Saganohana
| 佐賀ノ花 勝巳 Saganohana Katsumi |
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Katsumi Kitamura December 5, 1917 Saga City, Saga, Japan |
| Died | March 28, 1975 (aged 57) |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Weight | 128 kg (282 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Kumegawa→Nishonoseki |
| Record | 263-189-30-1draw |
| Debut | May, 1934 |
| Highest rank | Ōzeki (May, 1945) |
| Retired | January, 1952 |
| Championships | 1 (Makuuchi) |
| Gold Stars | 2 (Minanogawa) |
| * Up to date as of July 2013. | |
Saganohana Katsumi (5 December 1917 – 28 March 1975) was a professional sumo wrestler born as Katsumi Kitamura in Saga City, Japan. His highest rank was ōzeki.
In 1934, with the help of Tamanishiki who had come as part of a regional sumo exhibition, the future Saganohana joined the now defunct Kumegawa stable and first entered the ring in May of that same year. He would later join Tamanishiki's Nishinoseki stable.
He first made it to the top division makuuchi in the Summer 1939 tournament, and continued to find success. He would defeat then yokozuna Minanogawa twice for two gold stars or kinboshi. In the Spring 1941 tournament, he received an 8–7 record at maegashira 1 and it was expected he would be promoted to the titled ranks, called san'yaku. He was however, left at the same rank for the following tournament, but this allowed him another chance to distinguish himself, as he managed an improved 9–6 record and also had his second kinboshi victory against yokozuna Minanogawa. This convincing record finally accorded him promotion to the lowest san'yaku rank of komusubi for the Summer 1942 tournament. An impressive 11–4 record at this rank allowed his immediate promotion to sekiwake for the next tournament. He would post two more winning record tournaments at sekiwake, though he would miss his last two bouts of the Summer 1943 tournament due to injury. Though he was demoted to komusubi for the following Spring 1944 tournament, he excelled, posting a 13–2 record and taking his one and only makuuchi championship.
He was promoted to ōzeki due to his performance, but he had already left for a regional exhibition and was informed of his promotion while attending a memorial service for former yokozuna Tamanishiki, who died of appendicitis while an active wrestler. Before the spirit of the departed, through tears, he announced his promotion to ōzeki.
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