Career
His first professional tournament was in May 1940 as a wrestler for the former incarnation of Tokitsukaze stable, which was a leftover from the days of Osaka sumo. The stable soon closed however, and he transferred to Tatsunami stable. He tried out a number of ring names before settling on Tokitsukaze to honor the defunct stable he originally debuted for.
He was a weak wrestler at first, and he was not able to actually be listed on the sumo ranking sheet known as the banzuke until the January tournament of 1943. He did not really bloom as a strong competitor until after returning as a soldier from World War II. Expectations surrounding him began to rise after this. He was promoted to the salaried ranks of jūryō in the following summer tournament of 1947.
He was promoted to the top division makuuchi in May 1949, but received a losing record and fell back to jūryō. He was a top division regular from then on. However, as he was only ranked at maegashira 6, the highest ranked opponent he faced that tournament was a komusubi and the two ōzeki at the time Yoshibayama and Tochinishiki, who also had winning streaks in that tournament, never had a chance to face him to even the odds.
In the January 1955 tournament he was in a similar situation at maegashira 9. He was a consistent makuuchi wrestler for many years after this, but began to decline after 1960 and he retired before the 1961 March tournament rather than face demotion to jūryō. During his career, Tokitsuyama was known for using a variety of techniques such as lifting and inner-thigh throws, and would often twist and turn even the strongest opponents all over the dohyō.
This reliance on such techniques also led to inconsistency, and though he was a formidable opponent, he never had more than 12 wins in any tournament besides his championship tournament and was never promoted above sekiwake. He remained in the sumo world afterward as an elder and died of liver cancer at 43 in November 1968. In 1953 the New Year tournament was begun and the Spring tournament began to be held in Osaka.
Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.
