Keisuke Itai
Encyclopedia
is a former sumo
Sumo
is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

 wrestler from Usuki
Usuki, Oita
is a city located on the east coast of Ōita Prefecture, Japan. It is famous for its Usuki Stone Buddhas, a national treasure, and its soy sauce production. Recently it has become known for having the look and feel of a Japanese castle town...

, Oita
Oita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The prefectural capital is the city of Ōita.- History :Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: Tsukushi-no-kuni 筑紫国, Hi-no-kuni 肥国, and Toyo no kuni...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. His highest rank was komusubi. After his retirement he caused controversy by claiming that the outcomes of many of his matches were fixed
Match fixing
In organised sports, match fixing, game fixing, race fixing, or sports fixing occurs as a match is played to a completely or partially pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. Where the sporting competition in question is a race then the incident is referred to as...

.

Career

He won many national youth competitions as an amateur, but worked in the ceramics
Ceramic art
In art history, ceramics and ceramic art mean art objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorative, industrial or applied art objects, or as...

 industry until he was 22. He did not turn professional until September 1978 when he joined the now defunct Onaruto stable. He rose up the rankings in record time, winning his first 26 matches and reaching the second jūryō division just six tournaments after his professional debut. He was given the shikona
Shikona
A shikona is a sumo wrestler's ring name.As with standard Japanese names, a shikona consists of a 'surname' and a 'given' name, and the full name is written surname first. However, the given name is rarely used outside formal or ceremonial occasions. Thus, the former yokozuna Asashōryū Akinori is...

of Kotetsuyama, also the fighting name of his stablemaster. He was promoted to the top makuuchi
Makuuchi
or is the top division of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers , ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments....

division after winning the jūryō championship in July 1980. However he dropped out of his debut makuuchi tournament on the fifth day without even winning one match. He won promotion to the top division once again after winning another jūryō title in March 1981 but once again dropped out of the following tournament, this time after only three days. Struggling with injuries, he fell all the way down to the unsalaried makushita division. In an effort to change his fortunes, he dropped the shikona and reverted to his real surname, which he was to use for the rest of his career.

Itai finally managed a top division win at his third attempt in November 1982, and came through with his first kachi-koshi or winning score in March 1983. He remained in the top division for 50 consecutive tournaments. Although he was short for a sumo wrestler at just , he was a powerful pusher-thruster, specialising in oshi techniques
Kimarite
Kimarite are winning techniques in a sumo bout. For each bout in a Grand Sumo tournament , a sumo referee, or gyoji, will decide and announce the type of kimarite used by the winner...

. He earned three gold stars
Kinboshi
Kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo wrestling to record a lower-ranked wrestler's victory over a yokozuna....

 for defeating yokozuna, but all of those occurred at bouts against Onokuni. He also lost all 16 bouts against yokozuna Chiyonofuji. His best result in a tournament was 11-4 in March 1989, for which he was awarded two special prizes
Sansho (Sumo)
Sanshō are the three special prizes awarded to top division sumo wrestlers for exceptional performance during a sumo honbasho or tournament. The prizes were first awarded in November 1947.-Criteria:...

 for Outstanding Performance and Technique. He earned promotion to komusubi for the following tournament, but only managed three wins in his sanyaku debut and never managed to return to the rank. In the July 1991 tournament, ranked at the bottom of the makuuchi division, he lost every one of his fifteen bouts and was demoted to jūryō. He announced his retirement from sumo three days into the following tournament at the age of 35.

Retirement from sumo

Itai was unable to purchase or borrow toshiyori kabu, or elder stock upon his retirement and so was unable to remain in the Japan Sumo Association
Japan Sumo Association
The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Rikishi , gyōji , tokoyama , and yobidashi , are all on the Association's payroll, but the organisation is run...

. As result, his Onaruto stable folded in 1994 when no successor to his old stablemaster could be found. Itai began a new career as a chankonabe
Chankonabe
is a Japanese stew commonly eaten in vast quantity by sumo wrestlers as part of a weight-gain diet. It contains a dashi or chicken broth soup base with sake or mirin to add flavor...

restaurant owner.

In February 2000, in a string of articles published in the tabloid Shukan Gendai
Shukan Gendai
is a Japanese weekly magazine published since 1959 by Kodansha. Published simultaneously with Weekly Post , it includes articles about political scandals, sports and celebrities; nude photos; movie information; book reviews; and other articles of interest to middle-aged salarymen...

magazine, he claimed that during his active career yaocho, or match-fixing was widespread, with up to 80 percent of bouts being prearranged. Wrestlers who had already secured their kachi-koshi would lose deliberately to those still needing wins, in exchange for points to be collected at later tournaments. Wrestlers who had not accumulated points would have to "buy" victories instead for around $2000. Itai claimed the practice was still continuing today, although to a lesser extent. The Sumo Association strenuously denied the allegations, with its chairman Tokitsukaze Oyakata
Yutakayama Katsuo
Yutakayama Katsuo is a former sumo wrestler from Niigata, Japan. His highest rank was ozeki. Although he never managed to win a top division tournament championship he was a runner-up on eight occasions...

 threatening Itai with legal action unless he withdraw his claims. Itai, who had joined a religious group called the God Light Association in the 1980s, said he was on a "mission from God" to reveal the truth behind match-fixing. Others pointed out his restaurant business was struggling and he was well paid for his interviews. Itai claimed to have evidence on tape, but it was never produced publicly and the Sumo Association did not in the end go to the courts.

On 3 October 2008 in the Tokyo District Court
Tokyo District Court
is a district court located at 1-1-4 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. -References:...

, Itai appeared for the defence in a lawsuit brought by the Sumo Association against the Shukan Gendai magazine over further match-fixing allegations. He repeated his belief that 75–80 percent of matches were fixed during his active days, and he stated that only three yokozuna, Onokuni, Takanohana and Wakanohana
Wakanohana Masaru
is a former sumo wrestler from Tokyo, Japan. As an active wrestler he was known as Wakanohana III Masaru , and his rise through the ranks alongside his younger brother Takanohana Koji saw a boom in sumo's popularity in the early 1990s...

 had not thrown bouts in recent times. He also said he was now working in a glass factory and had no other source of income.

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See also


External links

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