Yutakayama Katsuo

Yutakayama Katsuo - 豊山 勝男 (born December 1, 1937) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Shibata, Niigata. He made his debut in March 1961 and wrestled for Tokitsukaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1962 and has 7 special prizes as well as 1 kinboshi. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in September 1968.

## **Early Life**

Uchida was raised by a single mother in Shibata, Niigata. During his time at Shibata Commercial High school, he participated in athletics and baseball. He went on to attend Tokyo University of Agriculture where he joined the sumo club. In his fourth year he earned the Collegiate Yokozuna title. After graduating college, he was planning on joining Dewanoumi stable, but switched to Tokitsukaze stable after he was enthusiastically persuaded by the 42nd Yokozuna Kagamisato.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut at the age of 23 in May 1961, joining Tokitsukaze stable, run by the former yokozuna great Futabayama. Due to his amateur achievements he was given makushita tsukedashi status and began in the third makushita division, fighting under his real name of Uchida. He produced three consecutive winning records from his debut and was promoted to juryo in September 1961.

### **Juryo Career**

He reached the second juryo division in three tournaments. He finished with a solid 9-6 record in his first tournament as a sekitori. In the following November 1961 tournament, he won the juryo yusho with a perfect 15-0 record and was promoted to makuuchi in January 1962.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He adopted the shikona of Yutakayama upon his entry to the top division in January 1962 and was a runner-up to yokozuna Taiho in his debut tournament with a score of 12–3, also receiving the Fighting Spirit prize. He made komusubi rank in May 1962 but fell just short with seven wins. However, after a fine 12–3 score in September he was elevated straight to sekiwake and two more runner-up performances (to Taiho once again) saw him promoted to the second highest rank of ozeki. The 37 wins he had in the three tournaments prior to his promotion was the strongest record for an ozeki candidate since the six tournaments a year system began in 1958 (it has since been equaled by Hokutenyu,  Wakanohana III and Tochinoshin).

### **Ozeki Career**

Yutakayama remained at ozeki for the rest of his career, and was ranked there for 34 tournaments, eighth on the all-time list. He was runner-up on five more occasions, but never won a top division championship. He was perhaps unlucky to be fighting in the same era as the dominant Taiho, whom he was able to beat only four times in 32 meetings. There were a number of other strong yokozuna around as well, such as Sadanoyama and Kashiwado, with whom he also had a poor head-to-head record. After finishing as runner-up to Wakanami in March 1968 and Tamanoshima in May, he then had two make-koshi (losing scores) in a row, managing only a poor 4–11 record in September. He announced his retirement at the end of that tournament at the age of 31.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Yutakayama remained in the sumo world as an elder, initially under the name of Nishikijima. When his stablemaster Futabayama died a few months later in December 1968, a previous yokozunafrom the stable, Kagamisato, briefly took charge, but Yutakayama was asked by Futabayama's widow to assume control instead. Kagamisato left to found another stable and Yutakayama took on the Tokitsukaze name in 1969. Over the years he produced a number of top division wrestlers such as Kurama, Oshio, Oyutaka, Yutakayama Hiromitsu, Tokitsunada, Aogiyama and Tokitsuumi. In February 1998 he successfully challenged Sakaigawa (the former Sadanoyama) for the chairmanship of the Japan Sumo Association, coming first in the ballot ahead of Kitanoumi. He remained in charge until February 2002. Later that year he handed control of Tokitsukaze stable over to former komusubi Futatsuryu and left the Sumo Association upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65. In September 2020, he participated in the ceremony to mark Shodai's ozeki promotion.

## **Personal Life**

* During his time at Tokyo University of Agriculture, he was enrolled at the Faculty of Agriculture where he studied agricultural chemistry. During his time as a coach, he has kept in close contact with his school's sumo program and would recruit the top wrestlers from the school.
* In his hometown of Shibata, Niigata, there is a Syokudo and Teishoku restaurant called "Drive In Yutakayama" (ドライブイン豊山). The owner of the restaurant and Yutakayama are close friends.

## **Fighting Style**

Yutakayama's favored techniques were migi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi) and uwatenage (overarm throw). His most common winning kimarite in his career were yorikiri (force out) and tsuridashi (lift out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 413-245-8/657 (46 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 373-234-8/606 (41 basho)
* **Juryo:** 24-6/30 (2 basho)
* **Makushita:** 16-5/21 (3 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (November 1961)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes**: Fighting Spirit Prize (4), Outstanding Performance Prize (3)
* **Kinboshi:** (1) Kashiwado
* **Record:** **9th** most tournaments ranked at ozeki (34 tournaments)

## **Shikona History**

* Uchida Katsuo (1961.03 - 1961.11)
* Yutakayama Katsuo (1962.01 - 1968.09)

## **Gallery**

Yutakayama Katsuo - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Yutakayama's tegataYutakayama's successful college sumo career (c. 1960)Yutakayama's early career in the unsalaried ranks (c. 1961)Yutakayama during the Juryo dohyo-iri as Uchida (c. 1961)Yutakayama prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1961)Yutakayama wins the Juryo Yusho with a zensho Yusho (c. 1961)Yutakayama after promotion to Makuuchi (c. 1962)Yutakayama wins multiple sansho prizes (c. 1963)Yutakayama gets promoted to Ozeki (c. 1963)Yutakayama celebrates promotion to Ozeki (c. 1963)Yutakayama (left) with his fellow Ozeki (c. 1963)Yutakayama lifts out and defeats Sadanoyama (c. 1963)Yutakayama prepares for his upcoming matchYutakayama poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1967)Yutakayama announces his retirement (c. 1968)Yutakayama's retirement ceremony (c. 1969)Yutakayama after retirement as Tokitsukaze Oyakata
## **Sources**

* Yutakayama Katsuo Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Yutakayama Katsuo Rikishi Information