Wakanosato Shinobu

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若の里　忍
Wakanosato Shinobu
Personal information

Birth name	Kogawa Shinobu
Date of birth	July 10, 1976 (1976-07-10) (age 31)
Place of birth	Aomori
Height	1.84 m (6 ft +¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	156 kg (340 lb)
Career*
Heya	Naruto
Current rank	Maegashira 10
Record	632-462-97
Debut	March, 1992
Highest rank	Sekiwake (January 2001)
Yusho	3 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita) 1 (Jonokuchi)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (4) Fighting Spirit (4) Technique (2)
Gold stars	2　(Wakanohana (1), Asashoryu (1))
* Career information is correct as of May 2008.

Wakanosato Shinobu (born July 10, 1976 as Shinobu Kogawa) is a professional sumo wrestler from Hirosaki, Aomori, Japan. His highest rank has been sekiwake.

1 Career
2 Top division record
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Career

Wakanosato entered professional sumo in March 1992, joining Naruto stable. Like many sumo wrestlers, he initially competed under his family name, Kogawa, but upon reaching the second highest jūryō division in November 1997 he was given the fighting name of Wakanosato, reminiscent of his stablemaster, former yokozuna Takanosato.

He entered the top makuuchi division for the first time in May 1998, but broke his ankle in a match with Musoyama in November 1998 and had to miss the following tournament. He suffered a more serious injury in November 1999, rupturing anterior cruciate ligaments. He sat out two successive tournaments and was demoted to the jūryō division . He won consecutive jūryō championships upon his comeback, in May and July 2000, and was promoted back to makuuchi in September. He quickly made the titled sanyaku ranks, making komusubi in November 2000 and recovering from 2-6 down to finish 9-6. As a result he was promoted to sekiwake for the first time in January 2001.

In his early top division career, Wakanosato was considered a promising candidate for ōzeki. From January 2002 until January 2005 he spent 19 consecutive tournaments ranked at either komusubi or sekiwake, an all time record. He has also been awarded ten sansho or special tournament prizes. However, he was never able to break through the "great barrier" (the literal meaning of ōzeki), just failing to attain the necessary 33 wins over three tournaments. He was runner-up in the January 2003 tournament, and again in September 2003, where his 11-4 score was probably his best chance to make ozeki. However, he could only manage seven wins in the following tournament.

In more recent years Wakanosato has again suffered from injury problems, being forced to withdraw from his final (to date) sanyaku-ranked tournament in September 2005 and missing all of the next. He was also forced to sit out all of the September 2006 tournament and fell to the second division once again. However, he made something of a comeback in May 2007, turning in a strong 10-5 record at maegashira 7. He won his 600th career bout in September 2007, and turned in another good performance in May 2008, again finishing on 10-5.

[edit] Top division record

Wakanosato Shinobu^[1]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1998	x	x	West Maegashira #15 10–5 F	East Maegashira #11 9–6	West Maegashira #4 6–9	East Maegashira #6 7–7–1 ★
1999	Sat out due to injury	West Maegashira #6 5–10	West Maegashira #10 11–4 T	East Maegashira #2 4–11	West Maegashira #6 6–9	West Maegashira #9 5–7–3
2000	Sat out due to injury	Sat out due to injury	(Jūryō)	(Jūryō)	West Maegashira #10 11–4 F	West Komusubi 9–6 O
2001	East Sekiwake 10–5 O	East Sekiwake 6–9	East Maegashira #1 8–7	West Komusubi 9–6 O	East Komusubi 7–8	East Maegashira #1 10–5 F
2002	East Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 9–6	East Komusubi 8–7	West Sekiwake 11–4	East Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 7–8
2003	West Komusubi 11–4 F	East Sekiwake 9–6	East Sekiwake 9–6	East Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 11–4 O	East Sekiwake 7–8
2004	West Komusubi 9–6	East Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 9–6	East Sekiwake 8–7	East Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 11–4 T
2005	East Sekiwake 6–9	West Maegashira #1 8–7	West Komusubi 6–9	West Maegashira #2 11–4	West Sekiwake 4–3–8	Sat out due to injury
2006	East Maegashira #16 10–5	East Maegashira #11 11–4	West Maegashira #2 6–9 ★	East Maegashira #6 3–2–10	Sat out due to injury	(Jūryō)
2007	(Jūryō)	East Maegashira #16 11–4	West Maegashira #7 10–5	West Maegashira #2 5–10	West Maegashira #4 5–10	East Maegashira #8 8–7
2008	East Maegashira #4 7–8	East Maegashira #5 5–10	West Maegashira #10 10–5	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent Championship Retired Demoted from makuuchi Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira