Takanotsuru Shinichi

Takanotsuru Shinichi - 隆の鶴 伸一 (born June 18, 1976) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Izumi, Kagoshima. He made his debut in March 1992 and wrestled for Naruto stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 2003. His highest rank was maegashira 8 and he retired in May 2006.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Shinichi Sekiyama joined Naruto stable in March 1992 and wrestled under his family name. He initially struggled and fell back down to jonokuchi on several occasions. He was promoted to sandanme in July 1994. In July 1995, he had surgery on his feet due to a disease that plagued him since childhood. As a result he sat out of the following two tournaments. In January 1996 he won the jonidan yusho and was promoted to the high-levels of sandanme. In July 1996, he felt severe pain in both legs and an emergency operation had to be performed. During the operation, both his big toes were amputated to remove the nerve causing the pain, and later sewn back on. As a result he was forced to rest at the hospital for 11 months which caused him to fall all the way back down to maezumo (pre-sumo). He returned in July 1997 and produced seven consecutive winning records which sent him to makushita. After a series of strong tournaments he was promoted to juryo in March 2001.

### **Juryo Career**

Upon his juryo promotion he changed his shikona from his family name to "Takanotsuru" (隆の鶴). He posted a solid 9-6 record in his juryo debut and after produced a variety of different results. After four consecutive winning records he was promoted to makuuchi in January 2003.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Takanotsuru posted a solid 9-6 record in his makuuchi debut and was promoted to a career-best maegashira 8 in the following March 2003 tournament. However, in this tournament he could only mange four wins and in the next tournament he lost his first ten matches and ended withdrawing on the eleventh day to finish with a 0-11-4 record. As a result he fell down to juryo 10 where he could only post five wins and was demoted back down to makushita.

He immediately returned to juryo after a 6-1 record in makushita and after five tournaments in juryo he returned to makuuchi. In his return he won his first five matches, but finished with a 9-6 record. In the following tournament he produced a 4-11 record and was demoted back down to juryo.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Takanotsuru remained in juryo for another eight tournaments before a disastrous 1-14 record sent him back down to makushita. He announced his retirement after losing his sixth match in the May 2006 tournament. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on October 9th, 2006, at a hotel in Tokyo. He became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association coaching at Naruto stable. He had jun-toshiyori status for a year and then borrowed the Nishiiwa kabu from May 2007. He became Naruto Oyakata and took over as stablemaster of Naruto when the previous stablemaster (ex-yokozuna Takanosato) died in November 2011. Due to a dispute with Takanosato's widow over who owned the Naruto stock he changed his oyakata name to Tagonoura in December 2013 and changed the stable name to Tagonoura stable. He oversaw the promotion of Kisenosato to yokozuna in January 2017, and Takayasu to ozeki in May of the same year. He commented on Kisenosato's retirement in January 2019, "I was delighted when he became yokozuna but when you see him closely, you can tell that he was struggling a lot. These two years went like a flash."

Tagonoura and his wife divorced after she had an affair with one of Tagonoura stable's wrestlers in September 2019. He was criticized during after a photo emerged of him drunk and asleep in a restaurant during the July 2020 tournament, despite the Sumo Association's instructions for all its members to make unnecessary trips outside of their stables during the coronavirus pandemic.

## **Personal Life**

* Takanotsuru shares a close resemblance in physical appearance with Takasago stable's Toki. They both have big sideburns and are around the same height and weight. Takanotsuru's last professional win came against Toki in the March 2006 tournament. Takanotsuru defeated Toki 5 times and lost to him 3 times.
* Takanotsuru's favorite foods are beef tendon and sushi. His hobbies are eating and walking.

## **Fighting Style**

According to his Japan Sumo Association profile, his favored techniques are yori (forcing) and hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most common winning kimarite is a straightforward yorikiri or force out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 393-364-70/754 (86 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 26-45-4/70 (5 basho)
* **Juryo:** 174-186-15/359 (25 basho)
* **Makushita:** 59-50-2/108 (16 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 64-41-28/105 (19 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 52-32-14/84 (14 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 18-10-7/28 (5 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Jonidan** Championship (January 2006)

## **Shikona History**

* Sekiyama Shinichi (1992.02 - 2001.01)
* Takanotsuru Shinichi (2001.03 - 2006.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Takanotsuru Shinichi - 2004 (Retrieved from the JSA)Takanotsuru Shinichi - 2002 (Retrieved from the JSA)Takanotsuru's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Takanotsuru after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2002)Takanotsuru was known for his resemblance to TokiTakanotsuru battles TokiTakanotsuru announces his retirement (c. 2006)Takanotsuru's retirement ceremony (c. 2006)Takanotsuru after retirement as Tagonoura oyakataTagonoura was the stablemaster of Yokozuna KisenosatoTagonoura Oyakata's controversial picture (c. 2020)
## **Sources**

* Takanotsuru Shinichi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Takanotsuru Shinichi Rikishi Information