Hoshitango Imachi

Hoshitango Imachi - 星誕期 偉真智 (born September 5, 1965) is a former Argentine professional sumo wrestler from Buenos Aires. He made his debut in May 1987 and wrestled for Michinoku stable. He reached the juryo division in September 1992. His highest rank was juryo 3 and he retired in January 2004.

## **Early Life**

A former swimming instructor, Salomon was spotted by a visiting Japanese coach at a gym in Buenos Aires who encouraged him to try sumo. After studying at Chuo University, he joined Michinoku stable in May 1987 at the age of 21 to support his family. He was the first, and to date only, Jew in professional sumo.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He was given the shikona (ring name) of Hoshitango, with "Hoshi" (star) a common prefix in Michinoku stable, and "tango" a reference to the popular dance. He was promoted to sandanme in May 1988 and makushita in May 1989. In July 1992 he posted a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 1 and was promoted to juryo in the following tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

Hoshitango became the first South American sekitori. He reached the second highest juryo division for the first time in September 1992, but lasted only one tournament there before being demoted back to the unsalaried third makushita division. He managed another three tournaments in the second division in 1994 but once again fell back. In September 1998, at the age of 33, he demonstrated his fighting spirit by once again returning to juryo, this time remaining for 12 straight tournaments. He was not able to break into the top makuuchi division, peaking at juryo 3 in January 2000. In July 2000 he lost every one of his fifteen bouts and fell, once more, to the third division where he remained until his retirement in January 2004.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

His retirement ceremony or danpatsu-shiki was attended by around 150 people including stablemates Jumonji and Toyozakura as well as the former Terao and Kirishima, who as his stablemaster made the final cut of his topknot. After retiring he opened a sports bar and restaurant called Tan & Go Dining which specialized in Japanese and South American fusion cuisine.

### **Professional Wrestling Career**

Imachi is currently a professional wrestler for the Japanese company DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), debuting on December 29, 2006 under his shikona Hoshitango, and has also wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling, Ice Ribbon and Wrestle-1. As a finishing maneuver, Hoshitango uses the Argentine backbreaker and chokeslam. Due to his age and outside activities, he is a semi-regular performer.

## **Personal Life**

* Hoshitango became a Japanese citizen in October 2000. His Japanese name was registered as Tango Hoshi.
* Hoshitango was joined at Michinoku stable in 1988 by another Buenos Aires native, Hoshiandesu, who reached a highest rank of juryo 2 before retiring in 2000.
* He appears in the 2007 drama film *Hero* where he played a Spanish teacher.

## **Fighting Style**

Hoshitango was an oshi-sumo specialist who preferred pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi. His most common winning kimarite were hatakikomi (slap down), hikiotoshi (pull down) and okuridashi (push out from behind).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 430-388-11/818 (101 basho)
* **Juryo:** 105-135/240 (16 basho)
* **Makushita:** 259-214-11/473 (69 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 41-29/70 (10 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 19-9/28 (4 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **1st** Argentine professional sumo wrestler
* **1st** South American sekitori
* **1st** Argentine sekitori

## **Gallery**

### **JSA Profile Pictures and Tegata**

Hoshitango Imachi - 1999 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hoshitango's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Hoshitango becomes the first South-American sekitori (c. 1992)Hoshitango during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 1992)Hoshitango would bounce back to Juryo from Makushita (c. 1994)Hoshitango leads his home country during the Tokyo Olympics (c. 1998)Hoshitango defeats future Ozeki Miyabiyama (c. 1998)Hoshitango throws salt into the ring (c. 2000)Hoshitango's retirement ceremony (c. 2004)Hoshitango after retirement as a professional wrestler (c. 2015)
## **Sources**

* Hoshitango Imachi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hoshitango Imachi Rikishi Information