mikawa 1,794 Posted October 24, 2018 Just learnt that Yanagisawa Tsubasa (柳澤 翼), a member of Komatsuryu Dojo, passed away on the first of this month, at the tender age of just 16. He was born into a family in Adachi, Tokyo, and started learning sumo at a young age. He was part of a golden generation at Komatsuryu Dojo (John Gunning's club), where no less than 4 club members in his year group were national quarter-finalists - Tsubasa, Yudai, Koshi and Soma. He twice qualified for the Wanpaku Tournament, in Grades 4 and 6. During the first of these tournaments, Tsubasa was one of the stand-out competitors, and produced one of the most memorable bouts of the entire tournament. You can watch this bout at the 39:08 mark in this video. Last summer, he captained Team Komatsuryu to victory at the Friendly Examination Sumo Tournament for sumo clubs around the Kanto region, and followed that up by taking Team Komatsuryu to second place at the 14th National Club Championships. At 2-2 in their semi-final against Team Katsushika, Tsubasa nervelessly pulled out a crucial win for the team. Also last summer, Tsubasa was the anchor for Team Tokyo at the National Middle School Student Championships, and took the team to a quarter-final finish. This was even more impressive as he was the only 3rd grader on that team (both of his team-mates, Ichikawa Taiyo and Hanafusa Kai, were a year lower). However, Tsubasa was taken seriously ill during December of last year, and has been in hospital ever since. This news was especially devastating as I had met him, even spoken with him, inside the Kokugikan last summer. It's been barely more than a year since then, and yet...... 私のお墓の前で、 泣かないでください Do not stand at my grave and weep そこに私はいません、 眠ってなんかいません I am not there, I do not sleep 千の風に、千の風になって、あの大きな空を、吹きわたっています I am a thousand winds that blow Rest in Peace, Tsubasa-kun. 1 15 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
