Tochinoumi Teruyoshi

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Tochinoumi Teruyoshi
栃ノ海 晃嘉
Tochinoumi Teruyoshi 1959 Scan10010.JPG
Tochinoumi, 1959
Personal information
BornShigehiro Hanada
(1938-03-13)March 13, 1938
Aomori, Japan
DiedJanuary 29, 2021(2021-01-29) (aged 82)
Height1.77 m (5 ft 9+12 in)
Weight110 kg (243 lb)
Career
Stable Kasugano
Record475-261-104
DebutSeptember 1955
Highest rankYokozuna (January, 1964)
RetiredNovember 1966
Elder name Takenawa
Championships 3 (Makuuchi)
1 (Jūryō)
1 (Makushita)
Special Prizes Fighting Spirit (1)
Technique (6)
Gold Stars (1) asashio
* Up to date as of January 2021.

Tochinoumi Teruyoshi (Japanese: 栃ノ海 晃嘉, born Shigehiro Hanada (花田 茂廣, Hanada Shigehiro); 13 March 1938 – 29 January 2021) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Aomori. He was the sport's 49th yokozuna , earning promotion in 1964. He was somewhat overshadowed by his yokozuna contemporaries Taihō and Kashiwado, but he was a noted technician and earlier in his career won six special prizes for Technique. He was one of the lightest yokozuna ever at just 110 kg. After his retirement from active competition in 1966 he was a coach at Kasugano stable, and was head coach from 1990 until his retirement in 2003.

Contents

Career

Born in Inakadate, Minamitsugaru District, he made his professional debut in September 1955. He joined Kasugano stable, a prestigious stable that had previously produced yokozuna Tochigiyama and Tochinishiki. He initially fought under his birth name Hanada Shigehiro, changing the spelling of Shigehiro numerous times. After about three years in the lower ranks he reached the second jūryō division in January 1959 and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 1960. After two make-koshi or losing scores he was demoted to jūryō but immediately won the second division championship with a 14–1 record and was promoted back. He then adopted the shikona Tochinoumi Teruyoshi in September 1960.

He captured his first top division tournament championship in May 1962 at sekiwake rank and was promoted to ōzeki , alongside his stablemate Tochihikari. He won his second championship in November 1963 and followed up with a 13–2 record in January 1964. Although he only took third place in this tournament, behind Taihō on 15–0 and maegashira Kiyokuni on 14–1, he was promoted to sumo's highest rank of yokozuna, despite some doubts about his lack of weight. He was only able to win one further championship, in May 1964, and being severely restricted by a herniated disc in his lower back, posted a succession of bare majority 8–7 records in 1965. He recovered somewhat to post a 10–5 in September 1965, but then suffered a serious injury to a muscle in his right arm. [1] He had expressed hope that he could fight until the age of 30, but after an injury-plagued 1966 he retired at the end of the year at the age of 28 years eight months, making him the youngest retired yokozuna ever. He often seemed to feel under pressure as a yokozuna, suffering from weight loss and lack of sleep. His winning percentage at the rank was just .596 (the worst ever after Maedayama and Mienoumi) with 102 wins and 69 losses (plus 84 absences). He gave away 33 kinboshi, 36 percent of all his yokozuna matches against maegashira. His overall makuuchi record was .635, with 310 wins, 184 losses and 104 absences.

Fighting style

Tochinoumi in 1961 with the Technique Prize, one of six he was to win in his career. Tochinoumi Teruyoshi 1961 Scan10006.JPG
Tochinoumi in 1961 with the Technique Prize, one of six he was to win in his career.

Tochinoumi was noted for his technical skill, [2] and six of his seven special prizes were for Technique. His most common winning kimarite were yorikiri (force out) and yoritaoshi (force out and down), but he also had more unusual techniques in his repertoire, such as kirikaeshi (twisting backward knee trip) and sotogake (outer leg trip). [3]

Retirement from sumo

Tochinoumi stayed in the sumo world as an elder of the Sumo Association, under the name Nakadachi. Somewhat unusually for a former yokozuna, he did not immediately take charge of a stable, instead working as an assistant coach. However, in January 1990 he did become head coach of Kasugano stable after the death of the previous stablemaster, the former Tochinishiki. [4] Among the sekitori he produced were Tochinonada, Tochinohana, Tochisakae, and Kasuganishiki. He later expressed satisfaction that he had managed to maintain the tradition of an unbroken string of sekitori at Kasugano stable dating back to before the second World War. [1] He stood down in 2003 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65, handing control of the stable over to former sekiwake Tochinowaka. He was one month younger than Sadanoyama, who was promoted to yokozuna a year after him. Following the death of Sadanoyama in April 2017, he was the oldest living yokozuna, but he remained active by playing golf. [1] In 2018 he visited Kasugano stable and participated in the ceremony to mark Tochinoshin's promotion to ōzeki. [5] In 2019 he organized the Tochinoumi Cup, a sumo tournament for children, in his home village of Inakadate, Aomori. [6] He died in January 2021 of aspiration pneumonia at the age of 82. [7] He was the second longest living yokozuna of all-time, after Umegatani I. [8]

Personal life

His first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife was, like his first, from the world of show business as she was a former member of the Takarazuka Revue troupe. [4] His son Yasuyuki, born in 1970, also became a sumo wrestler at Kasugano stable, joining in March 1986 but retiring in 1991 having failed to progress further than the jonidan division.

Career record

Tochinoumi Teruyoshi [9]
Year January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo
March
Haru basho, Osaka
May
Natsu basho, Tokyo
July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya
September
Aki basho, Tokyo
November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1955xxxx Shinjo
30
 
Not held
1956WestJonidan#83
53
 
WestJonidan#46
53
 
EastJonidan#22
62
 
Not heldWestSandanme#87
62
 
Not held
1957WestSandanme#60
62
 
EastSandanme#37
71PPP
 
EastMakushita#81
44
 
Not heldWestMakushita#80
53
 
EastMakushita#64
71
 
1958EastMakushita#51
35
 
EastMakushita#54
62
 
WestMakushita#41
44
 
EastMakushita#40
80
Champion

 
WestMakushita#6
44
 
WestMakushita#5
71
 
1959WestJūryō#23
96
 
EastJūryō#21
87
 
WestJūryō#16
105
 
WestJūryō#8
96
 
WestJūryō#5
96
 
EastJūryō#4
105
 
1960EastJūryō#1
87
 
WestMaegashira#15
78
 
EastMaegashira#17
510
 
EastJūryō#5
141
Champion

 
EastMaegashira#14
105
 
EastMaegashira#8
114
T
1961EastMaegashira#2
Sat out due to injury
0015
EastMaegashira#11
96
 
EastMaegashira#5
105
T
EastKomusubi#1
114
T
EastSekiwake#1
87
 
EastSekiwake#1
96
T
1962EastSekiwake#1
96
T
WestSekiwake#1
96
 
WestSekiwake#1
141
TF
EastŌzeki#2
96
 
EastŌzeki#3
105
 
WestŌzeki#2
96
 
1963EastŌzeki#2
96
 
WestŌzeki#2
825
 
WestŌzeki#1
105
 
EastŌzeki#2
87
 
EastŌzeki#3
114
 
WestŌzeki#1
141
 
1964EastŌzeki#1
132
 
EastYokozuna#2
105
 
EastYokozuna#2
132
 
EastYokozuna#1
114
 
EastYokozuna#1
96
 
WestYokozuna#1
0312
 
1965EastYokozuna#2
87
 
EastYokozuna#2
87
 
EastYokozuna#2
87
 
WestYokozuna#2
744
 
WestYokozuna#2
105
 
WestYokozuna#2
564
 
1966EastYokozuna#2
Sat out due to injury
0015
WestYokozuna#2
105
 
EastYokozuna#2
1311
 
EastYokozuna#2
Sat out due to injury
0015
WestYokozuna#2
Sat out due to injury
0015
WestYokozuna#2
Retired
258
Record given as wins–losses–absencies    Top division champion Top division runner-up Retired Lower divisions Non-participation

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi; P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks:  Yokozuna Ōzeki Sekiwake Komusubi Maegashira

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "「悲劇の横綱」、80歳の祝杯 小兵名人が背負った重荷―元栃ノ海の花田さん ("Tragedy Yokozuna"'s 80th birthday celebration - the burden carried by small soldier Mr. Hanada, the former Tochinoumi")". Jiji (in Japanese). 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  2. "Ex-Sumo Champion Tochinoumi Dies at 82". nippon.com. 29 January 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  3. "Tochinoumi bouts by kimarite". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. ISBN   0-8348-0283-X.
  5. "大相撲 元横綱 栃ノ海の花田茂廣さん死去 82歳 (Sumo wrestler, former yokozuna Shigehiro Hanada Tochinoumi dies at 82 years old)". NHK (in Japanese). 29 January 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
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  7. 第49代横綱栃ノ海の花田茂広さん死去 82歳
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  9. "Tochinoumi Teruyoshi Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
Preceded by 49th Yokozuna
1964–1966
Succeeded by
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can hold the title at once