Kotozakura Masakatsu

Kotozakura Masakatsu - 琴櫻 傑將 (born November 26, 1940 - August 14, 2007) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kurayoshi, Tottori. He made his debut in January 1959 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 1963 and has six special prizes, two kinboshi and five top division championships. He was the 53rd yokozuna and he retired in July 1974.

## **Early Life**

Born Kamatani Norio (鎌谷 紀雄), he came from a sumo background, as his father was involved in organising regional amateur sumo tournaments and his grandfather's brother had been a professional rikishi. The young Kamatani at first competed in judo, achieving shodan level while still in middle school. However, after doing well in a national high school sumo competition he decided on a career in professional sumo. Initially his parents wanted him to continue with judo but they were persuaded by former komusubi Kotonishiki Noboru to let him join Sadogatake stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut in January 1959 and was given the shikona "Kotozakura" (琴櫻). In January 1960 he won the sandanme yusho after defeating Kawauchi (future maegashira Sakahoko) in a playoff. He was later promoted to makushita in September 1960. In November 1961 he produced a perfect 7-0 record, but missed out on the makushita yusho after losing to Ogiyama in the playoff. Nevertheless, he was promoted to juryo four tournaments later in July 1962.

### **Juryo Career**

In his first tournament as a sekitori, Kotozakura won the juryo yusho after defeating Wakanaruto and Miyanohana in a playoff. In January 1963 he won his second juryo yusho with a strong 13-2 record and was promoted to makuuchi for the following March 1963 tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kotozakura could only manage a 6-9 record and was demoted back down to juryo, but he returned to makuuchi in July 1963. In his return he posted three consecutive winning records, including two special prizes, and was promoted to komusubi in January 1964. However, in his san'yaku debut Kotozakura suffered an injury to his right ankle and right hip and fell back down to juryo in July 1964.

He returned to makuuchi in November 1964 and posted three consecutive winning records which earned him a spot at the rank of sekiwake for the May 1965 tournament. In September 1965 he defeated yokozuna's Sadanoyama and eventual yusho winner Kashiwado to earn his first and second career kinboshi. In May 1967 he produced a 10-5 record at the rank of komusubi and was promoted to sekiwake for the following July tournament. There he finished with an 11-4 record and was runner-up to Kashiwado's 14-1 record. He followed with another 11-4 record and was awarded his fourth Outstanding Performance prize. He was promoted to ozeki for the following November 1967 tournament. Even though he had only finished with 32 wins in the previous three tournaments which fell short of the traditional 33 win benchmark, he was still promoted to ozeki as he was remarkably consistent in the previous tournaments (he was ranked in san'yaku for 16 of the previous 18 tournaments).

### **Ozeki Career**

Kotozakura struggled in his ozeki debut as he finished with an 8-7 record. Nevertheless, he bounced back and won his first makuuchi yusho in July 1968 with a 13-2 record. After finishing with a poor 5-10 record in January 1969, he won his second yusho in the following March tournament with another strong 13-2 record. However, by the early 1970s he had begun to be regarded as something of a "perpetual ozeki", often struggling with injuries and finding it difficult to come up with the necessary wins to maintain his rank. He was kadoban, or in danger of demotion from ozeki, three times during this period. Remarkably however, he won consecutive championships in November 1972 and January 1973 to earn promotion to yokozuna at the age of thirty two, after thirty two tournaments at ozeki.

### **Yokozuna Career**

In his yokozuna debut, Kotozakura finished with an 11-4 record. In July 1973 he defeated Kitanofuji in a playoff to win his only championship as a yokozuna. His last strong performance came in November 1973 where he finished with an 11-4 record and was runner-up to Wajima's 12-3 record. After injuring his knee in 1974 he withdrew from several tournaments and announced his retirement that July after only eight tournaments as yokozuna.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Kotozakura had been expecting to open up his own training stable, but when his stablemaster died suddenly just days after Kotozakura's retirement, he took over Sadogatake stable instead. He produced many top division wrestlers over the years, such as ozeki Kotokaze, Kotooshu, Kotomitsuki and Kotoshogiku and sekiwake Kotogaume, Kotofuji, Kotonishiki, and Kotonowaka. When yokozuna Asashoryu was criticized for his behaviour in 2003, Kotozakura defended the Mongolian by pointing out the lack of emotional strength in young Japanese sumo wrestlers at the time. After 31 years as head coach, he passed on ownership of the stable upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of sixty five in November 2005 to Kotonowaka, who had become his son-in-law.

### **Health Problems and Death**

Kotozakura had suffered from diabetes for many years prior to his death and in 2004 he underwent a leg amputation. Shortly after attending the ozeki promotion ceremony of Kotomitsuki, Kotozakura died on August 14, 2007 due to mulligan organ failure brought on by sepsis.

## **Personal Life**

He made an appearance in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, seen fighting Fujinishiki.

As an oyakata (coach), he was very passionate when it came to scouting for new wrestlers. Anytime he heard news about a new hopeful, he would immediately travel regardless of how remote the area is. He even travelled overseas to scout for new foreign hopeful which included the Canadian Kototenzan and the Bulgarian Kotooshu. Because of his eagerness for recruiting, he produced over 20 sekitori during his 30 year time span as head coach.

### **Family**

Kotozakura's daughter married his pupil Kotonowaka who eventually inherited the Sadogatake stable. Kotonowaka's son Masakatsu joined the stable in 2015 and rose to makuuchi in March 2020. This made him the first third generation makuuchi rikishi. It is believed that he will inherit the 'Kotozakura' if he earns promotion to the ozeki rank.

## **Fighting Style**

Kotozakura's favored techniques were the two most common kimarite in sumo – yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out). When grabbing his opponent's mawashi he preferred a migi-yotsu, or left hand outside, right hand inside grip.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 723-428-77/1144 (93 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 553-345-77/891 (65 basho)
* **Juryo:** 69-36/105 (7 basho)
* **Makushita:** 50-27/77 (11 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 26-13/39 (5 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 18-6/24 (3 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-1/8 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 5 **Makuuchi** Championships
	+ 1st (July 1968)
	+ 2nd (March 1969)
	+ 3rd (November 1972)
	+ 4th (January 1973)
	+ 5th (July 1973)
* 2 **Juryo** Championships
	+ 1st (July 1962)
	+ 2nd (January 1963)
* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (January 1960)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Outstanding Performance Prize (4), Fighting Spirit Prize (2)
* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Sadanoyama, (1) Kashiwado

## **Shikona History**

* Kamatani Norio (1959.01 - 1959.01)
* Kotozakura Norio (1959.03 - 1965.11)
* Kotozakura Masakatsu (1966.01 - 1966.05)
* Kotozakura Norio (1966.07 - 1966.11)
* Kotozakura Masakatsu (1967.01 - 1967.01)
* Kotozakura Norio (1967.03 - 1967.03)
* Kotozakura Masakatsu (1967.05 - 1974.07)

## **Gallery**

Kotozakura Masakatsu - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Kotozakura's tegataKotozakura joins professional sumo (c. 1959)Kotozakura (left) wins the Juryo Yusho (c. 1962)Kotozakura after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 1963)Kotozakura wins his first of many sansho prizes (c. 1963)Kotozakura poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1967)Kotozakura gets promoted to Ozeki (c. 1967)Kotozakura defeats Tamanoshima to win his first Yusho (c. 1968)Kotozakura wins his first Yusho (c. 1968)Kotozakura defeats Kitanofuji to win his second Yusho (c. 1969)Kotozakura wins his second Yusho (c. 1969)Kotozakura battles Yokozuna TaihoKotozakura defeats Takanohana to win his third Yusho (c. 1972)Kotozakura wins his third Yusho (c. 1972)Kotozakura's third Yusho parade (c. 1972)Kotozakura reacts to winning his fourth Yusho (c. 1973)Kotozakura wins his fourth Yusho (c. 1973)Kotozakura's fourth Yusho parade (c. 1973)Kotozakura gets promoted Yokozuna (c. 1973)Taiho teaches Kotozakura the dohyo-iri (c. 1973)Kotozakura defeats Kitanofuji to win his fifth Yusho (c. 1973)Kotozakura wins his fifth and final Yusho (c. 1973)Kotozakura performs the Yokozuna dohyo-iri (c. 1974)Kotozakura announces his retirement (c. 1974)Kotozakura's final dohyo-iri as Yokozuna (c. 1975)Kotozakura's retirement ceremony (c. 1975)Kotozakura after retirement as Sadogatake OyakataKotozakura's funeral (c. 2007)A monument of KotozakuraKotozakura's Yusho portrait on display
## **Sources**

* Kotozakura Masakatsu Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kotozakura Masakatsu Rikishi Information