Photo/Illutration Masakatsu Kamatani (current Kotonowaka), then 8 months old, is held by his father Kotonowaka (current stablemaster Sadogatake) to enter the ring at the Yamagata City Sports Center on Aug. 17, 1998. (Hiroshi Ono)

I couldn’t help feeling emotional when Kotonowaka was promoted to the second-highest rank of ozeki on Jan. 31 after winning 13 bouts at the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.

During my tenure as a sumo reporter between 1996 and 2006, I kept track of the young wrestler for eight years after he was born in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture.

My memories take me back to the closing days of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament in November 1997 when Kotobeppu’s retirement was imminent.

Then stablemaster Sadogatake (former yokozuna Kotozakura) was seen running around the venue seeking ways to obtain the “toshiyori myoseki” (sumo elder name) qualification for Kotobeppu, who was competing in the top makuuchi division at the time. 

Sadogatake wanted his disciple to eventually become a stablemaster.

Looking at his father-in-law, then Kotonowaka (now stablemaster Sadogatake), also a makuuchi division wrestler, mumbled to himself: “He has become a grandfather. It’s difficult to bring it up now.”

He was referring to the birth of Masakatsu Kamatani, who would grow to become the young Kotonowaka.

The boy nicknamed “Kacchan,” who many people said had a big forehead just like his grandfather, entered the sumo ring for the first time in August the next year during a regional tour in Yamagata Prefecture, his father’s hometown.

Carried into the ring by his father, the 8-month-old weighing 11 kilograms was wearing a “kesho mawashi” ornamental loincloth that matched that worn by his father, although the boy was also wearing a diaper underneath it.

His grandfather was watching the boy at ringside, beaming with joy seeing how courageous the baby looked.

Growing up eating “chanko-nabe” hot pot while sitting on his grandfather’s laps, it was only natural for Kacchan to aspire to become a wrestler.

The boy delighted his grandfather when he announced his future plans to change his ring name from Kotonowaka to Kotozakura, which disappointed his father.

On another day, he saw his father leaving home for a sumo tournament and burst into crying, saying he wanted to go to the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo together.

But when the boy said he would join a sumo stable immediately after his graduation from elementary school, his grandfather talked him out of it.

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Masakatsu Kamatani (current Kotonowaka), right, faces his father Kotonowaka (current stablemaster Sadogatake) as his retirement match opponent at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan on May 27, 2006. (Hiroshi Ono)

His father retired as a wrestler in 2005. During a ceremony involving the ritual cutting of his topknot in May 2006, the former Kotonowaka wrestled his retirement match against his then 8-year-old son.

After he was ushered out of the ring with a frontal force out, the wrestler told fans: “Kotonowaka will be absent for six and a half years. Masakatsu will make his sumo debut under the ring name of Kotonowaka when he turns 15, so be patient until then.”

That was the last time I saw the young Kotonowaka while I was a sumo reporter.

In reality, Masakatsu went on to attend Saitama Sakae junior and senior high schools, known for their competitive sumo teams.

He made his professional debut under the ring name of Kotokamatani at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament in 2015, before taking over his father’s ring name when he was promoted to juryo in 2019.

He said he intends to adopt the ring name of Kotozakura before the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament takes place in May.

Meanwhile, his father and former Kotonowaka repeatedly changed how his ring name was written although the pronunciation remained the same.

The name can be broken down into three parts: “koto” for Japanese harp, “no” for “of” and “waka” for “youth.”

When the young Kotonowaka was born, his father was using the kanji characters for koto and youth, with the hiragana letter for “no” sandwiched between them.

The following year, he replaced the hiragana for “no” with a kanji possessive particle, before opting for a traditional kanji for “waka” with more strokes and the katakana for “no” that looks like a slash.

Former stablemaster Sadogatake was known to be particular about the number of strokes used for ring names.

I can imagine him nodding contently, seeing how his son-in-law made all these changes.

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