is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

-born Japanese former professional

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 and

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 ...

. 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 ...

'' 3.

Life and career

A former swimming instructor, Salomón was spotted by a visiting Japanese coach at a gym in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

who encouraged him to try sumo. After studying at

Chuo University , commonly referred to as or , is a private research university in Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan. The university finds its roots in a school called Igirisu Hōritsu Gakkō (English Law School), which was founded in 1885, and became a university in 1 ...

, he joined Michinoku stable in May 1987 at the age of 21 to support his family. He was the first, and to date only, Jewish professional sumo wrestler. He was given the ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Muromachi period and established itself during the Edo period, where they were used as a means to hide the identities of the . Given by the master to his di ...

'' (ring name) of Hoshitango, with "Hoshi" (star) a common prefix in Michinoku stable, and "tango" a reference to the popular dance. He reached the second highest ''

'' division for the first time in September 1992, but lasted only one tournament there before being demoted back to the unsalaried third '' makushita'' division. He managed another three tournaments in the second division in 1994 but once again fell back. In September 1998, at the age of 33, he demonstrated his fighting spirit by once again returning to ''jūryō'', this time remaining for 12 straight tournaments. He was not able to break into the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of Professional sumo divisions, 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 ...

'' division, peaking at ''jūryō'' 3 in January 2000. In July 2000 he lost every one of his fifteen bouts and fell, once more, to the third division where he remained until his retirement in January 2004. His retirement ceremony or '' danpatsu-shiki'' was attended by around 150 people including stablemates Jūmonji and Toyozakura as well as the former Terao and Kirishima, who as his stablemaster made the final cut of his topknot. Hoshitango was joined at Michinoku stable in 1988 by another Buenos Aires native, Hoshiandesu, who reached a highest rank of ''jūryō'' 2 before retiring in 2000. Hoshitango became a Japanese citizen in October 2000. His Japanese name was registered as Tango Hoshi.

Retirement from sumo

After retiring he opened a sports bar and restaurant called Tan & Go Dining which specialized in Japanese and South American

fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine is a cuisine that combines elements of different cuisine, culinary traditions that originate from different countries, regions, or cultures. Cuisines of this type are not categorized according to any one particular cuisine style an ...

Fighting style

Hoshitango was an ''oshi-sumo'' specialist who preferred pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the '' mawashi.'' His most common winning '' kimarite'' were ''hataki-komi'' (slap down), ''hiki-otoshi'' (pull down) and ''okuri dashi'' (push out from behind).

Professional wrestling career

Salomón is currently a

for the Japanese company DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), debuting on December 29, 2006, under his ''shikona'' Hoshitango, and has also wrestled for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

, Ice Ribbon and

Wrestle-1 was a Japanese ''puroresu'' or professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion, founded in July 2013 by Keiji Mutoh following his resignation from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The core of the promotion's roster was formed b ...

. As a finishing maneuver, Hoshitango uses the Argentine backbreaker and chokeslam. Due to his age and outside activities, he is a semi-regular performer. He won his first

professional wrestling championship In professional wrestling, a championship or title is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling match types, professional wrestling matches, in which competitors a ...

on June 3, 2007, when he briefly held the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. He had another brief reign on August 5. On January 24, 2009, he defeated Sanshiro Takagi to win the DDT Extreme Championship. After a successful title defence against Poison Sawada Julie in March, he lost the title to Danshoku Dino in a three-way match that also included Masa Takanashi on May 31. In 2010, Hoshitango was involved in a storyline to celebrate the 30th anniversary of

Gundam is a Japanese military science fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ...

. Yago Aznable (dressed in Char Aznable cosplay) and Abnormal debuted for DDT in early 2010 and proved themselves to be an annoyance to DDT owner

Sanshiro Takagi , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter who works for the Japanese wrestling promotion CyberFight, where he serves as executive vice president. He is one of the founding members and current chairman of ...

. Known as the , Abnormal was kicked out of the group and replaced with DJ Nira and joined by Ace Pilot X. On June 13, Hoshitango joined the group, debuting as Mobile Armour Hoshitango, dressed in Big Zam cosplay. The storyline came to a close at Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2010 when Yagō Kōkoku-gun lost a no disqualification Captain's Fall six-man tag team match. On June 3, 2012, Hoshitango had a third brief Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship reign. On July 8, he formed the Monster Army stable with members Antonio Honda, Daisuke Sasaki Masa Takanashi, Yasu Urano and Yuji Hino. At Budokan Peter Pan, Hoshitango competed in a "5 vs. 5 Soccer match" as part of ''Tonkatsu SC''. The match consisted of two halves of 5 minutes each where each team tried to score the most pins by pinfall (two counts) or

submission Deference (also called submission or passivity) is the condition of submitting to the espoused, legitimate influence of one's superior or superiors. Deference implies a yielding or submitting to the judgment of a recognized superior, out of re ...

. The match ended in a 2–2 draw and was decided by an actual

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

which saw ''Tonkatsu SC'' win 2–0. On June 23, 2013, Hoshitango, Honda and Hino won the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles to Danshoku Dino,

Kensuke Sasaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his numerous runs in the top three Japanese wrestling promotions; New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and Pro Wrestling Noah. He was the founder and o ...

and Makoto Oishi on July 21. On January 26, 2014, Hoshitango briefly won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship for a forth time. On February 23, after Hoshitango, Honda and Sasaki were defeated by Mikami, Sanshiro Takagi and

Toru Owashi is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name . He is best known for his work in DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion and two-time KO-D Tag Team Champion. Sumo career Initially aspiring to b ...

in a six-man tag team match, Honda announced that the Monster Army had decided to disband. At Judgement 2014, Monster Army wrestled their final match together, where Hoshitango, Hino, Honda and Sasaki defeated Gorgeous Matsuno, Gota Ihashi, Sanshiro Takagi and Toru Owashi. With his stock significantly lowered following the end of Monster Army, in 2015 he began regularly competing for the King of Dark Championship. Contrary to regular professional wrestling championships, the title is awarded to the loser of the match and is a sign of shame. As punishment for holding the title, wrestler are forced to wrestle exclusively in

dark match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

es. On April 2, 2016, Hoshitango "won" the King of Dark Championship after losing to Seiya Morohashi. He held the dubious distinction for 22 days before "losing" the title to Gota Ihashi on April 24.

Sumo career record

Professional wrestling championships and accomplishments

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was even ...

** DDT Extreme Championship ( 1 time) ** Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship ( 3 times) ** KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – with Antonio Honda and Yuji Hino ** King of Dark Championship (1 time)

References

External links

*
Hoshitango's tournament resultsDramatic Dream Team profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoshitango, Imachi 1965 births Living people Argentine sumo wrestlers Japanese sumo wrestlers Argentine emigrants to Japan Naturalized citizens of Japan Japanese Jews Japanese male professional wrestlers Argentine male professional wrestlers Jewish Argentine sportspeople 21st-century male professional wrestlers DDT Extreme Champions Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions King of Dark Champions KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions 20th-century Japanese sportsmen