Kotogahama Sadao

Kotogahama Sadao - 琴ヶ濱 貞雄 (born October 10, 1927 - June 7, 1981) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kanonji, Kagawa. He made his debut in November 1945 and wrestled for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 1950 and has 8 special prizes as well as 7 kinboshi. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in November 1962.

## **Early Life**

Born in Miyazaki prefecture as the eldest son of a horse broker-dealer, he later moved to Kagawa prefecture. After graduating from high school, he volunteered for the Navy in September 1944 due to his father's premature death, and was recommended to partake in sumo by his superiors due to his physique. After the end of the Second World War, he was recruited into Nishonoseki stable by komusubi Kotonishiki.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut in November 1945, and initially wrestled under his surname Ugusa before adopting the "Kotogahama" (琴ヶ濱) shikona. He was promoted to sandanme in November 1947 and makushita in May 1948. After four tournaments in makushita, he was promoted to juryo in October 1949.

### **Juryo Career**

In his first tournament as a sekitori, Kotogahama won the juryo yusho with a strong 11-4 record after defeating future Yokozuna Wakanohana I in a playoff. He followed with an 8-7 record at the rank of juryo 2 and was promoted to makuuchi in May 1950.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kotogahama had a rather uneventful start to his top division career and he did not make san'yaku until January 1953. Upon transferring to Sadogatake stable in 1955, he began to improve his performance. He earned a total of eight special prizes (5 Technique, 2 Outstanding Performance, and 1 Fighting Spirit). Moreover, he also defeated holds seven kinboshi against four yokozuna's. He was promoted to sekiwake in September 1956, but he could only manage a 7-8 record.

In March 1957, while ranked at maegashira 8, Kotogahama finished runner-up to Asashio with 12-3 record. He followed with another 12-3 runner-up performance in May and was promoted to sekiwake in September 1957. He posted an 11-4 record and had accumulated a total of 35 wins in the past three tournaments, however, he was denied ozeki promotion as he was only ranked at maegashira 8 in March 1957 (this rank was deemed to low, so his ozeki run technically started in May 1957). Kotogahama then produced a 10-5 record in November 1957 which meant that he had accumulated 33 wins over the past three tournaments, but his ozeki promotion was rejected again as the 10-5 record was deemed not strong enough. Kotogahama followed with an 11-4 record in January 1958, but now he was one win short of the 33 win benchmark as he had accumulated 32 wins in the past three tournaments. Therefore, he was denied ozeki promotion for the third time. In the following March 1958 tournament, he finished with a strong 13-2 record, but missed out on the yusho after losing to Asashio in the playoff. Nevertheless, his ozeki promotion was confirmed for the May 1958 tournament as he had accumulated 34 wins in the previous three tournaments.

### **Ozeki Career**

Kotogahama had a strong start to his ozeki career, posting four consecutive double-digit winning records, however, due to injuries and illnesses, he began to withdraw from tournaments on a regular occasion. At the time, two consecutive losing records would put the ozeki on kadoban status which meant a total of three losing records would demote the ozeki, instead of the current two consecutive losing records. Kotogahama was kadoban on three different occasions and he retired from sumo in November 1962 after going kadoban for the fourth time.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After his retirement in 1962 he became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association and worked as a coach under the name Oguruma at Sadogatake stable. He was offered the chance to take charge of the stable in 1974 but declined, preferring to remain as an assistant coach there until his death in 1981.

### **Death**

He died on June 7, 1981, at a hospital in Shinjuku, Tokyo, due to a cerebral hemorrhage. He was 53 years old.

## **Fighting Style**

Kotogahama 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 uchigake, or inside leg trip. He was also fond of employing uwatenage, or overarm throw.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 500-384-92/876 (69 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 441-352-92/785 (59 basho)
* **Juryo:** 19-11/30 (2 basho)
* **Makushita:** 26-13/39 (4 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 5-1/6 (1 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 9-3/12 (2 basho)
* **Shinjo:** 0-4/4 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (October 1949)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Technique Prize (5), Outstanding Performance Prize (2), Fighting Spirit Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 7: (3) Tochinishiki, (2) Chiyonoyama, (1) Kagamisato, (1) Yoshibayama

## **Shikona History**

* Ugusa Sadao (1945.11 - 1947.06)
* Kotogahama Sadao (1947.11 - 1962.11)

## **Gallery**

Kotogahama Sadao - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Kotogahama's tegata
## **Sources**

* Kotogahama Sadao Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kotogahama Sadao Rikishi Information