Hōmashō Noriyuki

Hōmashō Noriyuki (born April 16, 1981 as Yōsuke Yamamoto in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan), is a former sumo wrestler. He turned professional in March 2004 and reached the top makuuchi division in May 2006 as the first sekitori from Shikoroyama stable, without any losing scores on his record. His highest rank was komusubi. He earned seven special prizes in his top division career and was a runner-up in three tournaments. In March 2014 he took the championship in the jūryō division. Hōmashō was a popular wrestler among sumo fans, and was noted for his deep and graceful bow at the end of a match. Upon his retirement in January 2015 he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name of Tatsutagawa.

Early life and sumo background He graduated from Saitama Sakae High School and was accepted by the Nihon University sumo club. However, due to cellulitis, he had to quit the club and instead did various part-time jobs in between attending lectures at the university. He did not make his professional debut until March 2004, at the age of nearly 23, just before the upper age limit set by the Sumo Association. (The others were Gōeidō, Kisenosato, Kotoshogiku, Toyohibiki, Toyonoshima and Tochiozan).

Hōmashō was in better condition for the January 2009 tournament and from the very bottom maegashira 16 rank he scored eleven wins and won the Fighting Spirit Prize. In the following tournament in March he won nine bouts in a row from 2-3, finishing as a runner-up with another 11-4 score and winning his second successive Fighting Spirit Prize, and third overall. Once again he was denied a san'yaku debut, with the komusubi positions going to Kakuryū and Tochiōzan, and was ranked at maegashira 1 for the fourth time in the May 2009 tournament. However, he performed very badly in May, losing his first fourteen matches before managing a solitary win on the final day. He recovered to score 10-5 in July.

He rose to maegashira 2 for the May 2010 tournament, but withdrew after losing his first six matches, citing an injury to his cervical vertebrae picked up in training shortly before the tournament. He made a strong comeback in July, winning his first ten bouts and finishing joint runner-up alongside Aran and Kakuryū on 11-4. He was awarded his fourth Fighting Spirit Prize (shared with Aran). In the September tournament he defeated ōzeki Kotoōshū and Baruto on consecutive days. This came after he had lost his previous twenty matches against ōzeki ranked wrestlers. However, he lost five of his last six matches to finish with a disappointing 7-8 score. Ranked at maegashira 2 in May 2011, he won just three bouts; although these did include wins over Kotoōshū and sekiwake Kisenosato. Fighting from a more comfortable position at maegashira 9 in the July tournament, he scored 11-4 and won his fifth Fighting Spirit Prize and seventh Special Prize overall. This resulted in his promotion to maegashira 1 for the fifth time in the September 2011 tournament. He is the first wrestler to be ranked at maegashira 1 more than three times without ever making the san'yaku ranks.

In the September tournament he went 10-5, including victories over all three ōzeki, and this performance saw him finally reach san'yaku in the November 2011 tournament at komusubi rank. At 30 years and six months he became the fourth oldest san'yaku debutant since the six tournament a year system began in 1958. He was able to win only four matches in his komusubi debut. In 2012 he reached komusubi twice more, in May and November, but scored only 4–11 in these tournaments too. He was forced to sit out the first two tournaments of 2013 after undergoing shoulder surgery, resulting in a fall to the bottom of the jūryō division. He returned to the top division in September 2013 but after missing the opening tournament of 2014 through injury he was once again demoted to jūryō.

He came back strongly by taking the jūryō championship with a 14–1 record, losing only on the final day. His 9-6 showing in the following May 2014 tournament would again put him into the upper makuuchi ranks, the level he had been competing at before his injuries sidelined him. However he had to withdraw from the July 2014 tournament after damaging his right hamstring and right anterior cruciate ligament in a defeat to Harumafuji on Day 5.

Retirement from sumo Hōmashō never managed to return to competition and in the middle of the January 2015 tournament, which he sat out of, he announced his retirement. He has stayed in sumo as a coach at his stable under the name Tatsutagawa-oyakata. His retirement ceremony or danpatsu-shiki was held before a sell-out crowd of 10,000 at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in January 2016, and unusually saw him rotate and face all four sides of the hall during the ceremony so all spectators could get a good view. were approved by the Sumo Association on 23 February 2024.

Fighting style Hōmashō was a straightforward, unspectacular yotsu-sumo wrestler, rarely employing throwing moves. His favourite grip on his opponent's mawashi was a left hand outside, right hand inside position, or migi-yotsu. Yori-kiri (force out) and yori-taoshi (force out and down) accounted for about 45 percent of his career wins. He was admired for his deep and respectful bow to his opponents after losing a match.