Kongo Masahiro
| Kongō Masahiro | |
|---|---|
| 金剛 正裕 | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | Masahiro Yoshizawa November 18, 1948 Hokkaidō, Japan |
| Died | August 12, 2014 (aged 65) |
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 116 kg (256 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Nishonoseki |
| Record | 449–414–0 |
| Debut | May, 1964 |
| Highest rank | Sekiwake (September, 1975) |
| Retired | September, 1976 |
| Championships | 1 (Makuuchi) 2 (Juryo) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Jonokuchi) |
| Special Prizes | Outstanding Performance (3) |
| Gold Stars | 3 (Kitanoumi) |
| * Up to date as of August 2014. | |
Kongō Masahiro (18 November 1948 - 12 August 2014) was a former sumo wrestler from Hokkaidō, Japan. His highest rank was sekiwake and he won a top division tournament championship in 1975. He was a sumo coach and head of the Nishonoseki stable from 1976 until 2013.
He was born in Fukagawa as Masahiro Yoshizawa, and joined the Nishonoseki stable (home of the great Taihō) in May 1964 at the age of 15. He initially wrestled under the shikona of Oyoshizawa, based on his own surname. He first appeared on the banzuke ranking sheets in July 1964 and won all seven of his bouts, taking the jonokuchi championship with a perfect 7–0 record. However his progress slowed somewhat after that. In 1966 he made the third makushita division, and gradually climbed up to makushita 3 before dropping to makushita 6 for the July 1969 tournament. There he took his second divisional championship, again with an unbeaten 7–0 score, and was promoted to the second jūryō division, giving him elite sekitori status. He was relatively light for a sumo wrestler at just 82 kg (181 lb). To mark his promotion he was given the new name of Kongō. He remained in the jūryō division for just over a year, recording a couple of make-koshi or losing scores, but in May and July 1970 he won two consecutive jūryō championships to earn promotion to the top makuuchi division.
He had put on a little more weight, and was now around 100 kg (220 lb), but he remained in the maegashira ranks until May 1972, when a 9–6 score saw him reach the titled san'yaku ranks for the first time at komusubi. He was unable to maintain the rank however, scoring only 5–10. In September 1974 he defeated yokozuna Kitanoumi on the opening day, earning him his first kinboshi or gold star, and at the end of the tournament he was awarded his first sanshō or special prize for Outstanding Performance. He returned to komusubi for the following tournament.
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