Kitakachidoki Hayato

Kitakachidoki Hayato (born 1 January 1966 as Hayato Kuga) is a former sumo wrestler from Obihiro, Hokkaidō, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1981, and reached the top division in 1989. His highest rank was maegashira 3. After retirement he became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association. He took over as head coach at Isenoumi stable, when former head coach Fujinokawa reached mandatory retirement age in September 2011.

Career He was born in Obihiro, the son of a lorry driver. At school he was a soccer goalkeeper. He had few other wrestlers in his stable at a similar rank to him (former maegashira Hattori Yuji being forced to retire through injury around that time) and he had to go to other stables in his Tokitsukaze ichimon or stable group to find quality training partners. He never managed to reach a sanyaku rank, his highest position in the banzuke being maegashira 3 in March 1994. He was also unable to defeat a yokozuna or win a special prize. His final appearance in the top division was in May 1998, although he continued to compete in the juryo division for two years after that. His demotion meant there were no longer any Hokkaidō natives in the top division, a remarkable decline considering that in the early 1990s there were three yokozuna (Chiyonofuji, Hokutoumi, and Onokuni) from Hokkaidō on the banzuke. It was not until May 2018, with the promotion of Kyokutaisei, that Hokkaidō Prefecture had another top division representative.

Retirement from sumo After a poor 5–10 record in July 2000, and facing certain demotion to the unsalaried makushita division, Kitakachidoki announced his retirement at the age of thirty four. He had fought in 1438 matches across 117 tournaments.

Fighting style His most common winning kimarite or technique was yori-kiri or force out, where he preferred a right hand inside grip (migi-yotsu) on his opponent's mawashi or belt. He was also fond of hip throws like sukui nage (scoop throw) and uwate nage (overarm throw). He was only of average height and weight for the top division but had a notably muscular frame as he was a keen weight-lifter.

Career record