Hoshitango Imachi

A former swimming instructor, Salomon was spotted by a visiting Japanese coach at a gym in Buenos Aires who encouraged him to try sumo.[1] After studying at Chuo University,[2] he joined Michinoku stable in May 1987 at the age of 21 to support his family. He was the first, and to date only, Jew in professional sumo.[3] He was given the shikona of Hoshitango, with "Hoshi" (star) a common prefix in Michinoku stable, and "tango" a reference to the popular dance.[3] He reached the second highest jūryō division for the first time in September 1992, but lasted only one tournament there before being demoted back to the unsalaried third makushita division. He managed another three tournaments in the second division in 1994 but once again fell back. In September 1998, at the age of 33, he demonstrated his fighting spirit by once again returning to jūryō, this time remaining for 12 straight tournaments. He was not able to break into the top makuuchi division, peaking at jūryō 3 in January 2000. In July 2000 he lost every one of his fifteen bouts and fell, once more, to the third division where he remained until his retirement in January 2004. His retirement ceremony or danpatsu-shiki was attended by around 150 people including stablemates Jumonji and Toyozakura as well as the former Terao and Kirishima, who as his stablemaster made the final cut of his topknot.[4]

Hoshitango was joined at Michinoku stable in 1988 by another Buenos Aires native, Hoshiandesu, who reached a highest rank of jūryō 2 before retiring in 2000.

Hoshitango became a Japanese citizen in October 2000. His Japanese name was registered as Tango Hoshi.[4]

After retiring he opened a sports bar and restaurant called Tan & Go Dining which specialized in Japanese and South American fusion cuisine.[5]

Hoshitango was an oshi-sumo specialist who preferred pushing and thrusting techniques to fighting on the mawashi. His most common winning kimarite were hataki-komi (slap down), hiki-otoshi (pull down) and okuri dashi (push out from behind).

Imachi is currently a professional wrestler for the Japanese company DDT (Dramatic Dream Team) and has also wrestled for HUSTLE, Ice Ribbon and New Japan Pro Wrestling. Hoshitango has recently become part of the Monster Army stable with members Antonio Honda, Daisuke Sasaki and Yuji Hino, since joining the team in August 2011.[6] Hoshitango has had multiple title matches for the KO-D Tag Team Championship and is a former DDT Extreme Division Champion. On June 23, 2013, Hoshitango, Honda and Hino won the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship.[7]

• Dramatic Dream Team
  • DDT Extreme Division Championship (1 time)[6]
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (3 times)[6]
  • KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Antonio Honda and Yuji Hino[7]
  • King of Dark Championship (1 time)[9]

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers
• List of past sumo wrestlers

• Hoshitango Imachi's official biography (English) at the Grand Sumo Homepage
• Hoshitango's tournament results
• Dramatic Dream Team profile