Hidenohana Yukihide (born 10 February 1965 as Yukihide Kikushima) is a former

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

wrestler from Nirasaki, Yamanashi,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. One of the few professional sumo wrestlers from Yamanashi Prefecture, he was recruited by ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' Wajima of the Hanakago stable. He made his professional debut in March 1980, alongside Kotofuji and future

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

but never reached the top division. His highest rank was ''

jūryō Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

'' 5. He reached the second division eight years after his professional debut. He won the ''jūryō'' division ''

yūshō is the term for a championship in Japanese. This article focuses on championships in the sport of professional sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual '' honbasho'' or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most bouts. ''Yūs ...

'' or championship in his debut tournament in the division (the first wrestler to achieve this since Kotochitose in 1979), but then never won another bout as a ''

sekitori A ''sekitori'' (関取) is a '' rikishi'' (力士, sumo wrestler) who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: '' makuuchi'' and '' jūryō''. The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fr ...

,'' as he suffered a left knee

medial collateral ligament The medial collateral ligament (MCL), also called the superficial medial collateral ligament (sMCL) or tibial collateral ligament (TCL), is one of the major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint and occurs in ...

injury in training with members of the

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. The university's name is derived from the Ja ...

sumo club (including later top division wrestler Daishoyama) and was forced to withdraw from the next tournament after ten straight losses. He had been ineligible for the '' kōshō seido'' rank protection as the injury had not taken place in a tournament, and he was demoted to ''

makushita Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win–loss records in official tournaments. Fo ...

.'' He never managed to return to ''jūryō'' and retired from active competition in March 1994. He performed the '' yumitori-shiki'' bow-twirling ceremony from November 1990 to July 1991.

Career record

References

1965 births Living people Japanese sumo wrestlers Sumo people from Yamanashi Prefecture {{sumo-bio-stub

Career record

See also

References