Yoshikaze Masatsugu

Onishi became an amateur sumo champion while studying at Nihon Taiiku University and became a student yokozuna for the third year. He did not want to go to a professional sumo without graduating from university, and therefore missed his chance to enter the third league (makushita). He joined heg Oguruma in January 2004, made his debut while staying at the Maesumo level. In age, he was much older and more experienced than most of his rivals, so there was a rapid rise in rank, he won in two tournaments of leagues zenokuchi and sandamme with a score of 7-0. At first he performed under his own name Onisi, but, having reached the second league (dzyuryo) in July 2005, he chose a new sikon - Yoshikaze.

In January 2006, Yoshikaze joined the big league (makuuchi). In order to achieve it, he needed only 12 tournaments from the beginning of performances in the professional league. This was the second fastest promotion since the system of six tournaments per year was introduced in 1958 ^[1] . But until January 2009, he could not rise above the rank of maegashira and twice slipped into the juryo league.

At the November 2007 tournament, he defeated the favorite of Takamisakari fans, using a rare technique of utensils (a throw by rotation from the edge of the ring). But in this tournament he was able to win only in three other fights and slipped to the bottom of the league. At the January 2008 tournament, he achieved a score of 8-7 and remained in the Makuuti League.

His best performance in the big leagues was the November 2008 tournament, where he won in 11 bouts and received his first San-sho special prize for fighting spirit. Before the January 2009 tournament, he was promoted to maegashira No. 2. He performed 6–9, which was commendable enough, and won an unforgettable victory over Ozeki Harumafuji on the first day of the tournament. But in the next three tournaments, he came up with a make-koshi indicator and rolled down the ranks. The November tournament of 2009 was one of the most successful for him, he won nine out of ten of his first fights, but fell behind the finish line and showed a general result of 10-5. At the September 2010 tournament, he reached a score of 11-4 (from the start of the tournament there was a score of 9-0) and was awarded the second special prize for fighting spirit, which he shared with Takekase, his fellow hee. At the November 2010 tournament, he reached an indicator of 8-7 and by January 2011 he returned to the rank of maegashira No. 2.

In March 2014, Yoshikadze achieved a score of 10-5 in the rank of maegashira No. 4. He received a prize for outstanding fighting spirit and first rose to the rank of sanyaku, since all his colleagues in the rank of maegashira lost points. In May 2014, Yoshikadze rose to the rank of komusubi, ending his long stay at the rank of makuuchi (47 tournaments). However, in this rank he showed a result of 6–9 and, although he immediately rolled back, it was a good result for the debutant. In the next tournament in Nagoya, Yoshikadze defeated Yokozuna Harumafudzi for the second consecutive tournament, winning Kinboshi for the first time while in the rank of Maegashira ^[2] . He earned his second kinboshi in September, defeating Yokozuna Kakuryu, but the tournament ended unsuccessfully with four wins out of 12 fights.

At the beginning of 2015, Yoshikaze dropped to the rank of Maegashira No. 14, losing five of his last six tournaments. However, in May, he regained his position, having achieved a result of 10-5, and at the July tournament in Nagoya he achieved his best result for a career in Makuuchi 12-3, while winning his fourth prize for fighting spirit. Yoshikadze maintained his excellent form until September 2015, when he achieved 11 victories in the rank of maegashira No. 1, defeating two prominent yokozunas: Hakuho and Kakuryu, and was awarded separate awards for his outstanding performance and technique ^[3] . At the November 2015 tournament, Yoshikaze returned to the komusubi rank and won his second victory over the Yokozuna Kakuryu on the opening day ^[4] . he finished the tournament with a score of 8-7, defeating both sekivake and ozeki Goeydo and received a separate award for the technique ^[5] . This result allowed him to rise for the first time to the rank of sekivake, after 59 tournaments held in the major league sumo. This was the second longest promotion after Takekase (Yoshikaze's fellow Ogurum school) who needed 69 tournaments to rise to the rank of sekivake ^[6] .

The debut in the sekivake rank was successful for Yoshikaze, however, he lost to the next tournament with a score of 4-11 and again slipped into the maegashira. At the July 2016 tournament, he achieved the fifth gold star, defeating Yokozuna Harumafuji for the eighth time out of thirteen meetings ^[7] . Despite facial injuries, Yoshikaze successfully finished the tournament with a score of 10-5 and received a separate award for his outstanding performance ^[8] . At the March 2017 tournament, he achieved the sixth gold star, having won on the tenth day over Yokozuna Kakuryu ^[9] .

Yoshikaze's favorite technique (as indicated on the Sumo Association list) is the Tsuki-axis (that is, he prefers jerks rather than fighting to capture Mawashi). Most often, he won using the tricks of Yorikiri (crowding out) and Osidashi (pushing).

Yoshikaze got married in December 2008, the wedding was played in October 2009. He has a daughter born in July 2009 and a son.

• Wrestler Profile at Japan Sumo Association
• Wrestler's biography on japan-sumo.ru