Sakahoko Nobushige

Sakahoko Nobushige - 逆鉾 伸重 (born June 18, 1961 - September 16, 2019) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kajiki, Kagoshima. He made his debut in January 1978 and last wrestled for Izutsu stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 1982 and has nine special prizes as well as seven kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in September 1992.

## **Early Life**

Fukuzono was born the third son of former sekiwake Tsurugamine. He was born and raised in Sumida, Tokyo, but would use his father's hometown of Kajiki, Kagoshima, as his official shusshin (birthplace) when joining sumo. He briefly attended Meguro-Gakuin Senior High School before dropping out and joined his father's Izutsu stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Fukuzono made his debut in January 1978 and won the jonokuchi yusho in his first professional tournament. He was promoted to sandanme in September 1978 and makushita in September 1979. He steadily climbed the ranks of the lower divisions and after six consecutive winning records he was promoted to juryo in July 1981.

### **Juryo Career**

Fukuzono made his sekitori debut alongside his older brother Kakureizan. He could only maintain his juryo rank for three tournaments and was demoted back down to makushita in January 1982. He returned in May 1982 and changed his shikona to "Sakahoko" (逆鉾). Upon his return, he posted three consecutive winning records and was promoted to makuuchi in November 1982.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Sakahoko could only manage four wins in his first tournament and he even sat out midway through the tournament due to a left knee injury before returning on the 12th day. As a result he was demoted back down to juryo, but he returned the very next tournament in March 1983.

In January 1984 he earned his first kinboshi or gold star for a yokozuna upset when he defeated Takanosato. He celebrated the win making a fist pump on the dohyo, which had not been seen previously from a Japanese wrestler (although Hawaiian Takamiyama had been known to do it). He reached what was to be his highest rank of sekiwake for the first time in July 1984. This was his first ever tournament in the titled san'yaku ranks (jumping over the komusubi rank) and somewhat unusually for a san'yaku debutant he was able to produce a winning score (kachi-koshi) of 8–7. He received the Technique prize for his efforts. In September 1984, the first tournament since new rules for touching down with both fists at the tachi-aiwere enforced, he was told to redo his match in which he had seemingly beaten Hokutenyu, and glared at the chief judge, the former Kitanofuji. In March 1985 Sakahoko's younger brother Terao joined him in makuuchi. They were the first pair of brothers to be in the top division simultaneously since Tanikaze and Tatsugesake 200 years before.

In September 1987 he defeated two yokozuna, Chiyonofuji and Futahaguro, and was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize. He was promoted back to sekiwake and proceeded to hold the rank for a then record nine successive tournaments from November 1987 until March 1989, but he was never under consideration for promotion to ozeki as he could not achieve regular double figure scores, his best result being 9–6. In July 1989, troubled by a shoulder injury, he turned in a 2–13 record and was demoted to the maegashira ranks. He managed to return to komusubi for one tournament in November 1990 but fell to juryo in 1992 and announced his retirement that September at the age of 31 after 14 years in sumo. (Terao competed for another ten years, until September 2002).

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Sakahoko stayed in the sumo world as an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the toshiyori name of Kasugayama. In 1994, when his father retired, he became Izutsu Oyakata and took over the running of Izutsu stable. The stable has one makuuchi wrestler as of 2019, Kakuryu, who surpassed Sakahoko and his father′s achievements by reaching the rank of yokozuna in March 2014. Kakuryu proved to be the only sekitori Izutsu produced, and the stable had just three wrestlers remaining at the time of his death. Izutsu also worked as a judge of tournament bouts and was a deputy Director of the Sumo Association. In May 2016 while on duty as a judge he suffered a broken thigh when Hakuho gave Yoshikaze an extra shove after the bout was over, causing the wrestler to fall on top of him.

### **Death**

Sakahoko died in Kobe of pancreatic cancer on 16 September 2019. A wake was held on 24 September with the funeral the following day, both at Izutsu stable. His former wrestlers were being looked after by Kagamiyama Oyakata while the Japan Sumo Association decided which stable they will be transferred to. As of 1 October 2019, all personnel belong to Michinoku stable.

## **Personal Life**

He chose the occasion of taking over as Izutsu Oyakata in 1994 to publicly reveal for the first time that he was married with a seven-year-old daughter. His daughter is now a member of the Takarazuka Revue.

Sakahoko was an avid reader during his days as an active wrestler, and his favorite author was Osamu Dazai.

## **Fighting Style**

Unlike his brother Terao, who liked pushing and thrusting techniques, Sakahoko took after his father in specialising in yotsu-sumo or grappling techniques. He was well known for favoring the grip on the mawashi with both arms inside the opponent's, called morozashi. His most common winning kimarite was overwhelmingly yorikiri or force out, which accounted for over half his victories at sekitori level.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 549-566-29/1113 (89 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 392-447-16/837 (57 basho)
* **Juryo:** 65-70/135 (9 basho)
* **Makushita:** 52-32/84 (12 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 14-8-6/22 (4 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 20-8-7/28 (5 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (March 1978)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Outstanding Performance Prize (5), Technique Prize (4)
* **Kinboshi:** 7: (3) Takanosato, (2) Chiyonofuji, (2) Futahaguro

## **Shikona History**

* Fukuzono Yoshimasa (1978.01 - 1982.03)
* Sakahoko Akihiro (1982.05 - 1989.07)
* Sakahoko Nobushige (1989.09 - 2002.09)

## **Gallery**

Sakahoko after promotion to Juryo (c. 1981)Sakahoko's (left) brief stint as Fukuzono (c. 1981)Sakahoko after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 1982)Sakahoko celebrates after defeating Yokozuna Takanosato (c. 1984)Sakahoko after promotion to Sekiwake (c. 1984)Sakahoko launches at his opponent (c. 1985)Sakahoko and brother both awarded sansho prizes (c. 1986)Sakahoko defeats Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (c. 1987)Sakahoko defeats Yokozuna Futahaguro (c. 1987)Sakahoko and brother Terao both ranked at Sekiwake (c. 1989)Sakahoko poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1992)Sakahoko announces his retirement (c. 1992)Sakahoko's retirement ceremony (c. 1993)Sakahoko after retirement as Izutsu Oyakata (c. 2003)Izutsu Oyakata with his star pupil, 71st Yokozuna Kakuryu (c. 2006)Izutsu Oyakata's funeral (c. 2019)Sakahoko's tegata
## **Sources**

* Sakahoko Nobushige Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Sakahoko Nobushige Rikishi Information