Kotozakura Masakatsu II

Kamatani was born on November 19, 1997, the only child of then-active top division wrestler Kotonowaka I and Machiko Kamatani, the eldest daughter of sumo's 53rd Kotozakura. Kotonowaka had married the daughter of his stablemaster the previous year, an old custom in the sumo world to secure the ownership of a stable. During his youth, Kamatani made a habit of attending Sadogatake stable's training sessions every day before going to school. It was also noted that during his childhood he had a good relationship with Kotoyūki, the latter seeing him as a little brother. He had a good relationship with his grandfather, who taught him basic sumo elements (such as or using a pole) and expected him to be a sumo wrestler in order to continue his legacy. As a student, he decided to enter Saitama Sakae High School (well-known for its sumo club) where he also trained with future professional wrestlers Ōhō and Gōnoyama, both his juniors. In 2013, Kamatani participated to the Hakuhō Cup and came third in the junior high school individual competition. Initially, he thought about joining professional sumo after graduating from junior high school, but as he did not have the confidence to do so, he postponed his decision to become a professional wrestler until his graduation from senior high school. Despite his podium at the Hakuhō Cup, it was noted that Kamatani struggled to gain momentum during his student years, achieving little success at first. In his third year, he was named captain of the sumo club and won both the team competition at the National High School Comprehensive Athletics Sumo Tournament and the World Junior Sumo Championship heavyweight competition, held that year in Osaka. After graduating from senior high school, he decided to become a professional sumo wrestler and logically joined the Sadogatake stable, where his mother and father announced that he would now be treated like any other wrestler, and Kotoshōgiku announced that he would receive no special treatment. ==Early career==

Kamatani made his professional sumo debut in November 2015 and was given the , or ring name, , taking up his original name combined with the kanji used by all the wrestlers in his stable and using the first name his grandfather used when he was a wrestler. Kotokamatani won all three of his bouts in November 2015. In the following tournament, in January 2016, he won the championship with a perfect record. Moving up in the rankings, Kotokamatani made it to the division in September 2016, hitting the wall of that division and stagnating for a while. In May 2019, in a position of potential promotion to the division, Kotokamatani recorded a record at 2, including a victory over Hōshōryū and narrowly completed with a win over Churanoumi, that was enough to earn promotion to the status of for the first time. Upon promotion, he adopted his father's surname of Kotonowaka, with the expectation that he would eventually adopt his grandfather's of Kotozakura if ever promoted to . They were the ninth father-and-son pairing to both reach the top division. Kotonowaka was ranked at 18, the first time since 1959 that had extended to an 18th rank. The next tournament to take place in July 2020 saw him pull out with a knee injury on Day 8, which he sustained the previous day in a loss to Kaisei. He re-entered on Day 14 but was unable to add any more wins, finishing on which saw him demoted back to . He earned immediate promotion back to makuuchi for the November 2020 tournament with a record (although he lost his last four matches). ====

Up-and-comer Upon his return to Kotonowaka only managed a record (this time losing his last three matches) although it was enough to keep him in the top division as he fell just one place from 14 to 15. He performed better in the January 2021 tournament, scoring . He narrowly failed to get a majority of wins in the March and May 2021 tournaments, scoring and respectively. In the July 2021 tournament Kotonowaka had his best career performance to date. He scored and was awarded his first special prize, for Fighting Spirit. He moved up to 3 for the September tournament. On the eighth day of the September tournament he defeated Shōdai. However, he had to withdraw from the tournament with a left knee injury on Day 10. This injury, to the medial collateral ligament and medial meniscus of his left knee, could have cost him a year's absence from the ring had he opted for surgery. However, Kotonowaka decided to opt for regenerative surgery and obtained mixed results at the following tournaments as a result of his therapy. In January 2022 Kotonowaka won eleven matches from 14, and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize for the second time. In March Kotonowaka was in contention for the championship on the final day for the second straight tournament, but lost to Hōshōryū when victory would have given him a chance of a playoff with the other two contenders, Wakatakakage and Takayasu. He finished in third place with , but did receive his third Fighting Spirit prize. promotion After a winning record at his highest rank of 1, Kotonowaka was promoted to for the January 2023 tournament. This promotion makes Kotozakura, Kotonowaka, and the new Kotonowaka the first wrestling family to produce three consecutive -ranked wrestlers in sumo history. This promotion also makes the Kotonowaka the sixth father-son pair to be promoted to and the first since Oginohana Masaaki and Oginishiki Yasutoshi at the Nagoya tournament in 1997. He retained his rankings for the March tournament. In the March tournament Kotonowaka secured a record, which included a win over eventual championship winner Kiribayama. During the July tournament of the same year, Kotonowaka scored several significant victories, including against former Mitakeumi and Shōdai, as well as promotion seekers, Daieishō. On Day 7, he even defeated one of the tournament leaders, Nishikigi, ending his streak of 14 straight wins. On the tenth day, Kotonowaka inflicted defeat on another rank contender, Hōshōryū. This victory was particularly significant for Kotonowaka, who had only beaten Hōshōryū once in eleven matches since the two joined the division. In a letter to the editor published in Sankei Sports, former Musōyama commented with satisfaction on Kotonowaka's wrestling style, deeming it worthy of the rank of . For his performances during the tournament, Kotonowaka was promised a fourth award for Fighting Spirit, which was nonetheless conditional on an eleventh victory. On the final day of the tournament, Kotonowaka won his match against Ryūden and was awarded the prize. Since he achieved double figures in a rank, and was the first in this category to reach 10 wins during the July tournament, Kotonowaka commented on his satisfaction at having seriously strengthened his case for promotion to the rank of , the highest rank held by his father and master (former Kotonowaka Terumasa) after having stagnated at the rank of for 4 consecutive tournaments. He also commented on his ambition to be promoted to , in order to revive and inherit the , or ring name, of his maternal grandfather, former Kotozakura, to whom he had made this promise. Kotonowaka's promotion to was made official with the release of the September tournament rankings on 28 August 2023. He became Sadogatake stable's first since Kotoyūki was promoted in May 2016. Upon his promotion, Kotonowaka said he was honored to be at the same ranking as his father, while his father and stablemaster said that the rank was not the end, adding his hopes that someday his son would be on par with Kotozakura. Since Kotonowaka has obtained a solid base to start a run towards the rank of , it was announced before the September tournament that his matches would be sponsored by the management and entertainment company LDH. During the November 2023 tournament, Kotonowaka made his mark with a third consecutive victory on the third day of the championship, using the rare ('backward twisting overarm throw'); a technique that had not been used in the division for 13 years. He continued his tournament with a good performance, recording a winning record on Day 10 for the eighth tournament in a row. On the thirteenth day of the tournament Kotonowaka recorded a fourth defeat against Ryūden, automatically eliminating him from the title race and ended his hopes of promotion to at the end of the tournament. Despite having been knocked out of the title race, Kotonowaka played a part in the final outcome of the tournament with a victory over Atamifuji, who needed a win to possibly trigger a playoff for the championship. As this victory was a prerequisite for the Fighting Spirit award, Kotonowaka won the prize for the fifth time in his career. Kotonowaka finished 2023 with winning records at the ranks in all six of his tournaments. His father Sadogatake, speaking as the head of the Sumo Association's judging department, added that promotion is at stake for Kotonowaka at the tournament in January 2024. Kotonowaka performed well in the first half of the tournament, although he also recorded a defeat on Day 6 against Wakamotoharu. Kotonowaka maintained his position as one of the tournament's leading wrestlers (with Ōnosato and Ōnoshō) by recording a on Day 9 against fellow Daieishō, securing an eighth consecutive tournament in the ranks of . On the tenth day, Kotonowaka faced and defeated Ōnosato by , hence taking sole lead of the tournament. On Day 13, however, he suffered a defeat from Terunofuji, reportedly leaving him in a state of extreme frustration after the match and placing him ex-aequo with the and Kirishima for the title race. However, he managed to bounce back the following day by inflicting defeat on promotion-seeking Kirishima, with the title to be decided on the final day. In addition, he won his final match against Tobizaru, claiming a thirteenth victory necessary to reach the milestone traditionally required for promotion to the rank of (33 victories in 3 tournaments). With this victory he also qualified for a playoff against Terunofuji to claim both his first championship and the Outstanding Performance award. After the tournament, a disappointed and tearful Kotonowaka was nevertheless praised by Terunofuji when the latter gave the traditional post-victory public interview, saying he hoped Kotonowaka would rise to the supreme rank of . Promotion to Immediately after the end of the January 2024 tournament it was announced that the Judging Department of the Sumo Association (led by Kotonowaka's father Sadogatake) had submitted a request to Chairman Hakkaku to promote Kotonowaka to the rank of . It was reported after the tournament that Kotonowaka was expected to keep his (ring name) for a while to honor his father, whose highest rank in competition was , before adopting the name of his late grandfather Kotozakura. The Sumo Association approved Kotonowaka's promotion on 31 January 2024, making him the first from Chiba Prefecture since the promotion of Matsunobori after the Autumn tournament in 1955. Director Hanakago (former Daijuyama) officially delivered the news to the new along with Naruto (former Kotoōshū), a sumo judge who had competed professionally as a member of Sadogatake stable. In his customary acceptance speech, Kotonowaka said: "With a feeling of gratitude I will devote myself to the way of sumo in order to live up to the title of ." He also confirmed that he would retain the Kotonowaka name for the next tournament in March, before changing to Kotozakura on the May 2024 . His father Sadogatake shared his expectations that his son would ultimately reach sumo's top rank of , saying that he had "one more step to climb." During the March tournament, Kotonowaka remained in a position of potential contention for a championship win until Day 13, when he was defeated by fellow- Takakeishō, ending his chances of winning the tournament. On day 14, he nevertheless took away his chances of winning the tournament from fellow- Hōshōryū by beating him by (frontal crush out). Kotozakura legacy After the conclusion of the March tournament Kotonowaka, who secured 10 wins in his debut, submitted his official paperwork to change his ring name to Kotozakura starting in May. The name change became official on the banzuke for the May tournament, making the new Kotozakura the first wrestler to bear this name in 50 years. Interestingly, the name change was published on the on 30 April 2024 as , changing the spelling of the first name borne by his grandfather (琴櫻 傑將) by reversing its kanji with the same pronunciation. The new Kotozakura explained his choice by declaring that the current form of his first name inspired good omens. Having practiced writing his new to make autographs, however, Kotozakura declared that dedicating the kanji for was too complicated. Although he had made the choice to keep the traditional kanji for cherry blossom () in his name, he would dedicate with the simplified kanji () for simplicity, which his grandfather had also chosen to do. First top-division championship and race During the 2024 November tournament, Kotozakura and two other were the top wrestlers competing with the withdrawal of Terunofuji. Kotozakura won 13 of his first 14 matches and entered the final day of top-division competition to face fellow Hōshōryū, who also had 13 wins. In the final and deciding match Kotozakura countered Hōshōryū's overarm throw attempt, winning by (slap down) to take his first career Emperor's Cup and second overall professional sumo championship. By coincidence, Kotozakura won his first top-division title in his fifth tournament as an at 27 years of age, the same as his late grandfather Kotozakura I, who won under the exact same circumstances in July 1968. Kotozakura also finished 2024 with 66 wins, the most of any wrestler in the top division. On Day 13 he lost to then-tournament leader Kinbōzan for his eighth defeat, which meant that the former candidate would need a winning record at the next tournament to retain his rank. In February Kotozakura made visits to nearby Tokitsukaze stable for training sessions, in what was reported to be a rare move for him to do prior to the release of the March tournament rankings. Although Kotozakura was able to earn records to get rid of his status, he had been unable to reproduce strong scores since winning his first championship in 2024. He also expressed his frustration at having failed to conquer the highest rank in professional sumo earlier that year, consecutively losing the title race to Hōshōryū and Ōnosato. As member of the Nishonoseki clan, Kotozakura even took part in the ceremonies related to Ōnosato's promotion. Near the end of the September 2025 tournament Kotozakura withdrew due to right knee ligament damage, according to his medical certificate, which stated that he would need three weeks of recovery time. Though Kotozakura had already secured a winning record in the tournament, his withdrawal was the fourth in his career, and his first at the rank. At the March 2026 tournament, Kotozakura stood out for defeating Yokozuna Hōshōryū on Day 14, eliminating the Yokozuna from the championship race. The next day, he defeated Kirishima, who had secured the tournament championship the previous day. This meant that Kotozakura finished the tournament with a record, the first time he had ended with double-digit victories since he won the championship in November 2024. ==Fighting style==

Kotozakura prefers a grip on his opponent's which is a left hand outside, right hand inside position. He also lists (pushing/thrusting) as a favourite style in his Japan Sumo Association profile. Apart from and (force out and push out), his most common winning include ('overarm throw'), ('thrust over') and ('pulling overarm throw'). Kotozakura seeks to emulate the style of his grandfather, the former of the same name, and frequently watches his matches to draw inspiration from his thrusting style () as well as his father's grip fighting style (). Kotozakura's fighting style, which allows him to stretch to nullify his opponents' strength, has been compared by former Hakuhō and Wakanohana III to that of a mochi, a rice cake that is elastic when fresh. ==Career record==