Ōtsukasa Nobuhide
Ōtsukasa Nobuhide is a former sumo wrestler from Miki, Hyōgo, Japan. A former amateur champion, he made his professional debut in 1993. The highest rank he reached was maegashira 4. He retired in March 2009 and is now a sumo coach.
Career
Ōtsukasa began sumo at Miki Middle School and was a member of Ichikawa High School's sumo club, where he won national high school sumo championships. He continued his amateur sumo career at Nihon University.Ōtsukasa was recruited by the former sekiwake Tochitsukasa, also a Nihon University alumni and head of the then-newly formed Irumagawa stable. He made his professional debut in March 1993. Due to his amateur achievements, he was given makushita tsukedashi status, meaning he could enter in the third-highest makushita division. Initially fighting under his real name of Ōuchi, he won the makushita ''yūshō or championship in only his second tournament, with a perfect 7–0 record. However, it was not until January 1996 that he became a sekitori by earning promotion to the second-highest jūryō division, upon which he adopted the shikona of Ōtsukasa. After a couple of short spells back in the makushita division, he took the jūryō division championship in May 1999 with an 11–4 record. He made the top makuuchi division for the first time in September 1999. The 39 tournaments it took him from his professional debut to reach makuuchi is the third-slowest amongst former collegiate wrestlers.
During his sekitori career Ōtsukasa was a classic "elevator wrestler", too good for jūryō but not quite good enough for the top division. He was promoted to makuuchi no less than 11 times in total.
This is two fewer than the record of 13 promotions held by Ōshio, a record Ōtsukasa said he would have liked to break. Ōtsukasa was ranked in the top division for three of the six tournaments held in 2007 but did not manage a majority of wins against losses in makuuchi after July 2004. His last promotion in March 2008 made him the third-oldest postwar wrestler to earn promotion to the top division at 37 years. He won his first four bouts on his final return but then lost 10 in a row to finish with a 5–10 score.
He won a second jūryō championship in January 2005. After the retirement of Kotonowaka in November 2005 he was the oldest man in the sekitori ranks. Restricted by a shoulder injury, he produced only one winning record after January 2008. After the 2009 Haru basho, Ōtsukasa would have dropped out of jūryō. His departure left Tosanoumi, who is two days under a year younger than Ōtsukasa, as the oldest active sekitori''.