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Kotōkuzan Tarō
荒篤山 太郎
Personal information
Born	Jasper Kenneth Arboladura Terai (1994-03-11) 11 March 1994 (age 30) Makati, Philippines
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Weight	157 kg (346 lb)
Career
Stable	Arashio
Current rank	see below
Debut	September, 2009
Highest rank	Maegashira 16 (March 2022)
* Up to date as of 26 March 2023.

Kōtokuzan Tarō (荒篤山 太郎; born 11 March 1994 as Jasper Kenneth Arboladura Terai) is a Filipino-Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Makati, Philippines. Making his professional debut in September 2009, he reached the top makuuchi division for the first time in March 2022. He has a highest rank of maegashira 16. He wrestles for Arashio stable.

Career

He was born in Makati but grew up in Santa Rosa. He has two younger sisters. While his Filipino mother worked in Japan he was raised by his grandmother. He was first introduced to sumo by seeing it on TV in the Philippines. At the age of 11, he moved to Japan, joining his mother and his stepfather (he never knew his biological father). He had never learnt the Japanese language before entering school and struggled with reading kanji. Fearing he would not make a good high school student, he took the advice of his stepfather and visited Arashio stable for two days to explore sumo as a possible alternative career path. He was accepted by the stable after graduating from junior high school.

Beginning his career at just 15, he was considerably younger than most of his training partners at his stable. He weighed just 103 kg and was 177 cm tall when he made his professional debut in September 2009. After his first tournament he was given the shikona of Kōtokuzan ("Kōto" being a different reading of the "Ara" or 荒 kanji used at his stable and not related to the "Koto" commonly used at Sadogatake stable). He won no championships moving up through the professional sumo divisions and moved between the fourth-tier sandanme and third makushita divisions a number of times before finally establishing himself in makushita in 2017. By this time his weight had increased to 156 kg. He was forced to sit out the January 2021 tournament due to a COVID-19 outbreak at his stable, but in the following tournament a 4–3 record moved him up to Makushita 1. In May 2021 he earned promotion to the sekitori ranks with a 5–2 record. Although his jūryō division debut in July was unsuccessful, a 4–11 score dropping him back to makushita, he returned to jūryō in November and two consecutive winning records in double figures saw him promoted to the top makuuchi division for the March 2022 tournament. He followed his stablemate Wakamotoharu, who had made his top division debut in the previous tournament. Kōtokuzan represents Kanagawa Prefecture, and he is the tenth wrestler from that prefecture to reach makuuchi.

Fighting style

Kōtokuzan is an oshi-sumo specialist, who prefers pushing and thrusting at his opponents rather than fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite are hataki komi (slap down) tsuki otoshi (thrust down) and oshi dashi (push out).

Career record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of active sumo wrestlers

References

1. ^ Pastor, Pam (27 July 2017). "'Sinigang' gets this sumo wrestler going". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
2. ^ "Kotokuzan Taro Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
3. "荒篤山が新十両昇進 12年かけ夢をかなえる「これからもっと上を目指して」(Kotokuzan promoted to juryo, 12-year dream come true, aims "to go above and beyond")". Sponichi (in Japanese). 26 May 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
4. "2022 March Grand Sumo Tournament Banzuke Topics". Japan Sumo Association. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
5. "Kotokuzan Taro". Japan Sumo Association. Retrieved 23 March 2022.

External links

• Kōtokuzan Tarō's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage

• 1994 births
• Living people
• Japanese sumo wrestlers
• Japanese people of Filipino descent