Kotozakura Masakatsu II

Kotonowaka was ranked at maegashira 18, the first time since 1959 that maegashira had extended to an 18th rank.

Kotozakura Masakatsu (琴櫻 将傑), born 19 November 1997 as Masakatsu Kamatani (鎌谷 将且), is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Chiba Prefecture.

He wrestles for Sadogatake stable, a sumo stable previously run by his grandfather, former yokozuna Kotozakura, and currently run by his father, former sekiwake Kotonowaka.

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 yokozuna 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 shiko or using a teppo pole) and expected him to be a sumo wrestler in order to continue his legacy.

Shortly before Kotozakura died, Kamatani–who was still in third grade of elementary school–promised him that he would inherit his ring name if he was promoted to the rank of ōzeki.

In November 2005 when Kamatani was in the second year of elementary school his father retired and took over the running of Sadogatake stable.

Kamatani was in the Fukuoka International Center to witness his father's final bout, and his father told him to one day inherit the Kotonowaka ring name.

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 wrestler and logically joined the Sadogatake stable, where his mother and father announced that he would now be treated like any other wrestler, and Ōzeki Kotoshōgiku announced that he would receive no special treatment.

He secured a winning record on the 14th day of the tournament, having suffered four straight losses, and finished on.

He made his debut in November 2015 and reached the top makuuchi division in March 2020, reaching the san'yaku ranks in January 2023.

His highest rank has been ōzeki.

During his career he has won five special prizes for Fighting Spirit, as well as one Technique prize.

Long before his professional debut, Kotozakura's goal was to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and inherit his ring name if he was ever promoted to the rank of ōzeki, something he had been repeating regularly since his promotion to sekitori status.

Following his ōzeki promotion at the end of the January 2024 tournament, he said that he planned to inherit the Kotozakura name starting in May 2024.

Prior to taking the Kotozakura name, he was known professionally as Kotonowaka Masahiro (琴ノ若 傑太).

Kamatani made his professional sumo debut in November 2015 and was given the shikona, or ring name, Kotokamatani Masakatsu (琴鎌谷 将且), taking up his original name combined with the kanji koto (琴) used by all the wrestlers in his stable and using the first name his grandfather used when he was a wrestler.

During his presentation ceremony with the other new wrestlers, Kotokamatani used the keshō-mawashi that his father had used on his last day as an active wrestler.

Kotokamatani won all three of his maezumō bouts in November 2015.

In the following tournament, in January 2016, he won the jonokuchi championship with a perfect record.

Moving up in the rankings, Kotokamatani made it to the makushita 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 jūryō division, Kotokamatani recorded a record at makushita 2, including a victory over Hōshōryū and narrowly completed with a win over Churanoumi, that was enough to earn promotion to the status of sekitori for the first time.

Upon promotion, he adopted his father's shikona surname of Kotonowaka, with the expectation that he would eventually adopt his grandfather's shikona of Kotozakura if ever promoted to ōzeki.

He also changed his shikona first name by keeping a character from his grandfather's shikona (傑, meaning 'outstanding') and adding the kanji 太 (meaning 'big' or 'thick').

With four straight kachi-koshi or winning records in the jūryō division, Kotonowaka was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 2020.

They were the ninth father-and-son pairing to both reach the top division.

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 4–6–5 which saw him demoted back to jūryō. He earned immediate promotion back to makuuchi for the November 2020 tournament with a record (although he lost his last four matches).

Upon his return to makuuchi 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 maegashira 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.