under the name Terao Setsuo (寺尾 節男) after his mother's maiden name Terao Setsuko (寺尾 節子).
  He first entered the second jūryō division in July 1984. To mark this promotion he changed his name to Genjiyama Rikisaburō, but reverted to Terao Setsuo after a single tournament. After winning the jūryō championship in January 1985 he entered the top makuuchi division, but won only 6 bouts out of 15 and so returned to jūryō. He won the jūryō division the next tournament and so reentered makuuchi in July 1985. In September 1986 he earned nine wins and his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. This advanced him to his then highest rank, maegashira 1.  He changed his name to Terao Tsunefumi in November 1987, on the advice of a fortune-teller. In the following tournament in January 1988, he defeated yokozuna Onokuni to earn his first kinboshi. He defeated Chiyonofuji in the January 1989 tournament and won the Outstanding Performance Award. In the next basho in March 1989, he finally made his breakthrough into the titled san'yaku ranks at sekiwake after four years in the top division, joining his brother at sumo's third highest rank.
  Although Terao fought several tournaments at sekiwake he never came close to ōzeki, his best performance as sekiwake being 9–6. His last appearance in san'yaku was at komusubi rank in July 1994. In March 1995 he upset Takanohana for the only time as a yokozuna, earning his last special prize. In November 1999, at the age of 35, he defeated Musashimaru for his final kinboshi. He remained in makuuchi until May 2000 when he was finally demoted at age 37 after 90 consecutive top division tournaments. However, he managed to return to makuuchi for two tournaments in March and May 2001, becoming at 38 years and 24 days the oldest man post World War II to earn promotion to the top division. His last tournament was in September 2002, where he scored only five wins at the rank of jūryō 11 and faced certain demotion to the makushita division.
caption: Terao's tegata
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