Kotogaume Tsuyoshi

Kotogaume Tsuyoshi - 琴ヶ梅 剛史 (born October 5, 1963) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Yatsuo, Toyama. He made his debut in March 1979 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 1995 and has 7 special prizes as well as 2 kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in May 1997.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

In his youth he practiced judo and was a black belt, 1st dan. He made his professional sumo debut in March 1979, after finishing junior high school. Initially he fought under his own surname of Kitayama, before being given the shikona of Kotogaume ("Harp of the Plum"). In his early career he served as a tsukebito or personal attendant to ozeki Kotokaze. He was promoted to sandanme in March 1981 and makushita in November 1981. In January 1984, Kotogaume produced a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 2 and was promoted to juryo in the following March 1984 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

Kotogaume initially struggled in juryo and after two tournaments he was demoted back down to makushita. he returned to juryo in September 1984 and posted three consecutive double digit winning records which earned him a promotion to makuuchi in March 1985.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He made his first appearance in the titled san'yaku ranks of the top division in November 1985, the same tournament in which Kotokaze announced his retirement. He reached his highest rank of sekiwake for the first time in September 1986. In 1989 he came close to ozeki promotion by producing two double figure scores at sekiwake in July and September, but he fell short with only eight wins in November 1989. In his later career he suffered increasingly from diabetes and fell to the second juryo division. He made his last appearance in makuuchi in January 1995 and retired in May 1997.

Kotogaume earned two gold stars for defeating yokozuna whilst ranked as a maegashira, and at sekiwake in May 1988 he was also the last man to defeat Chiyonofuji before the latter embarked on his 53 bout winning streak. He also received seven special prizes. His best result in a tournament was third place in January 1988, behind Asahifuji and Konishiki.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Kotogaume became an elder of the Sumo Association upon his retirement, but he did not own permanent toshiyori elder stock and had to borrow from wrestlers still active. He used Terao's Shikoroyama name until 2002, and then switched to Dejima's Onaruto name, but had to leave the Sumo Association in November 2007 when it was needed by the retiring Buyuzan, a member of Dejima's stable.

After leaving sumo, he opened up a chankonabe restaurant in Tokyo, named Kotogaume. He has also worked as an assistant instructor at Shikoroyama stable.

## **Fighting Style**

Kotogaume throughout his career relied almost entirely on pushing and thrusting techniques, and seemed to have little interest in using his opponent's mawashi for throws. Oshidashi, a straightforward push out, was the kimarite used in exactly half of his victories at sekitori level.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 691-663-37/1352 (110 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 369-389-22/756 (52 basho)
* **Juryo:** 201-185-15/386 (27 basho)
* **Makushita:** 55-43/98 (14 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 24-11/35 (5 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 38-32/70 (10 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (May 1992)
* 2 **Sandanme** Championships
	+ 1st (September 1981)
	+ 2nd (January 1982)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (4), Technique Prize (2), Outstanding Performance Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Hokutoumi, (1) Onokuni

## **Shikona History**

* Kitayama Satoru (1979.03 - 1979.03)
* Kotogaume Tsuyoshi (1979.05 - 1997.05)

## **Gallery**

Kotogaume poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1986)Kotogaume with one of his many sansho prizes (c. 1986)Kotogaume pushes out Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (c. 1988)Kotogaume battles Ozeki Konishiki (c. 1989)Kotogaume (c. 1993)Kotogaume during the Makuuchi dohyo-iriKotogaume towards the end of his career (c. 1997)Kotogaume loses to Kaiho (c. 1997)Kotogaume interviewed after wrestling his final match (c. 1997)Kotogaume announces his retirement (c. 1997)Kotogaume's retirement ceremony (c. 1998)Kotogaume after retirement outside his restaurant (c. 2019)Kotogaume's tegata
## **Sources**

* Kotogaume Tsuyoshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kotogaume Tsuyoshi Rikishi Information