Hokutōriki Hideki

Career

He was born in Kurobane, a town in the Nasu District of Tochigi Prefecture. Hokutōriki made his professional debut in March 1993, joining Kokonoe stable. In October of that year he transferred to the newly created Hakkaku stable run by former yokozuna Hokutoumi. It took nearly nine years for him to achieve sekitori status by gaining promotion to the second jūryō division in January 2002. However, it took him only two further tournaments to reach the top makuuchi division. On his debut outing in makuuchi in May 2002 he made an immediate impression, finishing as runner-up with a strong 11-4 record and the fighting spirit prize. He was also a runner-up in the March 2003 tournament.

The highlight of Hokutōriki's career came in May 2004, the only occasion to date when he has recorded a winning score from the upper maegashira ranks. Ranked at maegashira 1, he sensationally defeated Asashōryū on the sixth day - his first ever victory over a yokozuna. Asashōryū had won the previous two tournaments with unbeaten 15-0 records and was on a 35 bout winning streak. With Asashōryū suffering another defeat to Kyokutenhō on Day 11, Hokutōriki came into the final day the sole leader on 13-1, his only defeat in the tournament thus far being to Wakanosato on Day 8. However, he lost his senshuraku bout to Hakuhō, then in his debut top division tournament, being sidestepped by the 19-year-old after two false starts. With Asashōryū defeating Chiyotaikai, both Asashōryū and Hokutōriki were tied on 13-2 and had to meet again in a playoff for the championship, which Hokutōriki lost. Nevertheless, he was rewarded with special prizes for Fighting spirit and Outstanding Performance, and after the tournament he was promoted to sumo's third highest rank of sekiwake.

Hokutōriki managed only a 3-12 record in his sekiwake debut and never managed a return to the san'yaku ranks, instead bouncing up and down the maegashira ranks. He won another Fighting Spirit Award for his twelve wins from maegashira 11 in January 2006, but in November of that year he pulled out of the tournament on the ninth day with no wins at all and was relegated to the jūryō division. However, a 9-6 record at jūryō 4 in March 2007 was good enough to earn promotion back to the top division for the May 2007 tournament. Although he remained in makuuchi he did not manage to defeat a yokozuna again and had several disastrous openings to tournaments, going 0-10 in July 2008 from maegashira 2 and 0-12 in March 2009 from maegashira 1. In May 2009 another poor record of 4-11 saw him demoted to jūryō for the second time. However, an 11-4 score there returned him immediately to the top division.

He withdrew from the September 2010 tournament on the 13th day after suffering a neck injury, which also kept him out of the following tournament in November. Falling to the bottom of the jūryō division, he was unable to enter the January 2011 basho as well.

Retirement from sumo

Hokutoriki did not enter the May 2011 technical examination tournament, at which he had fallen to the rank of makushita 13, and announced his retirement on Day 7. He will stay in sumo as a coach at Hakkaku stable under the toshiyori or elder name of Tanigawa-oyakata. His danpatsu-shiki or retirement ceremony was held in May 2012.

Fighting style

Hokutōriki relied almost exclusively on pushing and slapping techniques, with over a third of his wins coming by oshidashi, or push-out. He was usually defeated if his opponents managed to grab hold of his mawashi or belt. He often used henka, or sidestepping, to wrong-foot his opponents, and was adept at pull-downs and slap-downs. However, in the January 2008 tournament he was himself a victim of the henka tactic on three consecutive days, slipping from a score of 6-5 to 6-8.

Family

Hokutōriki is married, and his first child, a daughter, was born in December 2007.