Asanowaka Takehiko

Asanowaka Takehiko (born 11 December 1969 as Takehiko Adachi) is a former sumo wrestler from Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. His highest rank was maegashira 1. He is now a sumo coach.

A former amateur sumo champion at Kinki University, he was recruited by ex-ōzeki Asashio (himself a former collegiate competitor) and joined Wakamatsu stable (later Takasago stable) in March 1992. He began as a makushita tsukedashi, meaning he could make his debut at the bottom of the third makushita division. He was promoted to the second jūryō division in January 1993 and captured the tournament championship in that division in November 1993 with a score of 11-4. Following a 9-6 in January 1994 he was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March of that year.

Asanowaka never managed to reach the titled san'yaku ranks or win a special prize. He was also unable to defeat any yokozuna and had only one win against an ōzeki (Takanonami in May 1997). Nevertheless, he fought in the top division off and on for ten years and his record of 346 wins there is the best amongst maegashira only wrestlers. He was also very popular with tournament crowds. At the peak of his career he wore an outlandish bright yellow mawashi and would enliven the preliminaries by throwing the purifying salt in a manner that resembled an American football player scoring a touchdown. He would also crouch extremely low to the ground when doing the warm up or shikiri. Eventually he was instructed by the Japan Sumo Association to tone these antics down and in his later years on the dohyō wore a black mawashi and was much more subdued.

By 2004 Asanowaka was no longer able to hold his own in the top division, and after a disastrous 1-14 score in the jūryō division in March 2005, he announced his retirement the following month. He had not missed a single bout in his career. He has remained in the sumo world as an elder, affiliated to the Takasago stable, and is now known as Wakamatsu Oyakata.

Asanowaka was of a short build for a sumo wrestler and had limited technique, relying heavily on slap-downs and sidestepping. He was a pusher-thruster, rarely fighting on the mawashi or belt. His most common winning kimarite was oshidashi (push out), followed by hiki-otoshi (pull down) and hataki-komi (slap down). He won only six career bouts by yori-kiri (force out) and was only credited once with a belt throw (an uwatenage in 2001).

Asanowaka married in February 2000 and his wife gave birth to a baby girl in September of that year. The couple's wedding reception was held in January 2001.