Tamanoshima Arata

Tamanoshima Arata - 玉乃島 新 (born September 15, 1977) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Izumizaki, Fukushima. He made his debut in March 1998 and wrestled for Kataonami stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 2000 and has 6 special prizes as well as 2 kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in November 2011.

## **Early Life**

Arata Okabe joined a sumo club with his brother in elementary school. After graduating from junior high school he went to study abroad at Kanazawa Municipal Technical High School which was known for its strong sumo program. After that, he enrolled at Toyo University because his brother attended the school and he was also a member of the school's sumo club. He was rivals with Meiji University's Misato Takeuchi (future-ozeki Miyabiyama). He dropped out after his second year to join professional sumo and entered Kataonami stable in March 1998.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Tamanoshima was a college champion at Toyo University and so was given makushita tsukedashi status and allowed to make his professional debut in the makushita division. He was only twenty years of age, as he left the university in his second year, making him the youngest former amateur to join professional sumo in this way. Initially competing under the shikona or ring name of Tamanonada, he reached the second highest juryo division in September 1999 after nine tournaments in the makushita division.

### **Juryo Career**

Tamanonada produced a strong 10-5 performance in his first tournament, but struggled in the following tournaments and was demoted back to makushita in March 2000. He returned to juryo one tournament later and after three tournaments he was promoted to makuuchi in November 2000.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He posted a 7-8 record in his makuuchi debut and was demoted back down to juryo. He returned one tournament after winning the juryo yusho with a strong 12-3 record. In March 2001, upon his second promotion to the top division, he adopted the Tamanoshima name, which had previously been used by a former yokozuna from his stable, Tamanoumi.

Tamanoshima was twice runner-up in a tournament, in July 2001 and March 2005, and he earned five Fighting Spirit prizes. In July 2003 he earned his first kinboshi for defeating yokozuna Asashoryu. The highest rank he has achieved is sekiwake, which he reached after scoring ten wins (including another yokozuna upset, over Musashimaru) at maegashira 3 in November 2003. He could only manage five wins in his sekiwake debut, but returned to the sanyaku ranks in July 2004 and January 2006. He was ever present in the top division from March 2001 to January 2008, but a poor 3–12 record in January 2008 meant he was demoted to the second division for the March 2008 tournament. He produced a 10–5 score there which was enough to return him immediately to the top division for May 2008, where he scored a creditable nine wins. However he narrowly failed to secure kachi-koshi in his next three tournaments. He fell to maegashira 15 in January 2009 but held his makuuchi position comfortably with an 11–4 record. He remained in the division until May 2010 when he was once again demoted after scoring only five wins at the bottom maegashira rank.

### **Later Career**

Tamanoshima continued to struggle in juryo and produced two losing records in his return. He bounced back with two consecutive 9-6 records and reached the top of juryo. However, he went on a slump and produced three consecutive losing records.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In November 2011, after losing his first eight matches at the rank of juryo 12 and facing certain demotion to the makushita division, Tamanoshima announced his retirement from active competition. He has stayed in sumo as a coach, initially under the toshiyori or elder name of Nishiiwa Oyakata. In May 2013 he changed elder names to Hanaregoma, and in November 2014 moved to the Nishonoseki stable. In December 2021 he became head coach there, and the stable was renamed Hanaregoma stable.

## **Personal Life**

* Tamanoshima's hobbies are playing cards and listening to music. His favorite food is fried chicken.

### **Family**

* Tamanoshima was born into a sports family. Not only was his father a former professional boxer, but he is the nephew of former ozeki Kiyokuni and his older brother is the former juryo wrestler Tamamitsukuni, who made his debut in the same tournament as Tamanoshima, also as a makushita tsukedashi entrant, retiring in January 2008. He and his brother had the option to join Isegahama stable, then run by their uncle, but they chose the more successful Kataonami stable instead. They were the first pair of brothers to join sumo as makushita tsukedeshi.
* In February 2019 he announced his engagement with a woman and their wedding reception was held on June 15, 2019.

## **Fighting Style**

Tamanoshima's favoured techniques are listed at the Sumo Association as hidari-yotsu/yori, meaning he preferred a hold on his opponent's mawashi with his right hand outside and left hand inside his opponent's arms. His most common winning kimarite was yorikiri or force out, which accounted for roughly a third of his wins, followed by oshidashi or push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 557-583-4/1138 (82 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 395-441-4/835 (56 basho)
* **Juryo:** 117-117/233 (16 basho)
* **Makushita:** 45-25/70 (10 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (January 2001)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (5), Technique Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Asashoryu, (1) Musashimaru

## **Shikona History**

* Tamanonada Arata (1998.03 - 2001.01)
* Tamanoshima Arata (2001.03 - 2011.11)

## **Gallery**

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

Tamanoshima Arata - 2004 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamanoshima Arata - 2001 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamanoshima Arata - 2001 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamanoshima's tegataTamanonada's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Tamanonada and his brother, Tamanokuni, in collegeTamanonada (left) gets promoted to Juryo (c. 1999)Tamanonada and his brother Tamanokuni (c. 2000)Tamanonada after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2000)Tamanoshima defeats Yokozuna Asashoryu (c. 2003)Tamanoshima defeats Yokozuna Musashimaru (c. 2003)Tamanoshima after promotion to Sekiwake (c. 2003)Tamanoshima defeats Ozeki Kaio (c. 2004)Tamanoshima receives one of his many sansho prizes (c. 2004)Tamanoshima defeats Futeno (c. 2005)Tamanoshima and stablemate Tamakasuga receive sansho prizes (c. 2008)Tamanoshima defeats Ozeki Chiyotaikai (c. 2009)Tamanoshima battles Aran (c. 2010)Tamanoshima defeats Hakuba (c. 2010)Tamanoshima announces his retirement (c. 2011)Tamanoshima's retirement ceremony (c. 2012)Tamanoshima after retirement as Hanaregoma Oyakata
## **Sources**

* Tamanoshima Arata Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tamanoshima Arata Rikishi Information