Tooyama Katsunori

Tooyama Katsunori - 東桜山 勝徳 (born July 13, 1976) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hachioji, Tokyo. He made his debut in January 1999 and wrestled for Tamanoi stable. His highest rank was makushita 7 and he retired in September 2007.

## **Early Life**

Yoshinori Tashiro was born on July 13, 1976, in Hachioji, Tokyo, but he spent the majority of his early life in Fuchu, Tokyo. He began sumo wrestling during his second year at Sumiyoshi Elementary School. He earned the title of Elementary School Yokozuna for two consecutive years, during his fifth and sixth year of elementary school. For junior high and high school, he attended Meiji Univ. Nakano Junior & Senior High School, which was known for its strong sumo program. Tashiro was teammates with future ozeki Tochiazuma. After graduating high school, he enrolled at Meiji University's Department of Economics. During his time in college sumo, Tashiro never managed to win any major individual titles which failed to qualify him for makushita tsukedashi status. However, he won the team competition for Meiji University at the 1996 All-Japan Sumo Championships.

## **Career**

After graduating from university, Tashiro joined Tamanoi stable and made his professional debut in January 1999 alongside future yokozuna Asashoryu. In his first tournament, he won all seven matches, including a win over Asashoryu (this was Asashoryu's first career loss), to claim the jonokuchi yusho. He was promoted to sandanme in July 1999 and makushita in May 2000. He reached a career-best makushita 7 in November 2002, but could only manage a 2-5 record in this tournament. In July 2003, he was given the shikona "Tooka" (東桜花), before switching to "Tooyama" (東桜山) for the following September 2003 tournament. Towards his later career, he had two surgeries on his left leg due to an injury and he subsequently retired from sumo in September 2007.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After retiring from sumo, Tooyama became an actor, talent and model. He used to be part of the Osumo-San-Productions or SumoPro company which is a company that helps retired sumo wrestlers with jobs, mainly talent jobs for entertainment, he also opened his own company called Decks LLC. In February 2017 he posed for Vogue magazine. He starred in a commercial with Salman Khan and played the lead role in the unreleased Indian film *Sumo*. He played a small role in *Detective Chinatown 3* (2021) and the upcoming *John Wick: Chapter 4*.

## **Personal Life**

* Tooyama served as high school classmate and stablemate Tochiazuma's personal servant, or tsukebito.
* Tooyama created the official website for Tamanoi stable.

## **Fighting Style**

Tooyama was an oshi-sumo wrestler who prefers pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi. His most common kimarite used was a straightforward oshidashi, or push out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 192-152-20/344 (53 basho)
* **Makushita:** 131-128-7/259 (38 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 48-23-13/71 (12 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (March 1999)

## **Shikona History**

* Tashiro Yoshinori (1999.01 - 2003.05)
* Tooka Katsunori (2003.07 - 2003.07)
* Tooyama Katsunori (2003.09 - 2007.09)

## **Gallery**

Tooyama prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2006)Tooyama serves as stablemate Tochiazuma's tsukebitoTooyama dons the oichomage for his hair-cutting ceremony (c. 2007)Tooyama has his topknot cut by his stablemaster (c. 2007)Tooyama after retirement (c. 2007)Tooyama meets his fellow maezumo debutant and former yokozuna AsashoryuYoshinori works on John Wick 4 (c. 2022)

## **Sources**

* Tooyama Katsunori Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tooyama Katsunori Rikishi Information