Career
Yoshikaze was an amateur sumo champion at Nihon Taiiku University, and won the college equivalent of the yokozuna title in his third year. Because he wanted to wait until after his graduation from university before joining professional sumo, he missed out on the chance to enter at the level of the third makushita division. He joined Oguruma stable and made his debut at maezumo level in January 2004. He was of course considerably older and more experienced than most of the competition there and quickly worked his way up the ranks, winning two tournament titles in the jonokuchi and sandanme divisions with perfect 7-0 records. He initially competed under his own surname of Onishi, but upon reaching the second highest jūryō division in July 2005 he changed his shikona to Yoshikaze.
He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in January 2006. It took him only 12 tournaments to make the top division from his professional debut, equal to the second fastest rise ever since the six tournaments per year system was introduced in 1958. However, until January 2009 he did not manage to rise above the mid maegashira ranks and he has fallen back to the second division twice so far.
In the November 2007 tournament he defeated fan favourite Takamisakari with the rare but spectacular technique of utchari, or spin throw from the edge of the ring. However he was able to win only three other bouts in that tournament and fell to the bottom of the division. An 8-7 record in January 2008 kept him in makuuuchi.
His best performance in the top division to date came in November 2008 when he won 11 bouts and was awarded his first sanshō or special prize, for Fighting Spirit. He was promoted to a new high of maegashira 2 for the January 2009 tournament. Although he was not able to come through with a winning record his score of 6-9 was creditable, and he scored a memorable win over new ozeki Harumafuji on the opening day of the tournament. However, he gradually slipped back down the rankings with three more losing scores in the next three tournaments. The November 2009 tournament was one of his most successful, as he won nine of his first ten bouts before slowing down somewhat to finish on 10-5. In September 2010 he won his second Fighting Spirit prize, which was shared with his stablemate Takekaze, after producing a fine 11-4 score, having been 7-0. He followed up with a solid 8-7 record in November, which saw him return to maegashira 2 in January 2011.
Read more about this topic: Yoshikaze Masatsugu
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