Masurao Hiroo

Masurao Hiroo - 益荒雄 広生 (born June 27, 1961) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Itoda, Fukuoka. He made his debut in March 1979 and last wrestled for Oshiogawa stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1985 and has five special prizes as well as two kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in July 1990.

## **Early Life**

Teshima initially aspired to become a police officer with his brother. In his youth he excelled at judo but was persuaded to give sumo a try by Oshiogawa Oyakata, the former ozeki Daikirin. He entered sumo after his second year of high school, and fought his first match, under the name Tejima, at age 17 in the March tournament of 1979.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Tejima posted a strong 6-1 record in his first tournament. He was promoted to sandanme in March 1980 and makushita in November 1981. In November 1982, Tejima missed out on the makushita yusho after losing his last match to juryo-ranked Kakureizan on the final day. His 6-1 record still qualified him for an eight-man playoff, but he lost to Otamura in the first round. Nevertheless, he was promoted to juryo three tournaments later.

### **Juryo Career**

Upon promotion to juryo in July 1983, he changed his shikona to "Masurao" (益荒雄). In his first tournament as a sekitori, he produced a strong 10-5 record, but missed out on the yusho after losing to Hoshi in a playoff. Even though he had a strong start, Masurao went on a slump and was demoted back down to makushita in November 1984. He eventually returned in March 1985 and won his first of many juryo yusho in July 1985 which earned him a promotion to makuuchi.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Masurao made his makuuchi debut in September 1987, but he finished with a losing record and was demoted back down to juryo. He did not establish himself in makuuchi until November 1986 where he won his first special prize and in the following tournament he gained his first kinboshi.

The March tournament of 1987 saw Masurao ranked in the titled san'yaku ranks for the first time, at komusubi. In the first seven days he defeated two yokozuna (Chiyonofuji and Futahaguro) and four ozeki (Hokutenyu, future yokozuna Onokuni, Asashio, and Wakashimazu). Despite these six victories over higher-ranked opponents, he began losing in the second week and ended the tournament with a 9–6 record. In the next basho in May he beat two more yokozuna (Chiyonofuji and, for the third time in a row, Futahaguro) and two more ozeki and scored 10–5. He then advanced to sekiwake, the highest rank he attained. However he finished the July 1987 tournament with a 4–11 record and never made sanyaku again. In the following September tournament he injured his knee in a bout with Onokuni and was forced to withdraw, falling to the bottom of the division. In May 1988 he injured the knee again in a bout with another heavyweight, Konishiki, and ended up dropping out of that tournament too. His knee continued to trouble him for the rest of his career, and he was demoted to the second juryo division on several occasions. He ended up winning the juryo division championship five times, which is considered to be a record.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Masurao retired from wrestling in July 1990 at the age of just 29. He left a record of 387 wins, 329 losses, missing 86 bouts. His career spanned eleven years and 68 tournaments, 20 in the makuuchi division, where his record was 111-125-64. He received several honors: the shukunsho twice, the kantosho twice, and the ginosho once. He was known as the "White Wolf," after Chiyonofuji who was nicknamed "Wolf."

He has the fewest tournaments in the top division of any sekiwake since the introduction of the six tournaments per year system in 1958.

After leaving the ring, Masurao remained in sumo. He became head of the Onomatsu stable, which he founded in 1994. He produced five makuuchi wrestlers, Katayama, Wakakoyu,  Daido, Amuru and Onosho. He was forced to leave the Nishonoseki ichimon or group of stables in January 2010 after declaring his support for Takanohana's unsanctioned bid to be elected to the board of directors of the Sumo Association. After Takanohana's group formed its own ichimon in 2014, he was selected as their candidate for director in the 2018 elections and won a seat on the board in February 2018. He was also the chief of the judging department. After the May 2019 tournament he was criticized by the chairman of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council for giving confusing explanations of the judges' conference to the audience after the Asanoyama-Sadanoumi match on Day 11 and the Asanoyama-Tochinoshin match on Day 13. He withdrew from judging duties for the next two tournaments, citing high blood pressure. On 26 September 2019 it was announced that he was leaving the Japan Sumo Association for health reasons, being replaced as head of the Onomatsu stable by Otowayama Oyakata, the former maegashira Daido.

## **Fighting Style**

Masurao was a yotsu-sumo wrestler, favouring grappling and throwing rather than pushing techniques. His favorite grip on his opponent's mawashi was migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside grip. Aside from yorikiri, or force out, he also regularly used sukuinage, the scoop throw, and shitatenage, the underarm throw.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 387-329-73/711 (69 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 111-125-64/231 (20 basho)
* **Juryo:** 163-135-2/298 (21 basho)
* **Makushita:** 53-31/84 (12 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 39-31/70 (10 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 15-6-7/21 (4 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 5 **Juryo** Championships
	+ 1st (July 1985)
	+ 2nd (March 1986)
	+ 3rd (November 1988)
	+ 4th (January 1990)
	+ 5th (March 1990)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (2), Outstanding Performance Prize (2), Technique Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Hokutoumi, (1) Futahaguro
* **Record:** **1st** most juryo yusho (5 yusho)

## **Shikona History**

* Tejima Hiroo (1979.03 - 1983.05)
* Masurao Hiroo (1983.07 - 1984.09)
* Tejima Hiroo (1984.11 - 1985.01)
* Masurao Hiroo (1985.03 - 1990.07)

## **Gallery**

Masurao joins professional sumo (c. 1979)Masurao poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1986)Masurao slaps down his opponentMasurao defeats Yokozuna Hokutoumi (c. 1987)Masurao after winning a match (c. 1987)Masurao with one of his many sansho prizes (c. 1987)Masurao wins his record fifth Juryo Yusho (c. 1990)Masurao loses his final match to Kotohakusan (c. 1990)Masurao announces his retirement (c. 1990)Masurao's retirement ceremony pamphlet (c. 1991)Masurao after retirement as Onomatsu Oyakata (c. 2019)Masurao's tegata
## **Sources**

* Masurao Hiroo Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Masurao Hiroo Rikishi Information