Kotonowaka Masahiro

Kotonowaka Masahiro - 琴ノ若 傑太 (born November 19, 1997) is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Matsudo, Chiba. He made his debut in November 2015 and currently wrestles for Sadogatake stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 2020 and has 5 special prizes. His highest rank as of 2023 is sekiwake.

## **Early Life**

Kamatani Masakatsu was born on November 19, 1997, as the only child to Kotonowaka who at the time was an active makuuchi wrestler. From an early age his grandfather, the former 53rd yokozuna Kotozakura, taught him the basics of sumo and he joined a local sumo dojo by the age of five.

After graduating from Matsuhidai Elementary School, Kamatani attended Saitama Sakae Junior High School and was considering to join professional sumo after junior high school graduation, however he was not confident in his sumo ability just yet and opted to continue his sumo career in High School. He continued his studies at Saitama Sakae High School and was also a member of their prestigious sumo club. In his third year he was captain of the sumo team in his high school and led his team to a group victory at the National High School Sumo Championships. He also won first place in the team and the individual (heavyweight) competitions at the Junior World Sumo Championships.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

After graduating from high school, Kamatani chose to join Sadogatake stable which was run by his father, the former sekiwake Kotonowaka. He made his debut in November 2015 under the shikona of 'Kotokamatani'. In his jonokuchi debut, Kotokamatani won all seven bouts and took the jonokuchi yusho. The following tournaments in jonidan and sandanme, Kotokamatani produced a 6-1 and two 5-2 records which earned him promotion to the third highest makushita division for the September 2016 tournament.

Kotokamatani scored a 5-2 record in his makushita debut, but produced two consecutive 3-4 records which demoted him back down to the sandanme division. He was immediately promoted back to makushita for the following tournament and he stayed in the mid-makushita level for around a year. Starting from March 2018, Kotokamatani went on a strong run where he produced four consecutive winning records and was promoted to makushita 9 for the November 2018 tournament. He produced a lackluster 3-4 record, but bounced back with two consecutive 5-2 records in the following tournaments which promoted him to the rank of makushita 2 in the May 2019 tournament. In this tournament, Kotokamatani defeated juryo-ranked wrestlers Akiseyama and Churanoumi and produced a 4-3 record which secured promotion to the juryo division.

### **Juryo Career**

Kotokamatani adopted his father's shikona 'Kotonowaka' upon promotion to juryo in July 2019. Kotonowaka struggled in his first few bouts in juryo, but bounced back and won his last three matches to finish with a 8-7 record. He was promoted to juryo 11 for the following tournament and was in contention for the division championship, but he lost the last four matches to finish with a 9-6 record. The following two tournaments, Kotonowaka produced a 10-5 and a 9-6 record which earned him a promotion to the top makuuchi division.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kotonowaka made his makuuchi debut at the rank of maegashira 18 which was the first time in 61 years that the rank has been seen on the Banzuke (it was last seen in the September 1959 tournament). Kotonowaka produced a 9-6 in his makuuchi debut and was promoted to Maegashira 13. The following tournament, Kotonowaka suffered a knee injury and pulled out on the pulled out on the eighth day. He returned on the 14th day, but lost his remaining matches to finish with a 4-6-5 record and demotion back to juryo.

Kotonowaka immediately earned promotion back to makuuchi for the November 2020 tournament after producing a 9-6 record in juryo. In January 2021 he produced a strong 10-5 record which promoted him to the rank of maegashira 8 in march 2021. He secured a losing record of 6-9 in the March tournament, but has enough wins to stay in the top division.

In the July 2021 tournament Kotonowaka had his best career performance to date. He scored 12–3 and was awarded his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. He moved up to maegashira 3 for the September tournament. On the eighth day of the September tournament he defeated ozeki Shodai.However, he had to withdraw from the tournament with a left knee injury on Day 10. In January 2022 Kotonowaka won eleven matches from maegashira 14, and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize for the second time. In March Kotonowaka was in contention for the championship on the final day for the second straight tournament, but lost to Hoshoryu when victory would have given him a chance of a playoff with the other two contenders, Wakatakakage and Takayasu. He finished in third place with 11–4, but did receive his third Fighting Spirit prize. In the May 2022 tournament he reached maegashira 2.

After a 9-6 winning record at his highest rank of maegashira 1, Kotonowaka was promoted to komusubi for the January 2023 tournament. At the January tournament he secured an 8–7 record on the final day with a win over Hokutofuji. Kotonowaka lost his first four bouts of the tournament, but rallied to get a winning record which included a win over eventual championship winner ozeki Takakeisho. He retained his komusubi rankings for the March tournament.

In the March tournament Kotonwaka secured a 9–6 record, which included a win over eventual championship winner sekiwake Kiribayama. During the July tournament of the same year, Kotonowaka scored several significant victories, including against former ozeki Mitakeumi and Shodai, as well as ozeki promotion seekers, Daieisho. On Day 7, he even defeated one of the tournament leaders, maegashira Nishikigi, ending his streak of 14 straight wins. On the tenth day, Kotonowaka inflicted defeat on another ozeki title contender, sekiwake Hoshoryu. This victory was particularly significant for Kotonowaka, who had only beaten Hoshoryu once in eleven matches since the two joined the makuuchi division. In a letter to the editor published in Sankei Sports, former ozeki Musoyama commented with satisfaction on Kotonowaka's wrestling style, deeming it worthy of the rank of ozeki. For his performances during the tournament, Kotonowaka was promised a fourth sansho award for Fighting Spirit, which was nonetheless conditional on an eleventh victory. On the final day of the tournament, Kotonowaka won his match against Ryuden and was awarded the prize. Since he achieved double figures in a sanyaku rank, and was the first in this category to reach 10 wins during the July tournament, Kotonowaka commented on his satisfaction at having seriously strengthened his case for promotion to the rank of sekiwake, the highest rank held by his father and master (former sekiwake Kotonowaka Terumasa) after having stagnated at the rank of komusubi for 4 consecutive tournaments. He also commented on his ambition to be promoted to ozeki, in order to revive and inherit the shikona, or ring name, of his maternal grandfather, former yokozuna Kotozakura, to whom he had made this promise.

Kotonowaka's promotion to sekiwake was made official with the release of the September tournament rankings on 28 August 2023. He became Sadogatake stable's first sekiwake since Kotoyuki was promoted in May 2016. Upon his promotion, Kotonowaka said he was honored to be at the same ranking as his father, while his father and stablemaster said that the rank was not the end, adding his hopes that someday his son would be on par with Kotozakura. Since Kotonowaka has obtained a solid base to start a run towards the rank of ozeki, it was announced before the September tournament that his matches would be sponsored by the management and entertainment company LDH.

In the November 2023 tournament Kotonowaka defeated Meisei on Day 3 using the rare kimarite of osakate (backward twisting overarm throw), a technique that had not been used in the makuuchi division for 13 years. He was the co-leader in the championship race after Day 11 with two losses before suffering consecutive defeats to Kirishima and Ryuden. He finished the tournament with a record of 11–4 after defeating Atamifuji and was awarded his fifth Kanto-sho (Fighting Spirit) special prize. Kotonowaka finished 2023 with winning records at the san'yaku ranks in all six of his tournaments. His father Sadogatake, speaking as the head of the Sumo Association's refereeing department, said that ozeki promotion is at stake for Kotonowaka at the tournament in January 2024.

## **Personal Life**

* Kotonowaka's hobbies include listening to music.

### **Family**

* Kotonowaka's father is his stablemaster, Sadogatake Oyakata (ex-sekiwake Kotonowaka Terumasa). His grandfather is the 53rd yokozuna Kotozakura. Upon promotion to makuuchi, Kotonowaka became the first third-generation sumo wrestler in sumo history.
* Kotonowaka witnessed his father's last match live a the Fukuoka Kokusai Center with his family. When his father announced his retirement, he told Kotonowaka to succeed in his future experience with sumo.
* During a child sumo tournament, Kotonowaka came second in the tournament and won a silver medal. His grandfather, the former Kotozakura, told him that the silver medal was meaningless and that he should aim for gold. Kotonowaka cited this experience as an unforgettable message during his juryo promotion press conference. It is believed that he will inherit the 'Kotozakura' if he earns promotion to the ozeki rank.

## **Fighting Style**

Kotonowaka's favored techniques are listed at the Sumo Association as migi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponent's mawashi), yori (forcing) and oshi (pushing). His most common winning kimarite are straightforward: yori-kiri (force out) and oshi dashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 309-214-14/520 (48 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 175-126-14/298 (21 basho)
* **Juryo:** 44-31/75 (5 basho)
* **Makushita:** 62-50/112 (16 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 15-6/21 (3 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 7-0/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 Jonokuchi Championship (January 2016)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (5)
* **1st** Third-Generation Makuuchi Sumo Wrestler

## **Shikona History**

* Kotokamatani Masakatsu (2015.11 - 2019.05)
* Kotonowaka Masahiro (2019.07 - )

## **Gallery**

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

Kotonowaka Masahiro - 2023 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kotonowaka Masahiro - 2022 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kotonowaka Masahiro - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kotonowaka Masahiro - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kotonowaka Masahiro - 2019 (Retrieved from the JSA)Kotonowaka's tegata
### **Career Overview**

Kotokamatani gets recruited into Sadogatake stable (c. 2015)Kotokamatani gets measured upon joining professional sumo (c. 2015)Kotokamatani during his time in Maezumo (c. 2015)Kotokamatani wins the Jonokuchi Yusho (c. 2016)Kotokamatani ensures promotion to Juryo (c. 2019)Kotokamatani reveals his new shikona, Kotonowaka (c. 2019)Kotonowaka becomes the first third generation sekitori (c. 2019)Kotonowaka presented with his kesho-mawashi (c. 2019)Kotonowaka defeats Ichiyamamoto (c. 2019)Kotonowaka prepares for his upcoming match (c. 2020)Kotonowaka after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 2020)Kotonowaka defeats Azumaryu (c. 2020)Kotonowaka with his first of many sansho prizes (c. 2021)Kotonowaka defeats Ozeki Shodai (c. 2021)Kotonowaka defeats Takanosho (c. 2022)Kotonowaka after promotion to Komusubi (c. 2022)Kotonowaka defeats Ozeki Takakeisho (c. 2023)Kotonowaka after promotion to Sekiwake (c. 2023)
## **Sources**

* Kotonowaka Masahiro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kotonowaka Masahiro Rikishi Information