Satoyama Kōsaku

Satoyama Kōsaku
里山 浩作
Personal information
Born	Kōsaku Satoyama (1981-05-31) May 31, 1981 Kagoshima, Japan
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Weight	119 kg (262 lb)
Career
Stable	Onoe, formerly Mihogaseki
University	Nihon University
Current rank	see below
Debut	March 2004
Highest rank	Maegashira 12 (May 2007)
Championships	1 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita)
* Up to date as of Nov 27, 2016.

Satoyama Kōsaku (born May 31, 1981) is a professional sumo wrestler from Ōshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. A former amateur sumo champion at Nihon University, he entered professional sumo in 2004 and first reached the top makuuchi division in 2007. His highest rank has been maegashira 12. He has spent much of his career in the lower jūryō and makushita divisions, where he has won a yusho or tournaments championship in each. He won promotion back to the top division in 2014 after a seven-year and 37 tournament absence, the longest ever. Somewhat unusually for a sekitori wrestler, he continues to compete under his birth name. He is a member of Onoe stable.

Career

A former amateur sumo champion at Nihon University, Satoyama made his professional debut in March 2004, joining Mihogaseki stable alongside his team-mate at Nichidai Sumo Club, Shiraishi. He was attracted to the stable because of his admiration for Onoe Oyakata, (ex komusubi Hamanoshima), himself a former amateur champion. Initially he was somewhat overshadowed by Shiraishi and Baruto, who made their jūryō division debuts together in September 2005. However, Satoyama was still highly regarded, despite his short height and relatively light weight.^[1] He made his way quickly up the ranks, recording only one make-koshi along the way to sekitori status, which he achieved in January 2006 upon promotion to the jūryō division. In September 2006 Satoyama, Shiraishi, Baruto and a number of other wrestlers scouted by Onoe Oyakata joined his newly created Onoe stable.

In March 2007 Satoyama won the jūryō division championship or yūshō with a 12-3 record and he entered the top makuuchi division for the first time in May 2007 at maegashira 12, where he scored seven wins against eight losses. After a poor 2-13 record in July he was demoted back to jūryō. Restricted by a neck injury, he had two more losing scores in September and November 2007, pushing him towards the bottom of the second division. In January 2008 he won only two bouts in the first 11 days, and although he won his last four matches to finish on a 6-9 score, it was not enough to prevent demotion to the third makushita division.

Satoyama produced a 2-5 score in March 2008, and 3-4 in May, meaning he had chalked up seven consecutive losing scores. In July 2008 he returned to form and won the makushita championship with a 6-1 score after an eight-way playoff, defeating his 232 kg stablemate Yamamotoyama Ryūta in the final. It was his first kachi-koshi or winning score since his jūryō division championship in March 2007. However he could manage only two wins in each of his next two tournaments. Remaining firmly stuck in the makushita ranks, he became a tsukebito, or personal attendant, to Baruto. However, in the July 2011 basho he scored 5-2 at makushita 6 which returned him to jūryō for the first time in 21 tournaments. His score of 7-8 in September was enough to keep him in the second division, but not the 6–9 that followed in November. However he achieved his majority of wins against losses in the January 2012 basho, coming from 0-3 down to score 4-3, and this was enough to return him immediately to jūryō.

In the January 2014 tournament Satoyama returned to the top division for the first time since July 2007. The 37 tournament gap between appearances in makuuchi is the most in sumo history,^[2] breaking the record of 28 tournaments held by Wakanoyama. However, he only lasted two tournament before being demoted. He made another visit to the top division in July 2015, but a kachi-koshi or majority of wins in a makuuchi tournament continued to elude him. Nevertheless, he has maintained his sekitori status. He was promoted to the top division for the fourth time for the March 2016 tournament.

Fighting style

At 1.76 m (5 ft 9 ¹⁄₂ in) and 119 kg (262 lb) Satoyama is one of the smallest sekitori and has to rely on technical skill to defeat his heavier opponents. According to his Japan Sumo Association profile Satoyama favours yotsu-sumo, fighting on the mawashi or belt. His preferred grip is listed as hidari-yotsu, with his right hand outside and left hand inside his opponent's arms. He is known for his underarm throw, or shitatenage. However, his most common winning kimarite is actually oshi-dashi, or push out.

Personal life

Satoyama was married in September 2012 and the wedding reception was held the following February, with Kitanoumi and Hakuho among the 500 guests.^[3] His wife also has an amateur sumo background, and is a former winner of the Women's Asian Championships.^[3]

Career record

See also

• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

External links

• Satoyama Kōsaku's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage