Kotonowaka Terumasa

is a Japanese former sumo wrestler from Obanazawa. He made his professional debut in 1984 and after reaching the top makuuchi division in 1990, he remained there for 15 years until his retirement in 2005. His highest rank was sekiwake and he earned seven special prizes and eight gold stars during his long makuuchi career. He is now the head coach of Sadogatake stable.

Career At junior high school, he practiced judo and shot put, and even represented his prefecture at the All Tohoku Shot Put Championships. He was already tall by the age of 14. He was scouted into sumo by a supporter of Sadogatake stable. Kotonowaka lost the rematch, but NHK received calls from viewers saying that Asashoryu was shini-tai ("dead body") and should have lost the first bout. He also received five Fighting Spirit and two Outstanding Achievement prizes in the course of his long career, the first coming in July 1995, nearly five years after his top division debut. He was ranked in the top division for 90 tournaments, which is the eighth best in history, and he was one of only a handful of wrestlers to win over 600 top division bouts. He was relatively injury-free until March 2000, when he suffered a serious injury to his left knee in training which was to bother him for the rest of his career. He injured the knee again in November 2003 and was the last wrestler to be able to take advantage of the kosho seido (public injury) system before its abolition, sitting out the January 2004 tournament without affecting his ranking.

His good looks meant he was popular with female sumo fans. He favoured a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip on his opponent's mawashi. His speciality was uwatenage, or the overarm throw, which he used to win over 20 percent of his matches (the average is only 7 percent).

Retirement from sumo During the 2005 November tournament, in which, at 37, he was the oldest rikishi in his division, he announced his retirement. He took over immediately as stable master of Sadogatake stable, as the previous head, former yokozuna Kotozakura, had reached the mandatory retirement age of 65. Kotonowaka had been in line to inherit the stable ever since he had married Kotozakura's daughter in March 1996,

In 2011, Sadogatake saw Kotoyūki reach the sekitori ranks, and Kotoshōgiku was promoted to ōzeki, the first Japanese wrestler to reach the rank since Kotomitsuki. Kotoyūki became his first makuuchi debutant in January 2013. Since then, Kotoekō, Kotoshōhō and his own son, then known as Kotonowaka, have reached makuuchi. His son was promoted to the rank of ōzeki, after winning 33 matches at the sekiwake rank between September 2023 and January 2024.

In March 2022, Sadogatake was elected to the Japan Sumo Association's board of directors. In January 2023, he took over as the head of the judging department following the resignation of Isegahama.

Family Kotonowaka's son Masakatsu Kamatani was born in November 1997, and in November 2015, joined Sadogatake stable, using the fighting name Kotokamatani. He won the jonokuchi championship in January 2016 and reached the makushita division in September 2016. Following the May 2019 tournament, he was promoted to the second jūryō division, adopting his father's shikona "Kotonowaka". It was understood that he would inherit his grandfather's shikona of Kotozakura when he reached the ōzeki rank. At the Haru 2024 basho, ōzeki Kotonowaka achieved kachi-koshi with his 8th win on Day 10, avoiding kadoban and ensuring that he would proceed with the name change to Kotozakura before the start of the May tournament.

Career record