Kiyokuni Katsuo


Kiyokuni Katsuo is a former sumo wrestler from Ogachi, Akita, Japan. His highest rank was ōzeki, which he held from 1969 to 1974. He won one top division yūshō or tournament championship and was a runner-up in five other tournaments. He also earned seven special prizes and seven gold stars. After his retirement he was the head coach of Isegahama stable.

Career

Recruited by former sekiwake Kiyosegawa, he made his professional debut in September 1956. Initially fighting under the shikona of Wakaikuni, he rose slowly up the ranks, eventually reaching the second highest jūryō division in May 1963, after 26 tournaments in makushita. He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in November 1963. In just his second makuuchi tournament, ranked at maegashira 13, he produced a superb 14–1 record, losing only on the final day and finishing runner-up to yokozuna Taihō who won with an unbeaten score. He was awarded the Technique Prize and was promoted straight to sekiwake, sumo's third highest rank – the biggest jump to sekiwake ever recorded in the six tournaments a year era. He defeated yokozuna in three consecutive tournaments from September 1964 to January 1965, earning promotion back to the san'yaku ranks.
After a year or so of being stuck at the sekiwake rank, Kiyokuni was finally promoted to ōzeki in May 1969 after his second runner-up performance. Although he had scored only 31 wins in the three tournaments prior to his promotion, below the usual threshold of 33, he immediately dispelled any doubts over his worthiness by taking what was to be his only tournament championship or yūshō in his ōzeki debut. He defeated Taihō for only the third time in 25 meetings on the final day and then beat maegashira Fujinokawa in a playoff after both had finished on 12–3. This was to be the last yūshō by a member of the Tatsunami-Isegahama ichimon or group of stables until ōzeki Asahifuji won his first championship in January 1988.
Kiyokuni was never able to make yokozuna, partly due to neck and spinal injuries from which he never fully recovered. Nevertheless, he was a strong ōzeki, remaining there for 28 basho and finishing runner-up in May 1971, May 1973 and September 1973. He retired in January 1974, due to a heart complaint.

Retirement from sumo

Kiyokuni became an oyakata, or elder of the Japan Sumo Association after his retirement, and in April 1977 he became head coach of Isegahama stable following the death of his second stablemaster, former yokozuna Terukuni, who had been in charge since 1961. Initially he had some success, overseeing the late blooming Kurosegawa's rise to komusubi in 1980 and also producing Wakasegawa who reached the top division in 1983. However, On August 12, 1985 Isegahama's wife and two children died in the Japan Airlines Flight 123 disaster. He was never the same again and the stable began to deteriorate. He was demoted from his position in the Sumo Association after giving an outspoken interview to the Shūkan Gendai in 2004 in which he criticised the attitude of amateur college champions and foreigners in sumo and made allegations of match-fixing and steroid abuse. By the time he reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty-five in November 2006, there were just two active wrestlers in Isegahama stable left, compared with dozens when he took over. Much to his chagrin he had not even been able to persuade his nephews, Tamanoshima and to join, the two eventual sekitori opting for Kataonami stable instead. With no long term successor to Kiyokuni available, former maegashira Katsuhikari took on the Isegahama name, but he dissolved the stable, which dated back to 1859, on February 1, 2007. Its two remaining wrestlers moved to Kiriyama stable. In an attempt to revive the fortunes of the once prestigious Isegahama name, it was assumed by the former Asahifuji in December of that year, who renamed his existing Ajigawa stable to Isegahama stable.

Fighting style

Kiyokuni favoured techniques were hidari-yotsu, yorikiri, and oshidashi.

Career record