Ōtsukasa Nobuhide
皇司 信秀
Personal information
Born	Nobuhide Ōuchi (1971-02-18)February 18, 1971 (age 54) Hyōgo, Japan
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	149 kg (328 lb)
Career
Stable	Irumagawa
Record	616–660–1
Debut	March, 1993
Highest rank	Maegashira 4 (July, 2001)
Retired	March, 2009
Elder name	Wakafuji
Championships	2 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita)
* Up to date as of Mar 2009.

Ōtsukasa Nobuhide (皇司信秀 (Ōtsukasanobuhide), born February 18, 1971, asNobuhide Ōuchi) is a formersumo wrestler fromMiki,Hyōgo,Japan. A former amateur champion, he made his professional debut in 1993. The highest rank he reached wasmaegashira 4. He retired in March 2009 and is now a sumo coach.

Ōtsukasa began sumo at Miki Middle School and was a member of Ichikawa High School's sumo club, where he won national high school sumo championships. He continued his amateur sumo career atNihon University.

Ōtsukasa was recruited by the formersekiwakeTochitsukasa, also a Nihon University alumni and head of the then-newly formedIrumagawa stable. He made his professional debut in March 1993. Due to his amateur achievements, he was givenmakushita tsukedashi status, meaning he could enter in the third-highestmakushita division. Initially fighting under his real name of Ōuchi, he won themakushitayūshō or championship in only his second tournament, with a perfect 7–0 record. However, it was not until January 1996 that he became asekitori by earning promotion to the second-highestjūryō division, upon which he adopted theshikona ofŌtsukasa. After a couple of short spells back in themakushita division, he took thejūryō division championship in May 1999 with an 11–4 record. He made the topmakuuchi division for the first time in September 1999. The 39 tournaments it took him from his professional debut to reachmakuuchi is the third-slowest amongst former collegiate wrestlers.

During hissekitori career (75 tournaments in total) Ōtsukasa was a classic "elevator wrestler", too good forjūryō but not quite good enough for the top division. He was promoted tomakuuchi no less than 11 times in total.^[1]This is two fewer than the record of 13 promotions held byŌshio, a record Ōtsukasa said he would have liked to break. Ōtsukasa was ranked in the top division for three of the six tournaments held in 2007 but did not manage a majority of wins against losses inmakuuchi after July 2004. His last promotion in March 2008 made him the third-oldest postwar wrestler to earn promotion to the top division at 37 years. He won his first four bouts on his final return but then lost 10 in a row to finish with a 5–10 score.

He won a secondjūryō championship in January 2005. After the retirement ofKotonowaka in November 2005 he was the oldest man in thesekitori ranks (the top two divisions). Restricted by a shoulder injury, he produced only one winning record after January 2008. After the 2009 Harubasho, Ōtsukasa would have dropped out ofjūryō (see retirement below). His departure leftTosanoumi, who is two days under a year younger than Ōtsukasa, as the oldest activesekitori.

His most frequently usedkimarite or technique was a simpleyori-kiri or force out, but he also favoured pushing or thrusting moves such asoshi-dashi andtsuki-otoshi, and pull downs such ashataki-komi andhiki-otoshi. At 175 cm or 5 ft 9 in he was one of the shortest wrestlers in the top two divisions.

Ōtsukasa pulled out of the March 2009 tournament on the 13th day with only one win, facing certain demotion tomakushita for the first time since 1998. Before the start of the 14th day's matches, he officially announced his retirement from sumo at the age of 38. He said that although he would have liked to have reached asan'yaku rank, he left with no regrets.^[2] He has stayed in the sumo world as a coach at Irumagawa stable, having purchased thetoshiyori name of Wakafuji. Hisdanpatsu-shiki, or official retirement ceremony, was held at theRyōgoku Kokugikan on January 30, 2010.^[3] In February 2022 he transferred toKise stable.^[4]

He married in October 2013 and the wedding reception was held in August 2014.^[5]

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo elders

• Ōtsukasa Nobuhide's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage

• 1971 births
• Living people
• People from Miki, Hyōgo
• Japanese sumo wrestlers
• Sumo people from Hyōgo Prefecture
• Nihon University alumni

• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from February 2022
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles containing Japanese-language text