Yoshikaze
| Yoshikaze Masatsugu | |
|---|---|
| 嘉風 雅継 | |
 |
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Masatsugu Ōnishi March 19, 1982 Oita, Japan |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 142 kg (313 lb; 22.4 st) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Oguruma |
| University | Nippon Sport Science University |
| Current rank | see below |
| Debut | January 2004 |
| Highest rank | Sekiwake (Jan 2016) |
| Championships | 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonokuchi) |
| Special Prizes | Fighting Spirit (4) Outstanding Performance (2) Technique (2) |
| Gold Stars | 5 Kakuryū (2) Hakuhō Harumafuji (2) |
| * Up to date as of Feb 27, 2017. | |
Yoshikaze Masatsugu (born March 19, 1982 as Masatsugu Ōnishi) is a sumo wrestler from Saiki, Oita Prefecture, Japan. His highest rank has been sekiwake. A former amateur sumo champion, he turned professional in 2004, reaching the top division two years later. Until his promotion to komusubi in May 2014 he had the active record for the longest serving makuuchi wrestler who had never reached a titled rank. His best performance in a tournament came in July 2015 when he was the runner-up and scored twelve wins against three losses. In the following tournament in September 2015 he defeated two yokozuna and won special prizes for Outstanding Performance and Technique. Yoshikaze is in second place for the slowest promotion from makuuchi debut to the third highest sekiwake rank in history, behind only his stablemate Takekaze. He has won eight special prizes in total, and five gold stars for defeating yokozuna.
He was an amateur sumo champion at Nippon Sport Science University, and won the college equivalent of the yokozuna title in his third year. Because he wanted to wait until after his graduation from university before joining professional sumo, he missed out on the chance to enter at the level of the third makushita division. He joined Oguruma stable and made his debut at maezumo level in January 2004.
At the start of his career he was considerably older and more experienced than most of the competition there and quickly worked his way up the ranks, winning two tournament titles in the jonokuchi and sandanme divisions with perfect 7-0 records. He initially competed under his own surname of Ōnishi, but upon reaching the second highest jūryō division in July 2005 he changed his shikona to Yoshikaze.
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