Fujinoshin Tsukasa

Fujinoshin Tsukasa - 富士乃真 司 (born November 6, 1960) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Funabashi, Chiba. He made his debut in March 1976 and wrestled for Kokonoe stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1986. His highest rank was maegashira 1 and he retired in September 1990.

## **Early Life**

He was born in Funabashi, Chiba, not far from the Kuramae Kokugikan. He was a member of the baseball club in junior high school. At the age of 15 in March 1976 he joined Izutsu stable (later renamed Kokonoe stable), recruited by former yokozuna Kitanofuji.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He initially wrestled under the shikona, "Yagi" (矢木), which was his surname before changing it to "Fujihikari" (富士光) in 1978. He was promoted to sandanme in July 1977 and makushita in November 1980. Weighing only 85 kg (187 Ib) at the time of his makushita promotion, Fujihikari struggled to establish himself in makushita and fell down to sandanme in many separate occasions. He did not fully become a makushita regular until 1984, where he weighed 116 kg (256 Ib). In November 1984, he posted a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 1 and was promoted to juryo in January 1985.

### **Juryo Career**

Fujihikari's first juryo run only lasted two tournaments and he was demoted back down to makushita in May 1985. He returned to juryo in November 1986 where he produced four consecutive winning records, which consisted of three consecutive 8-7 records and a 10-5 record, and he was promoted to makuuchi in September 1986.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He finished with a 6-9 record in his top division debut and was demoted back down to juryo and in March 1987 he changed his shikona to "Fujinoshin" (富士乃真). In November 1987 he returned to the top division and stayed there for two years, reaching a highest rank of maegashira 1 in January 1988, although he was unable to defeat a yokozuna or win a special prize. During this period he was part of a stable that included two yokozuna, Chiyonofuji and Hokutoumi, as well as fellow maegashira Takanofuji.

The beginning of the end of Fujinoshin′s career came on Day 12 of the Aki basho in September 1989 when he had his ankle broken by a wrestler (Misugisato) who fell on it while Fujinoshin was sitting by the dohyo waiting for his match. He was unable to compete and had to default and withdraw from the tournament. The kosho or public injury system which protected a wrestler′s rank for one tournament did not apply in his case as the injury did not occur in a tournament bout itself, and as a result he fell back to the juryo division. He returned to sumo in January 1990 but was unable to win promotion back to makuuchi and announced his retirement in September 1990 having fallen into the makushita division after another enforced absence.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Fujinoshin has remained in the sumo world as a toshiyori or elder of the Japan Sumo Association and has worked as a coach at Kokonoe stable and Hakkaku stable. Until 1998 he was known as Nishikido Oyakata, but when his old boss Kitanofuji quit the Sumo Association that year he switched to the Jinmaku elder name. He works as a judge during tournament bouts and in January 2010, a sandanme wrestler fell off the dohyo and landed on Jinmaku's left ankle. Luckily he only suffered a sprain, but he nearly re-lived the same injury which cost him his career.

## **Fighting Style**

Fujinoshin employed a wide variety of techniques but was regarded by some commentators as a jack of all trades, master of none. He favored a right hand outside, left hand inside grip (hidari-yotsu) on his opponent's mawashi or belt. His most common winning technique was yorikiri (force out) but he also tried oshidashi (push out), hatakikomi (slap down), yoritaoshi (force out and down), uwatenage (overarm throw), shitatenage (underarm throw), uwatedashinage (pulling overarm throw) and katasukashi (armlock throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 408-386-47/792 (88 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 93-111-21/202 (15 basho)
* **Juryo:** 102-108/210 (14 basho)
* **Makushita:** 81-58-15/139 (22 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 97-83-9/180 (27 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 30-24-2/54 (8 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Yagi Tetsuya (1976.03 - 1978.03)
* Fujihikari Tetsuya (1978.05 - 1987.01)
* Fujinoshin Tsukasa (1987.03 - 1990.09)

## **Gallery**

Fujinoshin's brief stint as Fujihikari in Juryo (c. 1986)Fujinoshin as Yokozuna Hokutoumi's flag bearer (c. 1987)Fujinoshin poses with his kesho-mawashiFujinoshin prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1988)Fujinoshin after retirement as Jinmaku Oyakata (c. 2017)Fujinoshin gets struck by a falling Takakeisho (c. 2017)
## **Sources**

* Fujinoshin Tsukasa Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Fujinoshin Tsukasa Rikishi Information