Masateru Kaiketsu

There's something I find genuinely moving about a guy who goes all the way through university — Nihon University, no less — and then looks at the world and thinks, no, what I actually want to do is step into a sumo ring and collide with the biggest men alive. Most wrestlers were groomed for this from childhood, but Masateru Kaiketsu made a deliberate adult choice, which tells me he was thinking seriously about who he wanted to be. Born in Yamaguchi in 1948, he carried that quiet, considered quality of someone who picked their path on purpose. He passed away in May 2014, and I never got to watch him compete, but when I picture a wrestler who came up through academia and still chose to wrap a mawashi and plant his feet in the clay, I feel a kind of respect that's hard to put into words. He earned his place the long way around.

Masateru Kaiketsu (born February 16, 1948, in Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He studied at Nihon University before entering the sumo world. He passed away on May 18, 2014.

Name (English)

Masateru Kaiketsu

Name (Japanese)

魁傑將晃

Reading

かいけつ まさてる

Born

February 16, 1948 – May 18, 2014

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Rat

Origin

Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan

Occupation

Sumo wrestler

University

Nihon University

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AD%81%E5%82%91%E5%B0%87%E6%99%83
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6347784

Tags

• From Yamaguchi 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.