Daiju Hisateru

大受久晃 Daiju Hisateru
Personal information
Born	Toshiaki Sakaiya March 19, 1950 (1950-03-19) (age 61) Hokkaidō, Japan
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Weight	150 kg (330 lb)
Career
Heya	Takashima
Record	462-388-31
Debut	March, 1965
Highest rank	Ozeki (September, 1973)
Retired	May, 1977
Yūshō	1 (Juryo)
Sanshō	Technique (6) Outstanding Performance (4) Fighting Spirit (1)
* Career information is correct as of July 2007.

Daiju Hisateru (born 19 March 1950 as Toshiaki Sakaiya) is a former sumo wrestler from Hokkaidō, Japan. His highest rank was ozeki, but he held the rank for only five tournaments, fewer than any ozeki in the modern era. He won eleven sansho or special prizes during his top division career which lasted from 1970 to 1977. He is now head coach of Asahiyama stable.

Career

Born in Setana, he joined the small Takashima stable run by former ozeki Mitsuneyama in March 1965. He reached the top makuuchi division in May 1970 after winning the juryo division championship with a 14-1 record. He was awarded the Technique Prize in his first top division tournament. He was to win a total of eleven special prizes in his career, which at the time was second only to Tsurugamine's fourteen. His six prizes for Technique put him in equal sixth place on the all-time list, as of 2009. In March 1971 he made his sanyaku debut at sekiwake and defeated his first yokozuna, Taiho.

He earned promotion to ozeki in 1973 after three consecutive double figure scores. He was a runner-up in the May 1973 tournament to Wajima with a score of 11-4 and defeated two more yokozuna, Kotozakura and Kitanofuji (the latter for the first time in twelve attempts). He did even better in July, defeating Kitanofuji again and finishing in third place on 13-2. He had a clean sweep of all three special prizes, the first wrestler ever to achieve this, and ozeki promotion was confirmed. However, he was unable to prove himself worthy of champion class. He had to pull out injured from his debut ozeki tournament and held the rank for only five tournaments before being demoted. He was never able to return, and though he remained at sekiwake for four tournaments he then fell back to the maegashira ranks.

After a 4-11 score in March 1977 he finished his career back in the juryo division, the first former ozeki ever to compete a such a low rank. After three straight losses he pulled out of the May 1977 tournament and announced his retirement at the age of just 27.

Fighting style

Daiju was very much an oshi-sumo specialist, preferring pushes and thrusts to the opponent's chest rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite by far was oshi dashi, a simple push out, which accounted for half his victories at sekitori level.^[1]

Retirement from sumo

After his retirement he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name Tateyama, and worked as a coach at his old stable until it closed in 1982 due to the ill health of his old coach. He then worked at Kumagatani stable until it too shut down in 1996, upon which he was transferred to Tatsunami stable.^[2] After twenty years as an assistant coach, in May 1997 he was asked to become head coach of the Asahiyama stable after the sudden death of the previous stablemaster, and he adopted the name Asahiyama. Daimanazuru briefly made the top division in 2006, and for a short time in 2011 Tokusegawa was a member of the stable after it absorbed Kiriyama stable, but there are no current sekitori. Asahiyama has also worked as a shimpan or judge of tournament bouts.

He has a pronounced dome on his head, due to him injecting silicone to meet the Sumo Association's height requirements when he was first recruited as a wrestler.

Top division record

Daiju Hisateru^[3]

year in sumo	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1970	x	x	East Maegashira #6 9–6 T	West Maegashira #1 6–9	East Maegashira #3 7–8	West Maegashira #3 5–6–4
1971	West Maegashira #5 11–4 T	West Sekiwake 8–7 O	East Sekiwake 8–7 T	West Sekiwake 4–11	West Maegashira #2 6–9	West Maegashira #4 8–7
1972	West Maegashira #1 7–8	East Maegashira #3 7–8	West Maegashira #4 8–7	East Maegashira #3 6–9	East Maegashira #4 7–8	East Maegashira #6 9–6
1973	East Maegashira #1 10–5 T	East Komusubi 10–5 O	East Sekiwake 11–4 OT	East Sekiwake 13–2 OTF	East Ōzeki 2–6–7	West Ōzeki 9–6
1974	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 4–5–6	West Ōzeki 6–9	East Sekiwake 9–6	West Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 9–6
1975	East Sekiwake 4–11	East Maegashira #4 8–7	East Maegashira #2 7–8	West Maegashira #3 4–2–9	West Maegashira #8 5–10	East Maegashira #13 9–6
1976	West Maegashira #7 11–4	East Maegashira #2 7–8	East Maegashira #3 6–9	West Maegashira #6 6–9	East Maegashira #9 6–9	East Maegashira #11 9–6
1977	West Maegashira #5 6–9	East Maegashira #9 4–11	West Jūryō #1 Retired 0–4–0	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s) P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

References

1. ^ "Daiju bouts by kimarite". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi_kim.aspx?r=4070. Retrieved 2009-08-18. 
2. ^ "Daiju Hisateru Kabu History". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Kabu.aspx?rikishi=4070. Retrieved 2009-08-18. 
3. ^ "Daiju Hisateru Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?shikona=daiju&heya=-1&shusshin=-1&b=-1&high=-1&hd=-1&entry=-1&intai=-1&sort=1. Retrieved 2007-10-28. 

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo tournament second division winners
• List of past sumo wrestlers

Persondata
Name	Daiju Hisateru
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1950-03-19
Place of birth	Hokkaidō, Japan
Date of death
Place of death