Background
Born Norio Kamatani, he came from a sumo background, as his father was involved in organising regional amateur sumo tournaments and his grandfather"s brother had been a professional rikishi.
琴櫻 傑將
Born Norio Kamatani, he came from a sumo background, as his father was involved in organising regional amateur sumo tournaments and his grandfather"s brother had been a professional rikishi.
He was the sport"s 53rd yokozuna. He made his professional debut in 1959, reaching the top division in 1963. After several years at the second highest rank of ōzeki, in 1973 he was promoted to yokozuna at the age of thirty-two years two months, becoming the oldest wrestler to be promoted to yokozuna since 1958, when the current six tournaments system was established.
After his retirement he was head coach of Sadogatake stable and produced a string of top division wrestlers.
However, after doing well in a national high school sumo competition he decided on a career in professional sumo. Kotozakura made his professional debut in January 1959.
He reached the jūryō division in July 1962 and the top makuuchi division in March 1963. After making his san"yaku debut at komusubi in January 1964 he suffered an injury and returned to jūryō, but he quickly recovered.
After an 11-4 record at sekiwake in September 1967 he was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize and promotion to ōzeki.
He was kadoban, or in danger of demotion from ōzeki, three times during this period. After injuring his knee in 1974 he withdrew from several tournaments and announced his retirement that July. Kotozakura had been expecting to open up his own training stable, but when his stablemaster died suddenly just days after Kotozakura"s retirement, he took over Sadogatake stable instead.
He produced many top division wrestlers over the years, such as ōzeki Kotokaze, Kotoōshū, Kotomitsuki and Kotoshōgiku and sekiwake Kotogaume, Kotofuji, Kotonishiki, and Kotonowaka.
Shortly after attending the ōzeki promotion ceremony of Kotomitsuki, Kotozakura died on August 14, 2007. He had battled diabetes for several years and had also suffered the trauma of a leg amputation.
Kotozakura"s favoured techniques were the two most common kimarite in sumo - yorikiri (force out) and oshidashi (push out). When grabbing his opponent"s mawashi he preferred a migi-yotsu, or left hand outside, right hand inside grip.
When yokozuna Asashōryū was criticized for his behaviour in 2003, he defended the Mongolian by pointing out the lack of emotional strength in young Japanese sumo wrestlers today.