Wakanohana Masaru
Encyclopedia
is a former sumo
wrestler from Tokyo
, Japan
. As an active wrestler he was known as Wakanohana III Masaru (若乃花 勝), and his rise through the ranks alongside his younger brother Takanohana Koji
saw a boom in sumo's popularity in the early 1990s. He is the elder son of the former ozeki Takanohana I
, who was also his stablemaster, and the nephew of Wakanohana I
, a famous yokozuna of the 1950s. Wakanohana was a long serving ozeki who won five tournament championships, and eventually joined his brother at yokozuna rank in 1998, creating the first ever sibling grand champions. After a brief and injury plagued yokozuna career he retired in 2000, becoming a television personality and restaurant owner. The death of his father in 2005 saw a very public falling out with his brother.
, and joined his father's training stable, then known as Fujishima stable. The two brothers moved out of the family quarters and joined all the other new recruits in the communal area, and were instructed to refer to their father as oyakata (coach) only. Future rivals Akebono
and Kaio
also made their professional debuts in the same month. In the early part of his career he wrestled under the name Wakahanada, being given his uncle's fighting name a few tournaments prior to his promotion to ozeki. Wakanohana literally means Young Flower in Japanese
.
He entered the top division for the first time in September 1990, alongside Akebono and Takatoriki. He first reached a sanyaku rank in November 1991 when he was promoted to komusubi. In January 1992 he defeated Asahifuji in what was to be the yokozunas last ever bout, to earn the second of his two kinboshi
or gold stars. Lacking his brother's weight and strength, he took longer than Takanohana to rise up the ranks, still being a maegashira wrestler as late as January 1993, the tournament that Takanohana earned promotion to ozeki. However in the following tournament he won his first top division championship or yusho
with a 14-1 record. After a 10-5 in May 1993 and runner-up honours in July, he joined his brother at ozeki rank, the first time that two brothers had been ranked at ozeki simultanoeusly. His second tournament title came in November 1995, when he defeated Takanohana (by then a yokozuna) in a playoff. This was to be the only time he fought his brother in a competitive match. He was injured in the next tournament however, and the same thing happened after his third championship in January 1997. On that occasion he missed two tournaments and only just preserved his ozeki status with a bare majority of wins upon his return in July 1997. He was a tournament runner-up on five occasions at ozeki rank, four of those coming in 1996. Due to the dominance of Futagoyama stable, he was excused from having to fight several top wrestlers such as Takanonami, Takatoriki and Akinoshima.
, exactly ten years previously). He resolved to continue wrestling after consulting with his father, and was also supported by the head of the Japan Sumo Association
, the former Yutakayama Katsuo
, who said he saw no reason for retirement as his poor record was directly caused by injury.
After sitting out the next two tournaments Wakanohana returned in March 2000, even though he was not fully recovered from his injury, with most observers expecting him to wait until May. After losing three of his first five bouts he announced his retirement from sumo. He had been at sumo's top rank for only 11 tournaments, withdrawing from or missing six of them, and at 29 years of age, he was the sixth youngest yokozuna to retire. It was noted by a member of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council that had he not been promoted he would have been remembered as a fine ozeki like his father, rather than as a disappointing yokozuna.
prize on six occasions. His favourite grip on his opponent's mawashi
was hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most common winning kimarite
was yori-kiri, or force out, followed by oshi-dashi or push out. Together these two techniques accounted for almost fifty percent of his career victories. He had knowledge of a wide range of throwing moves, such as uwatenage (overarm throw), shitatenage (underarm throw), sukuinage (scoop throw) and kubinage (neck throw), as well as extremely rare techniques such as amiuchi (the fisherman's throw), kawazugake (hooking backward counter throw) and susoharai (rear footsweep).
, as well as trying to enter the professional world of American Football
. Wakanohana now owns and operates a chain of chanko nabe
(literally "meal pot", the staple food of sumo wrestlers) restaurants in Japan called "Chanko Dining Waka" On May 6, 2010, it was announced in the news that the "Chanko Dining Waka" chain was filing for bankruptcy, citing debts of over 147 million yen.
He published his autobiography, Dokuhaku (Strong Spirit), in 2001. He wrote of his constant fear during his career that he could be badly injured in a bout, and revealed that he never slept well during tournaments.
It was announced in October 2007, he was divorcing his wife Mieko, whom he married in June 1994 and with whom he had four children. He has since remarried and has another child with his new wife.
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 Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, 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...
. As an active wrestler he was known as Wakanohana III Masaru (若乃花 勝), and his rise through the ranks alongside his younger brother Takanohana Koji
Takanohana Koji
is a former sumo wrestler from Suginami, Tokyo, Japan. He was the 65th man in history to reach sumo's highest rank of yokozuna, and he won 22 tournament championships between 1992 and 2001, the fifth highest total ever...
saw a boom in sumo's popularity in the early 1990s. He is the elder son of the former ozeki Takanohana I
Takanohana Kenshi
Takanohana Kenshi 貴ノ花健士 was a sumo wrestler from Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. His highest rank was ozeki, which he held for fifty tournaments. As an active rikishi he was extremely popular and was nicknamed the "prince of sumo" due to his good looks and relatively slim build...
, who was also his stablemaster, and the nephew of Wakanohana I
Wakanohana Kanji I
was a sumo wrestler, the sport's 45th Yokozuna .Wakanohana's younger brother was the late former ozeki Takanohana Kenshi and he was the uncle of Takanohana Koji and Wakanohana Masaru...
, a famous yokozuna of the 1950s. Wakanohana was a long serving ozeki who won five tournament championships, and eventually joined his brother at yokozuna rank in 1998, creating the first ever sibling grand champions. After a brief and injury plagued yokozuna career he retired in 2000, becoming a television personality and restaurant owner. The death of his father in 2005 saw a very public falling out with his brother.
Early career
He entered sumo in March 1988, at the same time as his younger brother TakanohanaTakanohana Koji
is a former sumo wrestler from Suginami, Tokyo, Japan. He was the 65th man in history to reach sumo's highest rank of yokozuna, and he won 22 tournament championships between 1992 and 2001, the fifth highest total ever...
, and joined his father's training stable, then known as Fujishima stable. The two brothers moved out of the family quarters and joined all the other new recruits in the communal area, and were instructed to refer to their father as oyakata (coach) only. Future rivals Akebono
Akebono Taro
is a retired American born-Japanese sumo wrestler from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Joining the professional sport in Japan in 1988, he was trained by pioneering Hawaiian sumo wrestler Takamiyama and rose swiftly up the rankings, reaching the top division in 1990...
and Kaio
Kaio Hiroyuki
Kaiō Hiroyuki is a former professional sumo wrestler from Nōgata, Fukuoka, Japan.He made his debut in 1988, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1993. He held the second highest rank of ōzeki or champion for eleven years from 2000 to 2011, and is the longest-serving ozeki of all time in terms of...
also made their professional debuts in the same month. In the early part of his career he wrestled under the name Wakahanada, being given his uncle's fighting name a few tournaments prior to his promotion to ozeki. Wakanohana literally means Young Flower in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
He entered the top division for the first time in September 1990, alongside Akebono and Takatoriki. He first reached a sanyaku rank in November 1991 when he was promoted to komusubi. In January 1992 he defeated Asahifuji in what was to be the yokozunas last ever bout, to earn the second of his two kinboshi
Kinboshi
Kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo wrestling to record a lower-ranked wrestler's victory over a yokozuna....
or gold stars. Lacking his brother's weight and strength, he took longer than Takanohana to rise up the ranks, still being a maegashira wrestler as late as January 1993, the tournament that Takanohana earned promotion to ozeki. However in the following tournament he won his first top division championship or yusho
Yusho
A Yūshō is a tournament championship in sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual honbasho or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most number of bouts. Yūshō are awarded in all six professional sumo divisions...
with a 14-1 record. After a 10-5 in May 1993 and runner-up honours in July, he joined his brother at ozeki rank, the first time that two brothers had been ranked at ozeki simultanoeusly. His second tournament title came in November 1995, when he defeated Takanohana (by then a yokozuna) in a playoff. This was to be the only time he fought his brother in a competitive match. He was injured in the next tournament however, and the same thing happened after his third championship in January 1997. On that occasion he missed two tournaments and only just preserved his ozeki status with a bare majority of wins upon his return in July 1997. He was a tournament runner-up on five occasions at ozeki rank, four of those coming in 1996. Due to the dominance of Futagoyama stable, he was excused from having to fight several top wrestlers such as Takanonami, Takatoriki and Akinoshima.
Yokozuna
Wakanohana finally earned promotion to yokozuna in 1998 after winning two consecutive championships in March and May of that year. He had spent 29 tournaments at ozeki before reaching the yokozuna rank, the third longest wait ever. He and Takanohana became the first pair of brothers to ever become yokozuna. However his time at sumo's highest rank was brief and injury plagued, and he was unable to add to his tally of championship wins. The best result he had as a yokozuna was in January 1999 when he came into the final day the tournament leader on 13-1. However he was defeated by Chiyotaikai and, in the subsequent playoff between them for the championship, he lost a rematch after the first bout was deemed by the judges to be too close to call, despite many observers feeling Wakanohana had clearly won the match. He was unable to complete the next three tournaments due to a leg sprain, and then his refusal to withdraw from his comeback tournment in September 1999 despite suffering a torn thigh muscle on the tenth day ensured that he became only the second yokozuna ever to finish a 15-day tournament with more losses than wins (the other yokozuna to suffer this fate was OnokuniOnokuni Yasushi
Ōnokuni Yasushi is a former sumo wrestler from Hokkaidō, Japan. Making his professional debut in 1978, he reached the top division in 1983. In 1987 he won his first yusho or tournament championship with a perfect score and became the sport's 62nd yokozuna...
, exactly ten years previously). He resolved to continue wrestling after consulting with his father, and was also supported by the head of 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...
, the former Yutakayama Katsuo
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...
, who said he saw no reason for retirement as his poor record was directly caused by injury.
After sitting out the next two tournaments Wakanohana returned in March 2000, even though he was not fully recovered from his injury, with most observers expecting him to wait until May. After losing three of his first five bouts he announced his retirement from sumo. He had been at sumo's top rank for only 11 tournaments, withdrawing from or missing six of them, and at 29 years of age, he was the sixth youngest yokozuna to retire. It was noted by a member of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council that had he not been promoted he would have been remembered as a fine ozeki like his father, rather than as a disappointing yokozuna.
Fighting style
Wakanohana was noted for his wide range of techniques, winning the prestigious GinoshoSansho (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:...
prize on six occasions. His favourite grip on his opponent's mawashi
Mawashi
In sumo, a mawashi is the belt that the rikishi wears during training or in competition. Upper ranked professional wrestlers wear a keshō-mawashi as part of the ring entry ceremony or dohyo-iri.-Mawashi:...
was hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most common winning kimarite
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...
was yori-kiri, or force out, followed by oshi-dashi or push out. Together these two techniques accounted for almost fifty percent of his career victories. He had knowledge of a wide range of throwing moves, such as uwatenage (overarm throw), shitatenage (underarm throw), sukuinage (scoop throw) and kubinage (neck throw), as well as extremely rare techniques such as amiuchi (the fisherman's throw), kawazugake (hooking backward counter throw) and susoharai (rear footsweep).
After sumo
After a brief spell as a member (or elder) of the Japan Sumo Association, he eventually left sumo completely and has worked as an entertainer in JapanJapan
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...
, as well as trying to enter the professional world of American Football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. Wakanohana now owns and operates a chain of chanko nabe
Nabe
Nabe may refer to:*Nabe, a slang term for Neighbourhood*The National Association for Business Economics, one of the member groups of the Allied Social Sciences Association*National Association for Bilingual Education...
(literally "meal pot", the staple food of sumo wrestlers) restaurants in Japan called "Chanko Dining Waka" On May 6, 2010, it was announced in the news that the "Chanko Dining Waka" chain was filing for bankruptcy, citing debts of over 147 million yen.
He published his autobiography, Dokuhaku (Strong Spirit), in 2001. He wrote of his constant fear during his career that he could be badly injured in a bout, and revealed that he never slept well during tournaments.
It was announced in October 2007, he was divorcing his wife Mieko, whom he married in June 1994 and with whom he had four children. He has since remarried and has another child with his new wife.
Relationship with Takanohana
At the time of the death of their father, a bitter rift between Wakanohana and Takanohana was widely reported in the Japanese media. Upon his father's death, Takanohana was very critical of both his brother and his mother: his attacks on his brother (Wakanohana) relating to the struggle between them to control their father's funeral rites; the attacks on his mother condemning her for her extramarital affair (which led to her divorce from Futagoyama, and had only been rumored up to that point). There had been some speculation that all of this was related to who would control their father's estate. However, the former Wakanohana forfeited claim to the estate not long after his father's funeral.Top division record
See also
- Glossary of sumo termsGlossary of sumo termsThe following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. azukari : Hold. A kind of draw. After a mono-ii, the gyōji or the shimpan "holds" the result if it was too close to call...
- List of sumo tournament winners
- List of sumo tournament second division winners
- List of past sumo wrestlers
- List of yokozuna