Kotokaze Kōki

I'll be honest, what gets me about Kotokaze isn't flash, because there wasn't much of it. This was a Mie-born sumo guy from the late-1950s generation who climbed all the way to ozeki on basically one thing: a relentless, head-down forward push. No fancy throws, no slippery technique, just a big honest man walking you out of the ring. And the part that sticks with me is the comeback angle. He wrecked a knee badly enough that people figured he was finished, then ground his way back, which tells you everything about the temperament. I came up watching guys like this on TV, and later you'd catch him doing calm, weathered commentary that quietly said "yeah, I earned every bit of this." Old-school, stubborn, warm. The kind of sumo lifer I genuinely root for.

Kotokaze Kōki is a former professional sumo wrestler born on April 26, 1957, in Mie Prefecture, Japan. He rose to the rank of ozeki, one of the highest ranks in sumo, and was known for a straightforward, forward-driving style of wrestling. Despite suffering a serious knee injury during his career, he returned to the ring and continued competing. After retiring from active competition, he became a familiar presence as a sumo commentator on Japanese television.

Name (English)

Kotokaze Kōki

Name (Japanese)

琴風豪規

Reading

ことかぜ ごうき

Born

April 26, 1957 (age 69)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Taurus / Rooster (酉)

Origin

Mie Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Professional Sumo Wrestler (Rikishi)

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%90%B4%E9%A2%A8%E8%B1%AA%E8%A6%8F

Tags

• From Mie Prefecture
• Sumo Wrestler

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.