Tosanoumi Toshio

Tosanoumi Toshio - 土佐ノ海 敏生 (born February 16, 1972) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Aki, Kochi. He made his debut in March 1994 and wrestled for Isenoumi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in July 1995 and has 13 special prizes as well as 11 kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in January 2011.

## **Early Life**

Toshio Yamamoto was born the eldest son of a fisherman. He played baseball in elementary school. After success in amateur sumo competitions while at Doshisha University, where he was a two-time winner of the All Western Japan Sumo Championships in 1992 and 1993, Yamamoto was recruited by former sekiwake Fujinokawa and joined Isenoumi stable.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He was given the shikona of Tosanoumi, meaning "sea of Tosa", from his native Kochi Prefecture. Because of his amateur achievements he had makushita tsukedashi status and entered professional sumo in the third, makushita division in March 1994. In his second tournament he won the makushita yusho and two tournaments later he was promoted to juryo in November 1993.

### **Juryo Career**

Tosanoumi produced a strong 11-4 record in his debut and won the yusho after defeating Wakashoyo in a playoff. In the following tournament he produced another 11-4 record, but missed out on the yusho after losing to Asahiyutaka in a playoff. In his fourth juryo tournament he won his second juryo yusho with a 14-1 record and was promoted to makuuchi for the July 1995 tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Because he had won the yusho or tournament championship with a 14–1 record from the rank of juryo 1, he entered at maegashira 7, the second highest top division debut rank after Daiju in 1970. For his first makuuchi bouts he was drawn against some tough opponents; first ozeki Wakanohana, followed by yokozuna Takanohana the second day. He lost both bouts, and would finish the tournament 7–8.

Recovering from this, his first ever make-koshi, Tosanoumi continued to rise through the ranks, reaching komusubi in January 1996 and sekiwake in May 1997. His best result in a tournament came in November 1998, when he finished as runner-up to Kotonishiki with 12 wins. Although he never rose higher than sekiwake, he held the rank for seven tournaments in total, the last being in May 2005. He was also ranked at komusubi on thirteen occasions, for a total of twenty tournaments in the san'yaku ranks. He remained in makuuchi continuously from July 1995 until January 2006, when a 5–10 result at maegashira 14 resulted in demotion to juryo. He reappeared in makuuchi just two tournaments later in May 2006, but remained at the bottom of the division. He fell to juryo on three further occasions, in May 2007, March 2008 and September 2008, but each time made an immediate return to the top division.

Tosanoumi won a total of thirteen prizes (equal to the seventh highest ever) and eleven gold stars (the fourth highest ever) in his long makuuchi career. He defeated two yokozuna in the same tournament on four separate occasions. He earned four gold stars from Takanohana, and three each from Wakanohana and Akebono. He is the only wrestler to win kinboshi in four consecutive tournaments, which he achieved from November 1998 to May 1999. His last gold star came in 2003 when he beat Musashimaru, in what was the latter's last bout before retirement. In July 2007 he recorded his 600th career win, which came by default when his opponent withdrew. Tosanoumi is tenth on the all-time list of most top division appearances with 1183, and he had 80 tournaments ranked in the top division.

### **Later Career**

He became the oldest active sekitori after the March 2009 tournament following the retirement of Otsukasa. However, he was unable to maintain his makuuchi position, dropping to juryo 6 after winning only four matches at Maegashira 15. An 8–7 record in May was not enough to return him to the top division this time. He could manage only a 5–10 score in July, his first ever juryo make-koshi. He recorded his 700th career win in the January 2010 tournament, the first makushita tsukedashi entrant to achieve this feat.

Following the large number of demotions to the juryo division in September 2010 after six wrestlers were suspended from competition he made a surprise return to the top division, becoming at 38 years and six months the oldest man ever to do so (this record has since been broken by Aminishiki). He was however out of his depth and scored only 2–13, resulting in demotion straight back to juryo.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

In November 2010 Tosanoumi could score only 4–11 at juryo 8, which would have resulted in demotion to the makushita division. This broke a run of 97 consecutive tournaments at a sekitori rank. Instead Tosanoumi chose to retire, announcing his decision on December 15 shortly before the release of the new rankings. He has stayed in sumo as a coach at Isenoumi stable under the toshiyori name Tatekawa, and his danpatsu-shiki or official retirement ceremony took place at the Ryogoku Kokugikan on May 28, 2011.

## **Personal Life**

* Tosanoumi announced in September 2008 that he would be getting married. The wedding reception and ceremony were held in January 2009.
* Tosanoumi's favorite food is cake. His hobby is watching movies and his favorite entertainer is South Korean actor Yeon Jung-hoon. He met the actor in Tokyo on August 2005.
* He is close friends with professional baseball players Masahiro Yamamoto and Shinya Miyamoto.
* Tosanoumi is known for his loud grunt during the tachiai of a match.

## **Fighting Style**

Tosanoumi's fighting style was solidly oshi-sumo, using pushing and thrusting techniques as opposed to yotsu-sumo or grappling techniques. He has attributed his relative lack of injuries during his career in part to this preference. Over 30 percent of his wins in sumo were oshidashi, a simple push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 732-735-16/1466 (101 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 569-615-16/1183 (80 basho)
* **Juryo:** 141-114/255 (17 basho)
* **Makushita:** 22-6/28 (4 basho)

### **Championships**

* 2 **Juryo** Championships
	+ 1st (November 1994)
	+ 2nd (May 1995)
* 1 **Makushita** Championship (May 1994)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Outstanding Performance Prize (7), Fighting Spirit Prize (5), Technique Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 11: (4) Takanohana, (3) Akebono, (3) Wakanohana, (1) Akebono
* **Record:** Tied for **7th** most special prizes (13 special prizes)
* **Record:** Tied for **4th** most gold stars (11 kinboshi)

## **Gallery**

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

Tosanoumi Toshio - 1997 (Retrieved from the JSA)Tosanoumi's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Tosanoumi gets recruited into Isenoumi stable (c. 1994)Tosanoumi gets the Makushita Yusho (c. 1994)Tosanoumi after promotion to Juryo (c. 1994)Tosanoumi after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 1995)Tosanoumi with one of his many sansho prizes (c. 1997)Tosanoumi after promotion to Sekiwake (c. 1997)Tosanoumi during the Makuuchi dohyo-iri (c. 1999)Tosanoumi defeats future Yokozuna Asashoryu (c. 2001)Tosanoumi defeats Ozeki Chiyotaikai (c. 2002)Tosanoumi defeats Ozeki Kaio (c. 2002)Tosanoumi defeats Ozeki Tochiazuma (c. 2003)Tosanoumi retires Yokozuna Musashimaru (c. 2003)Tosanoumi defeats Yamamotoyama (c. 2009)Tosanoumi falls to Juryo (c. 2010)Tosanoumi announces his retirement (c. 2010)Tosanoumi retirement ceremony (c. 2012)Tosanoumi after retirement as Tatekawa Oyakata
## **Sources**

* Tosanoumi Toshio Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tosanoumi Toshio Rikishi Information