Hasegawa Katsutoshi

Hasegawa Katsutoshi - 長谷川 勝敏 (born July 20, 1944) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kurisawa, Hokkaido. He made his debut in March 1960 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1965 and has eight special prizes, nine kinboshi and one top division championship. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in May 1976.

## **Early Life**

Hasegawa was born in the town of Chinnai (currently Krasnogorsk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia) in the Esutoru Subprefecture of South Sakhalin (Karafuto Prefecture). His father worked at the coal mines. In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded South Sakhalin and Hasegawa fled to Kurisawa, Hokkaido. He would list Hokkaido as his official birthplace when joining professional sumo because Karafuto Prefecture (South Sakhalin) had become Russian territory.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Hasegawa joined professional sumo in March 1960 at the age of 15, recruited by the former *sekiwake* Kotonishiki. Unusually, he fought under his own surname for his entire career (he is the only top division wrestler from Sadogatake stable not to have adopted a shikona or fighting name with the prefix "Koto").

He rose through the lower divisions quickly, only spending one tournament in jonokuchi, two tournaments in jonidan, two tournaments in sandanme, and reaching makushita by March 1961. After nine consecutive winning records he was promoted to juryo in January 1963.

### **Juryo Career**

At the time of his juryo debut, Hasegawa had only produced one losing record and was only 18 years old and by far the youngest sekitori. He finished his first tournament with a solid 9-6 record, but sat out of the following tournament and was demoted back down to makushita. He did not return to juryo until May 1964 after winning the makushita yusho. In his second tournament back he won the juryo yusho with a strong 13-2 record. He followed with two additional winning records and was promoted to makuuchi in January 1965.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Hasegawa quickly rose up the ranks, defeating his first yokozuna (Tochinoumi) in September 1965 and earning his first special prize, for Technique. In the following tournament in November he made his debut in the titled san'yaku ranks at komusubi. He was runner-up to yokozuna Taiho in the May 1967 tournament. He reached sekiwake for the first time in January 1969 and held the rank for eight straight tournaments.

He won the top division yusho or tournament championship at sekiwake rank in March 1972, defeating Kaiketsu in a playoff. However, the Sumo Association decided not to promote him, as there were already four ozeki at that time, who were generally felt to be performing at a mediocre level. Managing only eight wins in the following tournament in May, he never became an ozeki. He was a sekiwake for 21 tournaments, a record for the modern era which stood until 2007 when it was broken by Kotomitsuki. His last appearance at sekiwake was in January 1974. After this tournament he changed the second part of his shikona from Katsutoshi to Katsuhiro but it did not bring a change of luck and he remained largely in the maegashira ranks.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Hasegawa retired in May 1976, but remained in the sumo world as an elder, with the name Hidenoyama Oyakata. Until 2008 he was a Director of the Japan Sumo Association, responsible for the running of the annual honbasho held in Nagoya. He then worked at Special Executive level. Unusually for a senior member of the Association, he did not take charge of a stable, instead working as a coach at Sadogatake stable, firstly under former yokozuna Kotozakura, and from 2005 under former sekiwake Kotonowaka. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in July 2009.

## **Personal Life**

Hasegawa's uncle is former juryo wrestler Shikinohana.

Even though Hasegawa won the makuuchi yusho at the rank of sekiwake and missed out on an ozeki promotion which would be deemed unlucky by many, he actually lived in an extraordinary life and survived four near death experiences:

* When he was a kid, he slipped on the deck of a ship and fell into the ocean; fortunately, he was entangled in a rope in front of him which prevented him from his devastating fall.
* Similarly, when he was a kid, he fell off a railing on a bridge and fell into the river bank. Luckily, due to the heavy rainfall, the height of the river rises which prevented him from hitting the rocks at the bottom of the river. Moreover, he landed in a safe part of the river.
* In November 1963, while in makushita, there was a pufferfish poising incident in his stable and two of his stablemates died. He was scheduled to eat the pufferfish with his stablemates, however, he was feeling unwell and instead went out to eat udon.
* On February 4, 1966, he was planning on boarding the All Nippon Airways Flight 60 from Sapporo to Tokyo. The plane crashed mysteriously on Tokyo Bay killing all 133 passengers and staff on board. Hasegawa was planning on boarding the flight, but cancelled his tickets after bumping into an old friend at the Sapporo Snow Festival.

## **Fighting Style**

Hasegawa was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He favored a hidari-yotsu (right hand outside, left hand inside) position when gripping his opponent's mawashi (belt). His most common kimarite was yorikiri, or force out. He was also fond of employing sukuinage, or overarm throw.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 678-577/1254 (98 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 523-502/1024 (69 basho)
* **Juryo:** 50-25/75 (6 basho)
* **Makushita:** 75-44/119 (17 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 12-2/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 11-3/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-1/8 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makuuchi** Championship (March 1972)
* 1 **Juryo** Championship (July 1964)
* 1 **Makushita** Championship (March 1964)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (3), Outstanding Performance Prize (3), Technique Prize
* **Kinboshi:** 9: (2) Kitanofuji, (2) Sadanoyama, (2) Kashiwado, (2) Tochinoumi, (1) Wajima
* **Record:** Tied for **4th** most tournaments ranked in junior san'yaku: komusubi and sekiwake ranks (30)
* **Record:** **5th** most consecutive top division bouts (1024 bouts)
* **Record:** Tied for **10th** most gold stars (9 kinboshi)

## **Shikona History**

* Hasegawa Katsutoshi (1960.03 - 1964.01)
* Hasegawa Katsuhiro (1964.04 - 1976.05)

## **Gallery**

Hasegawa's early career in the unsalaried ranksHasegawa ensures Juryo promotion with the Makushita Yusho (c. 1964)Hasegawa defeats Yokozuna Kashiwado (c. 1968)Hasegawa defeats Kaiketsu to win his first Yusho (c. 1972)Hasegawa wins his first and only Yusho (c. 1972)Hasegawa celebrates his first and only Yusho (c. 1972)Hasegawa's first and only Yusho parade (c. 1972)Hasegawa defeats Tenryu (c. 1973)Hasegawa prepares for his upcoming matchHasegawa poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1976)Hasegawa announces his retirement (c. 1976)Hasegawa after retirement as Hidenoyama Oyakata (c. 1985)Hasegawa's Yusho portrait on display at a train stationHasegawa's tegata
## **Sources**

* Hasegawa Katsutoshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Hasegawa Katsutoshi Rikishi Information