Hamanishiki Tatsuro

Hamanishiki Tatsuro - 濵錦 竜郎 (born November 23, 1976) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kumamoto City, Kumamoto. He made his debut in March 1999 and wrestled for Oitekaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 2001. His highest rank was maegashira 11 and he retired in March 2012.

## **Early Life**

Takahama practiced judo for six years in elementary school before transitioning to sumo by his fourth year. In his sixth year he participated in the national tournament. In junior high school, Takahama won third place in the national junior high school championship. He then attended Buntoku Gakuen Gymnasium where he participated in many national competitions and achieved strong results. After this, he went to Nihon University (alongside Takamisakari and Kotomitsuki) and won a total of twelve titles.

## **Career**

### **Early Life**

Takahama joined Oitekaze stable in March 1999 after graduation from college. Due to his amateur accomplishments he was granted makushita tsukedashi which meant that he started at the bottom of makushita. He steadily climbed the ranks of makushita and after eight tournaments in makushita, where he produced winning records in seven of those tournaments, he was promoted to juryo in July 2000.

### **Juryo Career**

Upon promotion to juryo, he changed his shikona from his family name to "Hamanishiki" (濵錦). He produced a strong 10-5 record in his sekitori debut, but followed with a poor 5-10 record. After a 10-5 record in January 2001 and a 9-6 in March 2001, Hamanishiki was promoted to makuuchi in May 2001.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Hamanishiki struggled in his makuuchi debut and could only manage four wins and was demoted back down to juryo. He was promoted immediately back to makuuchi. Hamanishiki was able to remain in makuuchi for one year, but at best he could only produce an 8-7 record. He was demoted back to juryo after a disastrous 4-11 record in July 2002.

### **Later Career**

In November 2004, ranked at the very bottom of juryo, he produced a disastrous 1-14 record and was demoted to the third makushita division, where he had begun his career. He reverted to his own surname in November 2005 but this did little to change his fortunes. He missed two tournaments through injury in November 2006 and January 2007 and was demoted once more, to the fourth sandanme division.

He managed to return to the makushita division after a good 6-1 performance in January 2008, and he followed up with a 5-2 score in March and 4-3 in May, which took him to makushita 26 for the July 2008 tournament, his highest rank since September 2006, before his injury. He returned to the Hamanishiki name in July 2009.

In May 2011 he earned promotion back to the juryo division for the first time in over six years after scoring 6-1 at makushita 10. There were a large number of positions available in juryo due to the forced retirements of several wrestlers after a match-fixing scandal. The 39 tournaments it took him to return to juryo is the most in sumo history at the time. His stay in juryo lasted only two tournaments however, as he could score only 5-10 in July and 2-13 in September.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

He retired in February 2012 and took charge of the Kasugayama stable as the previous head, former maegashira Kasugafuji, concentrated on his role as a director of the Sumo Association's board. After a legal dispute with the former Kasugafuji, who subsequently left the Sumo Association and claimed rent had not been paid to him, Hamanishiki moved the stable to a new location in Kawasaki city. Continuing legal disputes with the former head of the stable meant that he had not been given the official certificate granting him ownership of the Kasugayama elder stock, and thus was not qualified to be a stablemaster. In October 2016 the Sumo Association ordered him to resign as stablemaster, and move his wrestlers to Oitekaze stable. He left the Sumo Association altogether in January 2017, having failed to meet their deadline to come to an agreement with his predecessor.

## **Fighting Style**

Hamanishiki was a yotsu-sumo wrestler, who preferred grappling techniques to pushing or thrusting. His most common winning kimarite was a straightforward yorikiri or force out. His favorite grip on his opponent's mawashi was migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 360-365-30/723 (77 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 44-61/105 (7 basho)
* **Juryo:** 133-157-10/289 (20 basho)
* **Makushita:** 158-129-14/287 (43 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 25-18-6/42 (7 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Takahama Tatsuro (1999.03 - 2000.05)
* Hamanishiki Tatsuro (2000.07 - 2005.09)
* Takahama Tatsuro (2005.11 - 2009.05)
* Hamanishiki Tatsuro (2009.07 - 2010.03)

## **Gallery**

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

Hamanishiki Tatsuro - 2002 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hamanishiki Tatsuro - 2001 (Retrieved from the JSA)Hamanishiki's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Takahama gets recruited into Oitekaze stable (c. 1999)Hamanishiki (left) during the initial examination (c. 1999)Takahama becomes Hamanishiki after promotion to Juryo (c. 2001)Hamanishiki prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2004)Hamanishiki during the Juryo dohyo-iri (c. 2004)Hamanishiki falls to the unsalaried ranks (c. 2006)Hamanishiki battles Sotairyu in Makushita (c. 2011)Hamanishiki ensures promotion back to Juryo (c. 2011)Hamanishiki after ensuring re-promotion to Juryo (c. 2011)Hamanishiki battles Tamanoshima in Juryo (c. 2011)Hamanishiki announces his retirement (c. 2012)Hamanishiki's retirement ceremony (c. 2012)Hamanishiki after retirement as Kasugayama Oyakata (c. 2016)Kasugayama Oyakata leaves the Japan Sumo Association (c. 2017)
## **Sources**

* Hamanishiki Tatsuro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hamanishiki Tatsuro Rikishi Information