Kasugafuji Akihiro

Akihiro in September 2009

Kasugafuji Akihiro (February 20, 1966 – March 9, 2017) born as Shoki Iwanaga,[1] was a sumo wrestler and coach. He was born in Oshika, Miyagi, Japan.

Akihiro was an active wrestler in professional sumo from 1981 until 1996, reaching a highest rank of maegashira 1. After his retirement he re-established the Kasugayama stable in 1997 and trained his own wrestlers. He left the Japan Sumo Association in 2012 after an expenses scandal, and was involved with a legal dispute in 2013 with his successor as head of Kasugayama stable which was not resolved until shortly before his death in 2017.

Akihiro died in Oshika, Japan from suspected heart failure on March 9, 2017, aged 51.[2]

References

  1. Patmore, Angela (1990). The Giants of Sumo. MacDonald/Queen Anne Press. p. 104. ISBN 9780356181202.
  2. "岩永祥紀氏=大相撲の元幕内春日富士" (in 日本語). Daily Yomiuri. 11 March 2017. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.