Kotokaze Kōki

Kotokaze Kōki (born 26 April 1957 as Koichi Nakayama) is a former sumo wrestler from Tsu, Mie, Japan. Beginning his career in 1971, he reached the top makuuchi division in 1977 but after a serious injury in 1979 he fell greatly in rank before staging a comeback. His highest rank was ōzeki, which he reached in 1981. He won two tournament championships and was a runner-up in two others. He won six special prizes and six gold stars for defeating yokozuna. He retired in 1985 and became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and the head coach of Oguruma stable.

Kotokaze Kōki
琴風 豪規
Kotokaze (right) with former yokozuna Ōnokuni in May 2017
Personal information
BornKoichi Nakayama
(1957-04-26) 26 April 1957
Mie, Japan
Height1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in)
Weight173 kg (381 lb)
Career
StableSadogatake
Record561-352-102
DebutJuly, 1971
Highest rankŌzeki (November, 1981)
RetiredNovember, 1985
Elder nameŌguruma
Championships2 (Makuuchi)
1 (Jūryō)
1 (Makushita)
Special PrizesOutstanding Performance (3)
Fighting Spirit (2)
Technique(1)
Gold Stars6
Kitanoumi (3)
Mienoumi
Wajima
Wakanohana II
* Up to date as of August 2012.

Career

Scouted by the 53rd Yokozuna Kotozakura, he joined Sadogatake stable in July 1971. He was only 14 years old and still at junior high school, and in his early days in the jonidan division he was excused from fighting some matches to attend school, not travelling to the regional tournaments and fighting only on Sunday in the Tokyo ones. He reached the sekitori level in November 1975 upon promotion to the second highest jūryō division and in January 1977 he made his debut in the top makuuchi division. He got as far as sekiwake before suffering a severe injury to his left knee joint which forced him to miss several tournaments and plunge all the way down to the unsalaried makushita division. He made his way back to the top division in just one year. By March 1981 he had returned to sekiwake and in September 1981 he captured his first tournament championship with a 12–3 record, finishing one win ahead of yokozuna Wakanohana II. He was immediately promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ōzeki. He took his second championship in January 1983 with a 14–1 score, beating Asashio in a playoff. In September 1984 he defeated a newcomer to the division who was in contention for the tournament title, the gigantic Konishiki, in a mammoth two-minute struggle on the final day. Kotokaze later recalled this bout as his most memorable ever. In May 1985 he suffered another serious injury, this time to his right knee, and he decided to retire in November 1985 at the age of twenty eight.

After retirement

Kotokaze became an elder of the Sumo Association under the name Oguruma Oyakata. In 1987 he left Sadogatake to set up his own Oguruma stable. He gives all of his new recruits shikona with the suffix "kaze" (wind), taken from his own fighting name. The first wrestler from the stable to achieve sekitori status was Tomikaze in July 2000. As of March 2019, Oguruma stable has produced six wrestlers with top division experience, Takekaze, Yoshikaze, Kimikaze, Amakaze, Yago and Tomokaze. Another, Wakakirin, (who originally came from a different stable) was dismissed from the Sumo Association because of cannabis use in February 2009. Oguruma was demoted from his post in the Association as a result. In September 2010, two men were arresting for attempting to blackmail Kotokaze, sending him a letter threatening to reveal his connections to a "violent criminal gang" (usually a euphemism for yakuza) in his younger years.[1] In April 2011 he was hit with another demotion after a jūryō division wrestler from his stable, Hoshikaze, was forced to retire after a match-fixing scandal.[2] However, in February 2012 he was elected to the Sumo Association board of directors.

Kotokaze is also a regular commentator on NHK's sumo tournament broadcasts.

Fighting style

Kotokaze's most common winning kimarite or technique was overwhelmingly a straightforward yori-kiri or force out, which accounted for over half his wins at sekitori level. He favoured hidari-yotsu, or a right hand outside, left hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi. He very rarely employed throwing moves.

Career record
Kotokaze Koki[3]
Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo		 March
Haru basho, Osaka		 May
Natsu basho, Tokyo		 July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya		 September
Aki basho, Tokyo		 November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1971 x x x (Maezumo) West Jonokuchi #9
3–4
 		 East Jonidan #97
3–1
 
1972 West Jonidan #59
1–2
 		 West Jonidan #77
–
 		 West Jonidan #77
2–1
 		 East Jonidan #47
–
 		 East Jonidan #46
1–2
 		 East Jonidan #54
–
 
1973 East Jonidan #54
3–0
 		 West Jonidan #19
3–4
 		 East Jonidan #32
6–1
 		 East Sandanme #69
4–3
 		 West Sandanme #52
5–2
 		 East Sandanme #24
5–2
 
1974 East Sandanme #1
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #10
4–3
 		 East Makushita #57
3–4
 		 West Sandanme #8
3–4
 		 East Sandanme #18
5–2
 		 East Makushita #54
5–2
 
1975 West Makushita #31
4–3
 		 East Makushita #25
6–1
 		 West Makushita #8
5–2
 		 West Makushita #2
4–3
 		 West Makushita #1
5–2
 		 West Jūryō #12
8–7
 
1976 East Jūryō #9
8–7
 		 West Jūryō #7
9–6
 		 West Jūryō #2
5–10
 		 West Jūryō #7
8–7
 		 East Jūryō #7
9–6
 		 East Jūryō #1
9–6
 
1977 West Maegashira #11
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #6
9–6
 		 East Maegashira #1
5–10
 		 West Maegashira #7
8–7
 		 West Maegashira #5
8–7
 		 East Maegashira #1
10–5
O★
1978 West Sekiwake #1
5–10
 		 East Maegashira #3
6–9
★		 West Maegashira #6
12–3
O★		 West Sekiwake #1
7–8
 		 West Komusubi #1
7–8
 		 West Maegashira #1
0–3–12
 
1979 East Maegashira #13
3–2–10
 		 West Jūryō #7
Sat out due to injury
0–0–15		 West Makushita #5
Sat out due to injury
0–0–7		 West Makushita #30
6–1
 		 West Makushita #8
7–0–P
Champion
 		 West Jūryō #11
14–1
Champion
 
1980 West Maegashira #14
12–3
F		 East Maegashira #1
10–5
F		 West Sekiwake #1
10–5
O		 East Sekiwake #1
6–4–5
 		 West Maegashira #2
Sat out due to injury
0–0–15		 West Maegashira #2
7–8
★
1981 West Maegashira #3
10–5
★★		 West Sekiwake #1
9–6
 		 West Komusubi #1
9–6
 		 East Sekiwake #1
10–5
 		 East Sekiwake #1
12–3
T		 East Ōzeki
11–4
 
1982 East Ōzeki #1
10–5
 		 East Ōzeki #1
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki #1
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki #1
11–4
 		 East Ōzeki #1
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki #1
10–5
 
1983 West Ōzeki #1
14–1–P
 		 East Ōzeki #1
11–4
 		 West Ōzeki #1
11–4
 		 West Ōzeki #2
12–3
 		 East Ōzeki #1
11–4
 		 West Ōzeki #1
11–4
 
1984 West Ōzeki #1
11–4
 		 West Ōzeki #1
9–6
 		 East Ōzeki #2
9–6
 		 West Ōzeki #2
8–7
 		 West Ōzeki #2
10–5
 		 East Ōzeki #2
10–5
 
1985 East Ōzeki #2
8–7
 		 West Ōzeki #2
5–10
 		 West Ōzeki #2
3–4–8
 		 West Sekiwake #2
Sat out due to injury
0–0–15		 East Sekiwake #2
Sat out due to injury
0–0–15		 East Maegashira #10
Retired
0–4
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

References
  1. "尾車親方に「あの時の金返せ」脅迫容疑で男ら逮捕". テレ朝News. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
  2. "Two more wrestlers forced to quit sumo". Japan Times. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  3. "Kotokaze Koki Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.