Takamisakari Seiken

高見盛 精彦 Takamisakari Seiken
Personal information
Born	Seiken Katō (1976-05-12) May 12, 1976 Aomori, Japan
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	140 kg (310 lb; 22 st)
Career
Heya	Azumazeki
Current rank	see below
Debut	March 1999
Highest rank	Komusubi (September 2002)
Yūshō	1 (Jūryō)
Sanshō	Outstanding Performance (1) Fighting Spirit (2) Technique (2)
Kinboshi	2 (Asashōryū, Musashimaru)
* Career information is correct as of Nov 2011.

Takamisakari Seiken (born May 12, 1976 as Seiken Katō) is a sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture, Japan. A former amateur champion, he turned professional in 1999 and established himself in the top division in 2002 after a brief appearance in 2000. He has received five special prizes for his achievements in tournaments and earned two gold stars for defeating yokozuna. The highest rank he has reached is komusubi, which he has held on two occasions. He is one of the most popular wrestlers in sumo today, largely due to his eccentric warm-ups before his matches.

Career

Born in Itayanagi, Kitatsugaru District, Katō was an amateur sumo champion at Nihon University, winning the College Yokozuna title in his final year. He began his professional sumo career as a makushita tsukedashi (a promising amateur allowed to start at a level significantly higher than entry level) in March 1999, wrestling under his own name. He reached jūryō, the second-highest division, in January 2000, at which point he changed his fighting name to Takamisakari.

Takamisakari in his kesho-mawashi

Three tournaments later, in July of the same year, he was promoted to the top makuuchi division, becoming only the second wrestler (and first Japanese born) from his Azumazeki stable to achieve this feat. In September he acted as tsuyuharai ("dew-sweeper", an honorary attendant) in stablemate Yokozuna Akebono's ring-entering ceremony, but he was injured on the third day of that tournament. Enforced absence from the next two tournaments saw him demoted all the way back to the unsalaried makushita division, where he had begun his career. It took him until March 2002 to work his way back up to the makuuchi division, and in September he reached komusubi, his highest rank to date. He only held this rank for one tournament, however, dropping back to maegashira in November. He has earned five special prizes, and has two gold stars for defeating yokozuna, both earned in the July 2003 tournament where he was also awarded the Outstanding Performance prize. Although he again reached komusubi in November 2003, he again failed to retain the rank and has been a middle-level maegashira since then.

Takamisakari again appeared in a yokozuna's ring-entered ceremony in September 2005, when he replaced Asasekiryū, who was injured, as sword-bearer. On the first day he accidentally scraped the sword against the ceiling.

He came close to demotion from the top division after missing five bouts through injury in November 2007. However in the next tournament he achieved a majority of wins against losses from the maegashira 14 ranking. In May 2011 he could score only 7-8 at maegashira 15 but actually rose one place in the rankings for the following tournament due to the large number of wrestlers retiring over a match-fixing scandal. However his run of 56 consecutive makuuchi tournaments ended when he could only score 3-12 in the July 2011 basho.

Takamisakari is a hugely popular wrestler. He builds himself up for each bout with a somewhat eccentric series of muscle flexes and slaps, and throws a copious amount of salt onto the dohyō. In a culture where impassivity is sometimes seen as a sign of strength, he makes no attempt to hide his emotions, obviously elated after each win and inconsolably dejected after each loss (though even then often he will receive generous applause from the audience). Even though he usually performs in the middle to lower ranks, the winner of his matches are always greatly rewarded with kensho (prize money) provided by his sponsor, a food company.

Takamisakari defeats Kasugaō during the May 2007 tournament.

Fighting style

Takamisakari has a straightforward fighting style, rarely resorting to sidestepping at the initial charge. He favours yotsu techniques, preferring a right-hand inside, left-hand outside grip on his opponent's mawashi (migi-yotsu), and 26 of his 41 wins between July 2007 and May 2008 were by yori-kiri, or a simple force out. He is also known for his effort and technique at the edge of the ring, which often allow him to win matches in which just a moment earlier it appeared that he would be pushed out.

In popular culture

• He is known in Japan as "RoboCop". The nickname was given to him by former Yokozuna Akebono, who was his senpai, in reference to his robot-like movements at the dohyō.

• He is a fan of the anime series Gundam Seed.

• He is also nearsighted, which explains why he squints a lot on the dohyō. He wears glasses when outside of the ring.

Makuuchi and Jūryō record

　

Takamisakari Seiken

year in sumo	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
2000	East Jūryō #12 7–8	East Jūryō #13 11–4	West Jūryō #3 11–4	East Maegashira #11 10–5 F	West Maegashira #7 1–3–11	East Jūryō #2 Sat out due to injury 0–0–15
2001	East Jūryō #2 Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	(Makushita)	(Makushita)	(Makushita)	(Makushita)	West Jūryō #12 10–5
2002	West Jūryō #5 12–3–P Champion	East Maegashira #13 9–6	West Maegashira #6 8–7	East Maegashira #2 9–6 T	East Komusubi 4–11	East Maegashira #4 5–10
2003	East Maegashira #9 10–5	West Maegashira #2 8–7 T	West Maegashira #1 6–9	West Maegashira #3 9–6 O★★	East Maegashira #1 9–6 F	East Komusubi 5–10
2004	East Maegashira #3 4–11	East Maegashira #8 8–7	West Maegashira #4 6–9	West Maegashira #7 8–7	East Maegashira #7 7–8	West Maegashira #7 8–7
2005	West Maegashira #5 6–9	West Maegashira #8 9–6	East Maegashira #7 5–10	West Maegashira #11 10–5	East Maegashira #5 5–10	East Maegashira #9 7–8
2006	East Maegashira #10 7–8	West Maegashira #11 7–8	East Maegashira #12 8–7	West Maegashira #8 7–8	East Maegashira #9 7–8	East Maegashira #9 10–5
2007	East Maegashira #5 7–8	East Maegashira #6 7–8	East Maegashira #7 9–6	East Maegashira #4 3–12	West Maegashira #9 8–7	West Maegashira #8 5–5–5
2008	East Maegashira #14 8–7	West Maegashira #11 10–5	East Maegashira #7 7–8	East Maegashira #8 6–9	West Maegashira #11 6–9	East Maegashira #14 10–5
2009	West Maegashira #5 6–9	West Maegashira #7 6–9	East Maegashira #12 9–6	West Maegashira #4 6–9	West Maegashira #7 6–9	West Maegashira #11 8–7
2010	East Maegashira #11 7–8	West Maegashira #12 7–8	West Maegashira #13 8–7	West Maegashira #11 9–6	East Maegashira #5 4–11	East Maegashira #12 8–7
2011	East Maegashira #9 6–9	East Maegashira #15 Tournament Cancelled 0–0–0	East Maegashira #15 7–8	East Maegashira #14 3–12	West Jūryō #7 6–9	West Jūryō #10 9–6
2012	West Jūryō #6 7–8	East Jūryō #8 –	x	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s) P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo tournament second division winners
• List of active sumo wrestlers

External links

• Japanese Sumo Association Biography (English)(Japanese)
• complete biography and basho results (Japanese)