Shimotori Norio

Shimotori Norio - 霜鳳 典雄 (born March 18, 1978) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Myoko, Niigata. He made his debut in May 2000 and wrestled for Tokitsukaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 2002 and has 1 special prize as well as 1 kinboshi. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in May 2011.

## **Early Life**

When Shimotori was in elementary and junior high school, he participated in various sports such as karate, judo, and swimming. During his time at Takada Agricultural High School in Niigata Prefecture, he was invited to the school's sumo club to try out. In his third year he won 5th place in the National Athletic Meet. After that, he entered Tokyo University of Agriculture and was a member of the school's sumo club, but did not manage to win a major national title.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He was recruited by the Tokitsukaze stable and made his professional debut in May 2000, almost a year later than intended due to injuries from a traffic accident. Due to his amateur record he was given makushita tsukedashi status and began at the bottom of the third highest makushita division. He produced five consecutive 5-2 records and a 6-1 record in March 2001 earned him a promotion to juryo in May 2001.

### **Juryo Career**

Shimotori reached sekitori status in May 2001 upon promotion to the second highest juryo division, and he made steady progress, rising to juryo 3 by January 2002, where a 12-3 score and a playoff for the yusho or championship with Takamisakari earned him promotion to the top makuuchi division for March 2002.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In July 2002 in only his third top division tournament he earned a kinboshi or gold star for defeating Musashimaru in his first ever bout against a yokozuna, easily the best win of his career. He was also awarded the Fighting Spirit prize in this tournament. He was not able to follow up this promising performance however, and slipped back into the juryo division briefly in 2003. In January 2004 he produced a strong 11-4 record from the maegashira 7 ranking (although fighting only his fellow maegashira) and was promoted all the way to komusubi for the March 2004 tournament. However he managed only a 6-9 score fighting all the top ranked wrestlers in his komusubi debut and never managed to return to the titled sanyaku ranks.

After missing the whole of the November 2005 tournament through injury Shimotori struggled to maintain his position in the top division, spending most of 2006 in juryo. He returned to the top division in March 2007, but his stay was short-lived as he was unable to compete at all in the May 2007 tournament due to a herniated disk suffered during training in April. In November 2007 he produced a 10-5 score at the rank of Juryo 4 which was enough to earn promotion back to the top division for the January 2008 tournament. A recurrence of his injury in winning his opening bout forced him to withdraw from the rest of this tournament and sent him back in the juryo division for another year.

Shimotori ensured himself of his seventh promotion to the top division with his 10-5 performance at the rank of juryo 2 in January 2009, and came through with a winning record at Maegashira 14 in March. He could score only 4-11 at Maegashira 8 in September 2009 but his final day victory over Masatsukasa kept him in the division. In the May 2010 tournament he was on the leaderboard early on after going 6-0 and then 8-2, although he finished on 10-5. This was his first top division winning record in double figures since January 2004. He maintained his top division position until he turned in a poor 2-13 record at Maegashira 11 in January 2011, which would have seen him demoted to juryo had the March 2011 tournament not been cancelled.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Shimotori was one of 23 wrestlers found guilty of fixing the result of bouts after an investigation by the Japan Sumo Association, and he was forced to retire in April 2011. He also had to give up the rights to the elder name of Nishikijima which he would have used to stay in sumo as a coach. His danpatsu-shiki, or retirement ceremony, was held on May 22nd, 2011. He is currently employed in the poultry farming business run by an acquaintance in Fukuoka.

## **Personal Life**

* When Shimotori graduated from high school, he obtained a teaching license.
* Shimotori's hobby is watching videos. His favorite food is beef tenderloin and his favorite singer is Miho Nakayama.
* He married a woman in June 2004.
* Unusually for the sumo world, he used his family name as his fighting name. For a short interim from July 2007 until January 2008 he changed his fighting name to the similar sounding Shimootori, but returned to using his family name after it brought no change in fortune.

## **Fighting Style**

Shimotori was a yotsu-sumo wrestler, preferring grappling techniques and grabbing his opponent's mawashi or belt. His favorite grip was migi-yotsu, which is left hand outside, right hand inside his opponent's arms. His most common winning technique was yorikiri, a straightforward force-out, which accounted for roughly half his wins.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 449-427-51/873 (65 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 231-273-51/501 (37 basho)
* **Juryo:** 187-143/330 (22 basho)
* **Makushita:** 31-11/42 (6 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** (1) Musashimaru

## **Shikona History**

* Shimotori Norio (2000.05 - 2007.05)
* Shimootori Norio (2007.07 - 2008.01)
* Shimotori Norio (2008.03 - 2011.05)

## **Gallery**

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

Shimotori Norio - 2003 (Retrieved from the JSA)Shimotori Norio - 2002 (Retrieved from the JSA)Shimotori's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Shimotori after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2002)Shimotori defeats Yokozuna Musashimaru (c. 2002)Shimotori receives hs first sansho prize (c. 2002)Shimotori after promotion to Komusubi (c. 2004)Shimotori defeats Yoshikaze (c. 2010)Shimotori after being found guilty of match-fixing (c. 2011)
## **Sources**

* Shimotori Norio Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Shimotori Norio Rikishi Information