Takanonami Sadahiro

Takanonami Sadahiro (born Sadahiro Namioka October 27, 1971 – June 20, 2015) was a Japanese sumo wrestler and coach from Aomori. He held sumo's second highest rank of ōzeki from 1994 until 2000. He won two tournament championships, and was a runner-up in eight others. He was a sumo coach from his retirement in 2004 until his death in 2015 at the age of 43.

Career Born in Misawa, Aomori, the young Namioka did sumo at elementary school, but did not initially consider it as a profession, intending to follow his father and work in local government. However, he was introduced to Fujishima Oyakata (the former Takanohana Kenshi) who was in Misawa to give a speech, and was persuaded to join Fujishima Stable. In all, Musashimaru had the upper hand, winning 37 bouts to Takanonami's 21, although Takanonami did manage to beat him seven times in a row from November 1996 to January 1998, and also won their last three matches, after he had fallen from the ōzeki rank. Two of those wins provided Takanonami with his only kinboshi.

Fighting style Takanonami had an unusual defensive style, often being driven back to the edge of the dohyō before using his long reach to lean over and grab his opponent's arms and launch a counter-offensive. He regularly won by kimedashi (arm barring force out), a sumo technique seldom seen today. He was also a frequent employer of kotenage, the armbar throw, with 65 victories using this technique from 1990, more than any of his contemporaries. In his later years his various injuries (particularly those to his ankles) meant his defensive style was less effective, and his results suffered. He largely remained in the maegashira ranks and had six consecutive losing scores in 2003.

Retirement By May 2004 Takanonami was the only top division wrestler left from the once dominant Futagoyama stable, which had been renamed Takanohana stable a few months earlier. He had slipped to maegashira 13 in the rankings and after losing his first two bouts, he announced his retirement. He worked as a coach in his old stable under the name Otowayama. Along with five other oyakata (Magaki, Onomatsu, Ōtake, Tokiwayama and Futagoyama), he left the Nishonoseki ichimon or group of stables in January 2010 after declaring his support for his former stablemate Takanohana's unsanctioned bid to be elected to the board of directors of the Sumo Association. He was appointed as a judge of tournament bouts in February 2015. As an oyakata he was known as one of the more bright personalities in his stable, and he appeared on a number of variety programs on Japanese TV largely due to his accessible personality.

Takanonami was reportedly a big fan of American football and appeared as a commentator on sports programs in Japan.

Health problems and death Takanonami was first diagnosed as having a possible heart condition, specifically atrial fibrillation, in 1998. He spent some time in hospital whilst still an active wrestler, but in February 2006 he was admitted to hospital once again with sepsis, pneumonia and other complications. He fell into cardiac arrest and had to undergo emergency surgery, which saved his life. On June 20, 2015, he died of acute heart failure.