Ōikari Tsuyoshi

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Ōikari Tsuyoshi
大碇 剛
Personal information
Born	Tsuyoshi Saito (1972-06-16) 16 June 1972 (age 52) Nishikyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Weight	131 kg (289 lb)
Career
Stable	Isenoumi
Record	356–336–57
Debut	March 1995
Highest rank	Maegashira 11 (March, 2000)
Retired	November 2004
Elder name	Kabutoyama
Championships	2 (Jūryō)
* Up to date as of Sep. 2012.

Ōikari Tsuyoshi (born 16 June 1972 as Tsuyoshi Saito) is a former sumo wrestler from Nishikyō, Kyoto, Japan. He made his professional debut in March 1995, and reached the top division in November 1998. His highest rank was maegashira 11. He retired in November 2004, and as of 2016 he is an elder in the Japan Sumo Association under the name Kabutoyama.^[1]

He was an amateur sumo wrestler at Doshisha University and upon turning professional in 1995 was given makushita tsukedashi status, allowing him to begin in the third makushita division. He joined Isenoumi stable, where another Doshisha University graduate, Tosanoumi, had joined the previous year. He was given the shikona of Ōikari (literally "large anchor") to potentially evoke the former Meiji era Ōzeki, Ōikari Montarō, who also wrestled in an older incarnation of Isenoumi stable. He was promoted to the jūryō division in May 1997, becoming the first sekitori from Kyoto Prefecture since the retirement of Daimonji in July 1973, and he was to win two jūryō division championships or yūshō in 1998 and 2001. He first reached the top makuuchi division in November 1998 but was demoted after only one tournament. He had two further stints the top division, a two tournament run in January and March 2000, and four tournaments from January until July 2002. His highest rank was maegashira 11 and he had an overall win/loss record in makuuchi of 45–60. He was demoted back to the makushita division in September 2004 and announced his retirement after the following tournament in November.

Ōikari's danpatsu-shiki or official retirement ceremony was held in the ground floor of the Ryōgoku Kokugikan on May 28, 2005 with 230 invited guests including former ōzeki Musōyama. He has remained in sumo as a coach at Isenoumi stable under the elder name of Kabutoyama Oyakata. He has worked as a trainer and instructor in the sumo school for new recruits.

Ōikari was a pusher/thruster (tsuki/oshi) whose favourite techniques were oshi dashi (push out), tsuki otoshi (thrust over) and hiki otoshi (pull down).

He was married in March 2004. His elder son Seigo Saito (born 2005) joined Isenoumi stable in January 2023 under the shikona of Wakaikari and had reached the upper makushita division by March 2024.^[2] His younger son Chugo Saito (斎藤 忠剛) was born in 2006 and has competed in primary school amateur sumo at the Wanpaku Tournament (Grade 4 in 2016 and Grade 5 in 2017), and won a gold medal in Junior Sumo World Championships in 2023 as part of the Japan team.

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

• Ōikari Tsuyoshi's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage