Misugisato Kōji
| Misugisato Kōji | |
|---|---|
| 三杉里 公似 | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | Kōji Okamoto July 1, 1962 Shiga, Japan |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Weight | 158 kg (348 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Futagoyama |
| Record | 700-710-2 |
| Debut | January 1979 |
| Highest rank | Komusubi (January 1989) |
| Retired | July, 1998 |
| Championships | 1 (Jūryō) |
| Special Prizes | Fighting Spirit (1) |
| Gold Stars | 6 Akebono (3) Hokutoumi (2) Asahifuji |
| * Up to date as of July 2008. | |
Misugisato Kōji (born 1 July 1962 as Kōji Okamoto) is a former sumo wrestler from Shiga Prefecture, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1979, and his highest rank was komusubi which he reached in 1989. He earned six gold stars for defeating yokozuna and one special prize for Fighting Spirit. He retired in 1998 and became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association before leaving the sumo world in 2006.
Born in Shigaraki, Koka District, he joined Futagoyama stable at the beginning of 1979 at the age of 15, recruited by former yokozuna Wakanohana. He initially fought under his own surname before being given the shikona of Misugisato (meaning "village of three cedars") in 1980. In July 1984 he reached the sekitori ranks for the first time, but lasted only one tournament in the juryo division before being demoted back to makushita. It took him exactly two years to win promotion back to juryo and he promptly won the divisional yusho or tournament championship with an 11-4 record. He moved up and down the division a few times before winning promotion to the top makuuchi division after a 10-5 score at the rank of Juryo 2 in March 1988. In November 1988 he scored nine wins against six losses at the rank of maegashira 7, which was enough to see him promoted to komusubi for the January 1989 tournament. Unusually, he had been promoted to the san'yaku ranks without ever having faced any san'yaku ranked wrestlers himself. (He received some banzuke good fortune as both komusubi and most of the maegashira ranked above him had finished with make-koshi or losing records in November).
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