Tamaasuka Daisuke

Tamaasuka Daisuke - 玉飛鳥 大輔 (born January 26, 1983) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nagoya, Aichi. He made his debut in March 1998 and wrestled for Kataonami stable. He reached the makuuchi division in July 2005. His highest rank was maegashira 9 and he retired in November 2016.

## **Early Life**

Born in Nagoya, he started sumo in the fourth grade of elementary school. He was enrolled by his father in the Choyko Sumo Club, based in the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium where the annual Nagoya honbasho is held. At Hibino Middle School, he became Middle School Yokozuna in 1997. He made his professional debut in March 1998, joining Kataonami stable. Just weeks beforehand, his father had died of a heart attack. It had been he who had chosen Tamaasuka's ring name or shikona and had driven him to become a wrestler by installing a rigorous training program for him. His father's death only made Tamaasuka more determined to succeed in professional sumo.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Tamaasuka had a strong start where he produced four consecutive 5-2 records. He reached the sandanme division in September 1999 and would easily breeze through the division with five consecutive winning records and earned promotion to the makushita division in July 2000.

Tamaasuka had trouble adjusting to makushita at first and would regularly bounce between the makushita and sandanme division. He would remain in the mid-level makushita ranks for the next three years. In the May 2016, Tamaasuka produced a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 16 and was boosted to the rank of makushita 6 in the following July tournament. In this tournament he produced a 4-3 record and as a result was promoted to the makushita 4 rank for the September 2004 tournament. In this tournament he won all seven matches and defeated juryo-ranked wrestler Sumanofuji on the last day to finish with a strong 7-0 record. As a result, a promotion to the juryo division was secured.

### **Juryo Career**

Tamaasuka made his juryo debut in November 2004 and in his juryo debut he scored eight wins against seven losses by winning and then losing on alternate days, an oddity not seen in the top two divisions since 1988. He followed this with a losing record of 6-9, but bounced back with two consecutive 10-5 records which sent him to the top makuuchi division.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He reached the top makuuchi division in the Nagoya tournament in July 2005, making his debut alongside Hakurozan. He was the first wrestler from Nagoya to reach the top division since Tochitsukasa in 1981.

Cheered on by his hometown fans, Tamaasuka scored nine wins in his top division debut. He would have received the Kanto-sho or Fighting Spirit Prize had he won on the final day, but he was defeated by Tokitenku. He was promoted to maegashira 9, but could only manage a disappointing 4-11 record in the next tournament. On the fourth day of the November 2005 tournament he broke his left ankle and was forced to pull out. As a result, he was demoted back to the juryo division. It was the first time in his career that he had missed any bouts. Since he had an enforced layoff, he decided to undergo eyesight corrective surgery in December 2005. He had not fully recovered from either his injury or his surgery by the January 2006 tournament but felt he had to compete to try to prevent demotion to the unsalaried makushita division. However, in the event he withdrew once again after losing his first two bouts. He largely remained in the third division for the next three years.

In May 2008 he won his second makushita division championship, once more with a perfect 7-0 record. This performance returned him to the sekitoriranks for the first time since November 2006. His return was not successful however, as he could only manage a 5-10 score at juryo 13. He returned to the juryo division once again for the November 2008 tournament; a 6-1 score at the rank of makushita 4 elevating him to juryo 8. Although he turned in 5-10 again, it was enough on this occasion to keep him in the division. However a further 5-10 score in January 2009 saw him demoted once again. He scored 6-1 in March 2009, losing a playoff for the makushita division championship, which was enough for an immediate return to juryo.

In May 2009 he not only made his first kachi-koshi at a sekitori rank in nearly four years but won his first juryo championship with a 12-3 record. He followed up with another strong 11-4 record in July 2009, ensuring himself of a return to the top division for the first time in nearly four years. The 23 tournaments it took him to win back promotion is the fifth longest ever, behind Satoyama, Wakanoyama, Daihi and Daizen.

In the September 2009 tournament, fighting from the maegashira 13 ranking, he recovered from 3-9 to win his last three matches and stay in the top division. He was forced to withdraw from the following tournament in November, his first absence since January 2006, after injuring his right ankle and he fell back to juryo as a result. He won promotion back to the top division for July 2010 after a 10-5 score in May, but could manage only five wins on his return. Two poor performances of 5-10 and 4-11 saw him demoted to makushita for the first time since January 2009 after the November 2010 tournament, but he won promotion back to the sekitori ranks immediately.

    In September 2011 Tamaasuka was promoted back to makuuchi after scoring 8-7 at juryo 1 in the preceding July tournament. He thus became the second wrestler (after Wakanoyama) to twice achieve the feat of returning to makuuchi after dropping to makushita. Once again he lasted only one tournament back in the top division. He won his second juryo championship in May 2012 with a score of 12–3 and secured promotion back to makuuchi, but produced his worst performance in the top division to date in the following tournament, winning only two bouts. However, he responded by earning a sixth promotion to the top division for January 2013, but was demoted after only one tournament. After two more tournaments in juryo he received his seventh promotion to the top division and this time was able to remain there for his longest stint yet of three tournaments before being demoted again.

### **Later Career**

He did not manage to reach makuuchi in 2014 and had an even less successful year in 2015, losing sekitori status after the November 2015 tournament for the first time in five years. He won promotion back to juryo after the March 2016 tournament. He said that his ambition for the remainder of his career was to earn another kachi-koshi or winning score in the top division, something which he only achieved once, in his makuuchi debut in 2005. However May 2016 turned out to be his final tournament at sekitori level.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Tamaasuka retired after the September 2016 tournament, after a record of 4-3 at makushita 9. Tamaasuka's danpatsu-shiki, or hair-cutting ceremony, was held on January 29th, 2017, at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. Initially, Tamaasuka stayed in the sumo world as Araiso Oyakata (Tamaasuka did not own the stock and was borrowing it from then-active yokozuna Kisenosato). In April 2018, he was able to obtain the Kumagatani elder stock and now works as a coach at Kataonami stable.

## **Personal Life**

* Tamaasuka is married with three sons. He has said that he would like at least one of his sons to follow him into professional sumo, and also use the Tamaasuka shikona that was given to him by his own late father.
* Tamaasuka's favorite food is meat and he dislikes raw fish. His hobby is watching movies.

## **Fighting Style**

Tamaasuka was proficient in both yotsu-sumo (grappling) and oshi-sumo (pushing and thrusting) techniques. He used oshi techniques at the beginning of a match to set up his preferred yotsu position, a basic sumo style. His favoured grip on his opponent's mawashi was hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most often used winning kimarite was yorikiri (force out), followed by oshidashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 580-569-29/1145 (112 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 54-109-17/161 (12 basho)
* **Juryo:** 282-291-12/572 (39 basho)
* **Makushita:** 170-124/293 (43 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 39-24/63 (9 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 30-19/49 (7 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 2 **Juryo** Championships
	+ 1st (May 2009)
	+ 2nd (May 2012)
* 2 **Makushita** Championships
	+ 1st (September 2004)
	+ 2nd (May 2008)

## **Gallery**

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

Tamaasuka Daisuke - 2015 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamaasuka Daisuke - 2014 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamaasuka Daisuke - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamaasuka Daisuke - 2012 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamaasuka Daisuke - 2005 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamaasuka Daisuke - 2004 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tamaasuka's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Tamaasuka with stablemate Tamanoshima (c. 2001)Tamaasuka after ensuring promotion to Juryo (c. 2004)Tamaasuka after promotion to Juryo (c. 2004)Tamaasuka after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2005)Tamaasuka defeats Takanowaka (c. 2005)Tamaasuka prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2005)Tamaasuka returns to juryo with Makushita Yusho (c. 2008)Tamaasuka battles Yamamotoyama (c. 2008)Tamaasuka throws and defeats Tochinonada (c. 2009)Tamaasuka battles Homasho (c. 2010)Tamaasuka throws and defeats Takanoyama (c. 2011)Tamaasuka at Tamanoshima's retirement ceremony (c. 2012)Tamaasuka battles Takanoiwa in a bloody match (c. 2012)Tamaasuka defeats Sokokurai (c. 2013)Tamaasuka with stablemate Tamawashi (c. 2014)Tamaasuka defeats Masunoyama (c. 2015)Tamaasuka battles Ura (c. 2016)Tamaasuka falls to the unsalaried ranks (c. 2016)Tamaasuka announces his retirement (c. 2016)Tamaasuka's retirement ceremony (c. 2017)Tamaasuka after retirement as Kumagatani Oyakata (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Tamaasuka Daisuke Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tamaasuka Daisuke Rikishi Information