Kasugakuni Yuta

Kasugakuni Yuta - 春日国 勇太 (born October 30, 1981) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kobayashi, Miyazaki. He made his debut in March 2000 and last wrestled for Nakagawa stable. His highest rank was makushita 1 and he retired in September 2019.

## **Early Life**

Yuta Yasutomi was born on October 30, 1981, in Kobayashi, Miyazaki. He began playing baseball in elementary school and was a member of the baseball club at Nisshou Gakuen Senior High School where he played catcher. After graduating high school, he joined Kasugayama stable.

## **Career**

He made his professional debut in March 2000 and wrestled under his surname Yasutomi before he was given the shikona "Kasugakuni" (春日国) in January 2001. Despite having no previous sumo experience, Kasugakuni posted six consecutive winning records from his debut and was promoted to sandanme in March 2001. He reached the makushita division in May 2003. He suffered a retinal detachment in January 2005 and had to miss the following March 2005 tournament.

In January 2009, he posted a strong 6-1 record at the rank of makushita 5 which usually warrants a promotion to juryo. Kasugakuni was expected to be the first sekitori from Miyazaki prefecture since Kaneshiro in 1987, however, there were only two available slots in juryo and Fukuoka (later sekiwake Okinoumi) and Kirinowaka were promoted to juryo instead. On January 30, two days after the juryo promotions were announced, juryo-ranked wrestler Wakakirin was arrested due to cannabis possession and was subsequently dismissed from professional sumo. As a result, there was a vacant slot in juryo and Kasugayama Oyakata (former maegashira Kasugafuji) asked the banzuke committee if Kasugakuni could be promoted to juryo, however, they refused as the juryo promotions had already been announced. Juryo promotions are usually revealed a couple days after the previous tournament while the rest of the rankings is revealed two weeks prior to the upcoming tournament. If Wakakirin was dismissed prior to the announcement of the juryo promotions, Kasugakuni would have likely gotten promoted. Instead Kasugakuni was promoted to the rank of makushita 1 for the following March 2009 tournament while there was an empty juryo slot due to Wakakirin's sudden dismissal. Clearly dejected from the snubbing of a juryo promotion, Kasuagkuni could only manage a 2-5 record and he never managed to come close to a juryo promotion again in his career.

From September 2011 to March 2012, he wrestled under the shikona "Miyanokuni" (宮ノ国) before reverting back to Kasugakuni in May 2012. On October 19, 2016, Kasugayama stable closed down due to the resignation of his stablemaster (former maegashira Hamanishiki). As a result, he transferred and wrestled briefly in Oitekaze stable, before transferring to the newly opened Nakagawa stable in February 2017.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Kasugakuni wrestled in the sandanme division for majority of his later career and retired from sumo in September 2019. After retiring, he worked at a warabimochi store in Kawasaki, Kanagawa. He has also worked as a driver at a hospital and an iron factory in Aichi prefecture.

## **Personal Life**

* Kasugakuni's older brother Shigeo Yasutomi (born July 20, 1979) was also a sumo wrestler. He joined Ajigawa stable in September 1998 and wrestled under the family name Yasutomi, however, he retired shortly in January 1999 with his highest rank being jonokuchi 5.
* From May 2006, Kasugakuni served as Yokozuna Hakuho's tsukebito, or personal servant, for five years until September 2011. After that, he served as Yokozuna Harumafuji's tsukebito from November 2012 until Harumafuji's retirement in November 2017. He subsequently served as Yokozuna Kakuryu's from May 2018 until his retirement in September 2019. Because of this, he has had the rare opportunity to serve as the tsukebito of three Yokozuna.
* In March 2009, Kasuagkuni wrestled in two juryo matches, against Kirinowaka and Yotsuguruma, however, he lost both of them.

## **Fighting Style**

Kasugakuni was proficient in both yotsu-sumo (grappling) and oshi-sumo (pushing and thrusting) techniques. His most often used winning kimarite was oshidashi (push out), followed by yorikiri (force out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 418-386-8/803 (117 basho)
* **Makushita:** 247-235-8/481 (70 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 147-140/287 (41 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 19-9/28 (4 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-2/7 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Yasutomi Yuta (2000.03 - 2000.11)
* Kasugakuni Yuta (2001.01 - 2006.11)
* Kasugakuni Akihiro (2007.01 - 2009.07)
* Kasugakuni Yuta (2009.09 - 2011.07)
* Miyanokuni Yuta (2011.09 - 2012.03)
* Kasugakuni Yuta (2012.05 - 2019.09)

## **Gallery**

Kasugakuni prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2007)Kasugakuni outside his stable, Nakagawa beya (c. 2019)Kasugakuni battles his opponent in Sandanme (c. 2019)Kasugakuni prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2019)Kasugakuni after wrestling his final match (c. 2019)Kasugakuni's retirement ceremony (c. 2019)
## **Sources**

* Kasugakuni Yuta Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kasugakuni Yuta Rikishi Information