Shikishima Katsumori

Shikishima Katsumori - 敷島 勝盛 (born December 15, 1970) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Funabashi, Chiba. He made his debut in January 1989 and last wrestled for Michinoku stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 1994 and has 2 kinboshi. His highest rank was maegashira 1 and he retired in May 2001.

## **Early Life**

Yoshitane attended Funabashi Kowagama High School in Chiba prefecture where he was a member of the school's sumo club. He was introduced to Tatsutagawa stable by an acquaintance. He joined the stable in January 1989 just before graduating high school.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

In his first tournament, Yoshitane produced a strong 6-1 record, but he missed out on the jonokuchi yusho after losing in a playoff. He was promoted to sandanme in March 1990 and makushita in September 1990. In January 1992 he won the makushita yusho with a perfect 7-0 record. As a result he was promoted to the rank of makushita 5, but this rank proved to hard at the time and he fell back down to the mid-makushita ranks. He eventually returned back to the upper-makushita ranks and produced a 4-3 record at the rank of makushita 1 which earned him a promotion to the juryo division in May 1993.

### **Juryo Career**

Upon promotion to juryo, he changed his shikona to "Shikishima" (敷島), but he only managed three wins in his sekitori debut and was immediately demoted back down to makushita. He returned back to juryo after two tournaments in makushita. In March 1994 he won the juryo yusho with a strong 12-3 record. Three tournaments later he was promoted to the top makuuchi division in November 1994.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In November of the same year he reached the top makuuchi division for the first time, but he moved back and forth between the two divisions before finally establishing himself as a makuuchi regular after the May 1996 tournament.

In March 1998 he reached what was to be his highest career ranking of maegashira 1, and earned his first kinboshi for a yokozuna upset on the fourth day when he defeated Takanohana. His second and final kinboshi came in the next tournament with another defeat of Takanohana. However despite appearing in makuuchi for 28 tournaments, he was never able to reach the sanyaku ranks. His overall win rate in makuuchi was around 43 percent, with 175 wins against 228 losses, compared to an overall career win rate of just under 50 percent (416 wins against 418 losses). In July 2000 he lost his top division status when he could score only 3–12 at maegashira 12.

In November 2000 his stablemaster, the former Aonosato, reached the mandatory retirement age of 65, and Tatsutagawa stable closed. Shikishima and his stablemates moved to Michinoku stable, from the same ichimon or stable grouping of Tokitsukaze. In January 2001, ranked at juryo 5, he had to withdraw on just the second day due to a cardiac function disorder, which was so serious he risked death if he continued to compete. He was forced to miss the rest of that tournament and all of the next, falling to the lower end of the makushita division. By May 2001 his condition had recovered to the point where he could live without problems in daily life, but he decided not to risk competing again and announced his retirement.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In his retirement press conference Shikishima said that he had been told he had an enlarged heart, and that he did not want to die young like fellow wrestlers Kenko and Daishoho. He said he had lost 30 kilograms (66 lb) in a month and urged active rikishi to learn from his mistakes and not overeat or overdrink. He began his career as an elder or toshiyori of the Japan Sumo Association under his old fighting name of Shikishima, but in January became the 14th Tatsutagawa, although the real owner of the name was his former stablemate Minatofuji. After the lifting on the ban of borrowing elder names, he vacated Tatsutagawa and went through a succession of others , becoming Fujigane, Nishikijima, Onogawa, Tanigawa and Ajigawa, before finally acquiring the Urakaze elder name in January 2013. He has remained working as a coach at Michinoku stable under that name since then. For a long time he was in charge of running the Kyushu tournament in November of each year, but retired from those duties in 2013. From May 2014 he has served on the judging committee, and received a promotion in the Sumo Association's hierarchy in May 2016 from toshyori class to iin class.

## **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:** 416-418-38/832 (75 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 175-228-17/402 (28 basho)
* **Juryo:** 128-114-13/241 (17 basho)
* **Makushita:** 53-38-8/91 (15 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 34-22/56 (8 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 20-15/35 (5 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (March 1994)
* 1 **Makushita** Championship (January 1992)

## **Shikona History**

* Yoshitane Hiromichi (1989.01 - 1993.03)
* Shikishima Katsumori (1993.05 - 2001.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Shikishima Katsumori - 1997 (Retrieved from the JSA)Shikishima's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Shikishima after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 1994)Shikishima (c. 1994)Shikishima was popular for having huge nostrilsShikishima (c. 1997)Shikishima battles his opponent (c. 1998)Shikishima (middle) with stablemates Jumonji and ToyozakuraShikishima announces his retirement (c. 2001)Shikishima's retirement ceremony (c. 2001)Shikishima after retirement as Urakaze Oyakata
## **Sources**

* Shikishima Katsumori Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Shikishima Katsumori Rikishi Information