Abi Masatora
Abi Masatora is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Saitama Prefecture. He made his debut in May, 2013 and wrestles for Shikoroyama stable. He reached the top makuuchi division in January 2018 and has two special prizes for Fighting Spirit and two gold stars for yokozuna upsets. His highest rank has been komusubi.
Early life and sumo experience
Kōsuke Horikiri was born as the youngest of four children, born into a family that ran a construction company. He was a head taller than most of his classmates as a student. Unlike other members of his family, he was not inclined towards sports as he was somewhat overweight and didn't like running. He tried judo, but found he excelled more at sumo; taking the children's sumo championship in his city in both his first and second years of primary school. Though he was skilled at sumo, he didn't like the sport at first, especially practice, and would often try to avoid it. As the sumo at the city level was not challenging enough he began participating in national children's sumo tournaments but achieved little success. He did not see sumo in his future but as most of his friends were involved in the sport, he continued. Having a very gregarious nature, he made friends quickly at tournaments, among them being future makuuchi wrestlers Daieishō and Hokutōfuji.In junior high school Horikiri began to find sumo more appealing, placing well in tournaments. This culminated in taking 3rd place in the national junior high school sumo tournament in Kagoshima. Horikiri recalled being so certain he would be eliminated on the first day, that he brought a swimsuit for swimming in the nearby sea so he would have something to do for the rest of the tournament.
He transferred to Nagareyama High School and joined the sumo club. One of his classmates there was future Daishōhō. He was successful at the high school level, often placing in the best sixteen. In his 3rd year of high school, he placed 3rd in the 61st Towada Sumo Tournament in the individual category, losing to the future san'yaku wrestler Ichinojō.
His family hoped he would go on to university and continue sumo there, but Horikiri instead expressed interest in taking over the family business. Not long afterwards, without consulting his parents he made the decision to enter Shikoroyama stable because his sumo coach was close with its head, the former Terao. His parents had not expected this sudden change and were reluctant to meet with his coach at first, but Horikiri convinced them of his fervor.
Career
In his first tournament in July 2013 he achieved a 6–1 record, losing only to Ikeru. In the following tournament in September, in the jonidan division, he had a 7–0 record, and took the championship, beating Aokishin in a playoff. In the next tournament, which was his sandanme debut, he only achieved a 4–3 but following that in January 2014 he got another perfect record and took the sandanme division championship. Over the next year, he posted four winning tournaments out of six. He was promoted to the salaried ranks of jūryō for the March 2015 tournament along with Amakaze and Ishiura. On this promotion, he chose the shikona of Abi which was the idea of his coach the aforementioned former sekiwake Terao. Abi was pronounced the same as Shikoroyama coach's nickname. The characters used were chosen in the hope that Horikiri could be strong like the many armed Asura and "on fire" in the ring.。Though he lasted four tournaments in the division, he only managed one winning tournament and was demoted back to makushita after the September 2015 tournament. He spent the next eight tournaments moving up and down the top third of the makushita division. In the March 2017 tournament at makushita 16 he got a 7–0 record and took the championship. He would follow this with a strong 5-2 in May, which would finally garner re-promotion to jūryō in July 2017, in which he achieved a winning tournament. In the next tournament in September at jūryō 11 he posted a 10–5 record and on the final day beat both Homarefuji and Kotoyuki in a playoff to take the championship. An 11–4 record at jūryō 5 in November would propel him to the top flight makuuchi division for the first time. In his debut in January 2018 at maegashira 14 he had a record of 10–5 and earned the Fighting Spirit Prize along with Ryūden. Another 10-5 for the March 2018 tournament saw him promoted to maegashira 2 for the May tournament, where he recorded only seven wins but earned his first kinboshi by defeating the yokozuna Hakuhō on day 6. He won his second kinboshi in consecutive tournaments in July 2018 with a victory over Kakuryū on Day 5. In May 2019 he won ten bouts and shared the Fighting Spirit prize with tournament winner Asanoyama and top division debutant Shimanoumi. Abi clinched the prize on the final day by defeating Tamawashi, and said he was inspired by Asanoyama, who is the same age. This performance earned him promotion to the sanyaku ranks for the first time at komusubi. He followed up with 8–7 and 9–6 records in the next two tournaments but did not get promoted to sekiwake as there were no openings at that rank.
He was reprimanded by the Japan Sumo Association in November 2019 after he posted an image on Instagram of his friend and fellow wrestler Wakamotoharu tied up and gagged with tape as a prank. It was deemed inappropriate and Abi and Wakamotoharu apologized in person to JSA chairman Hakkaku and the board for the incident. The JSA has advised wrestlers not to post on their individual social media in future, although accounts run by the stables are not affected. In the following November tournament in Kyushu he produced another 9–6 record from the rank of komusubi East. He was ranked at komusubi on the January 2020 banzuke for the fourth tournament in a row; the first time this has happened since Kisenosato spent four straight tournaments at komusubi from July 2006 until January 2007.
He was withdrawn by his stablemaster partway through the July 2020 tournament after he went out for dinner with guests, against the guidance given by the Sumo Association to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. He admitted dining with friends outside of the Japan Sumo Association, but low-ranking sumo wrestlers from other stables were also believed to be present. The Sumo Association chairman Hakkaku called his actions "unpardonable."