Hokutōriki Hideki

Sumo wrestler infobox
wrestlername = 北勝力 英樹 Hokutōriki Hideki


realname = Hideki Kimura
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|10|31
placeofbirth = Tochigi, Japan
height = height|meters=1.83
weight = convert|147|kg|lb|abbr=on|lk=on
heya = Hakkaku
rank = Maegashira 9
record = 495-466-18
debut = March, 1993
highestrank = Sekiwake (July, 2004)
yushos = 1 (Sandanme)
prizes = Outstanding Performance (1) Fighting Spirit (3)
goldstars = 1 (Asashōryū)
update = Sept 2008

Hokutōriki Hideki (born October 31, 1977 as Hideki Kimura) is a sumo wrestler, from Tochigi, Japan. The highest rank he has reached is "sekiwake."

Career

He was born in Kurobane, a town in the Nasu District of Tochigi Prefecture. Hokutōriki made his professional debut in March 1993, joining Kokonoe stable. In October of that year he transferred to the newly created Hakkaku stable run by former "yokozuna" Hokutoumi. It took nearly nine years for him to achieve "sekitori" status by gaining promotion to the second "juryo" division in January 2002. It took him only two further tournaments to reach the top "makuuchi" division.

On his debut outing in "makuuchi" in May 2002 he made an immediate impression, finishing as runner-up with a strong 11-4 record and the fighting spirit prize. The highlight of his career to date came two years later in May 2004 when, ranked as "maegashira" 1, he defeated Asashōryū on the sixth day, ending the "yokozuna"'s 35 bout winning streak. He finished the tournament with a superb 13-2 record, and fought Asashōryū again on the final day in a playoff for the title. Although he lost the match, after the tournament he was promoted to sumo's third highest rank of "sekiwake". He managed only a 3-12 record in his "sekiwake" debut and since then has bounced up and down the "maegashira" ranks. In November 2006 he pulled out of the tournament on the ninth day with no wins at all and was relegated to the "jūryō" division. However, a 9-6 record at "jūryō" 4 in March 2007 was good enough to earn promotion back to the top division for the May tournament. Two further good performances took him up to "maegashira" 3 for September, his highest rank in a year and a half.

Hokutōriki often uses "henka", or sidestepping, to wrong-foot his opponents. However in the January 2008 tournament he was himself a victim of this tactic on three consecutive days, slipping from a score of 6-5 to 6-8. He produced another good performance of 10-5 at" maegashira" 6 in the May 2008 tournament.

Hokutōriki is married, and his first child, a daughter, was born in December 2007.

Top division record

References

ee also

*Glossary of sumo terms
*List of active sumo wrestlers

External links

* [http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/eng/ozumo_meikan/rikishi_joho/rikishi_1034.html Japan Sumo Association Biography]
* [http://www.szumo.hu/sekitori/Hokutoriki.html Hokutoriki's basho results]