Taihō Kōki was the 48th yokozuna in the Japanese sport of sumo wrestling. He became a yokozuna in 1961 at the age of 21, the youngest ever at the time. He won 32 tournament championships between 1960 and 1971, a record that was unequalled until 2014. His dominance was such that he won six tournaments in a row on two separate occasions. He is the only wrestler to win at least one championship every year of his top division career, and he won 45 consecutive matches between 1968 and 1969, which at the time the best winning streak since Futabayama in the 1930s. He was a popular grand champion, especially amongst women and children. After retiring from active competition he became a sumo coach, although health problems meant he had limited success. When he died in January 2013 he was widely cited as the greatest sumo wrestler of the post-war period. Since then Hakuhō, who regarded Taihō as a mentor, surpassed his record by winning his 33rd championship in January 2015.
Toshimitsu Obata known as Kitanoumi Toshimitsu (北の湖敏満), was a sumo wrestler. He was the dominant yokozuna in sumo during the 1970s. Kitanoumi was promoted to yokozuna at the age 21, becoming the youngest ever to achieve sumo's top rank, and he remained a yokozuna for a record 63 tournaments. He won 24 tournament championships during his career and was one of a series of truly great yokozuna who came from Hokkaidō, the northernmost main island of Japan. At the time of his death he still held the record for most bouts won as a yokozuna (670). Following his retirement in 1985 he established the Kitanoumi stable. He was chairman of the Japan Sumo Association from 2002 until 2008, and from 2012 until his death.
Futabayama Sadaji, born as Akiyoshi Sadaji in Oita Prefecture, Japan, was the 35th yokozuna in sumo wrestling, from 1937 until 1945. He won twelve yūshō or top division championships and had a winning streak of 69 consecutive bouts, an all-time record. Despite his dominance he was extremely popular with the public. After his retirement he was head coach of Tokitsukaze stable and chairman of the Japan Sumo Association.
Takamiyama Daigorō is a former sumo wrestler, the first foreign-born wrestler to win the top division championship. His highest rank was sekiwake. His active career spanned twenty years from 1964 to 1984, and he set a number of longevity records, including most tournaments ranked in the top makuuchi division, and most consecutive top division appearances. He is also the first foreign-born wrestler ever to take charge of a training stable, founding Azumazeki stable in 1986. His most successful wrestler was fellow Hawaiian Akebono who reached the highest rank of yokozuna in 1993. He retired as a coach in 2009.
Baruto Kaito is a politician and former professional sumo wrestler from Estonia. Making his debut in May 2004, he reached the top division after just two years in sumo in May 2006. After suffering a number of injury problems in 2007 which delayed his progress, he reached the third-highest rank of sekiwake in November 2008, and was promoted to ōzeki rank after finishing the March 2010 tournament with a score of 14–1. He was a tournament runner-up four times before recording a top division championship in the 2012 January tournament. During his career Baruto also earned five special prizes for Fighting Spirit, one for Outstanding Performance and one for Technique. He lost his ōzeki rank after more injury problems at the end of 2012, and having fallen greatly in rank after withdrawing from the May 2013 tournament, he announced his retirement in September of that year at the age of 28.
Kyokutenhō Masaru in Nalaikh, Ulan Bator, Mongolia is a former professional sumo wrestler. He made his debut in March 1992 out of Ōshima stable, with the first group of Mongolians ever to join the sport in Japan, reaching the top makuuchi division in January 1998. In his exceptionally long career he received seven special prizes for Fighting Spirit, and won one yūshō, in May 2012 from the maegashira ranks, which made him at 37 the oldest first–time yūshō winner in sumo history, and he was runner-up in one other tournament. His highest rank was sekiwake, which he held on three occasions. He was the first wrestler since the 1950s to be ranked in the top division after the age of 40. He made more appearances in the top division than any other wrestler at 1470, and only Ōshio fought more than his 1870 career bouts. He announced his retirement in July 2015 and declared his intention to stay in sumo as an elder, having acquired Japanese citizenship in 2005. In 2017 he became the head coach of Tomozuna stable and he is known as Tomozuna-oyakata.
Takeshi Inoue, known by his stage name Takeshi Rikiō, born December 20, 1972, is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, who worked for Pro Wrestling Noah. He is also a former sumo wrestler.
Takatōriki Tadashige is a former sumo wrestler and professional wrestler from Kobe, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1983, reaching the top division in 1990. His highest rank was sekiwake. Known for his great fighting spirit, he won 14 tournament prizes, including a record ten Kantō-shō, and earned nine gold stars for defeating yokozuna ranked wrestlers. He wrestled for the highly successful Futagoyama stable. He was twice runner-up in top division tournaments and in March 2000, from the maegashira ranks, he unexpectedly won the yūshō or championship. He retired in 2002 and became the head coach of Ōtake stable, having married the daughter of the previous owner of the heya, the great yokozuna Taihō. However, he was dismissed from the Sumo Association in 2010 for his role in an illegal gambling scandal.
Tokitenkū Yoshiaki was a sumo wrestler.
Professional sumo is divided into six ranked divisions. Wrestlers are promoted and demoted within and between these divisions based on the merit of their win/loss records in official tournaments. For more information see kachi-koshi and make-koshi. Wrestlers are also ranked within each division. The higher a wrestler's rank within a division is, the stronger the general level of opponents he will have to face becomes. According to tradition, each rank is further subdivided into East and West, with East being slightly more prestigious, and ranked slightly higher than its West counterpart. The divisions, ranked in order of hierarchy from highest to lowest, are as follows:
Masurao Hiroo is a Japanese former sumo wrestler, born Hiroo Teshima in Itoda, Fukuoka Prefecture. Making his professional debut in 1979, he reached the top division in 1985. His highest rank was sekiwake and he won five special prizes in his top division career. He was one of the lightest wrestlers in the top division, and very popular with tournament crowds. In his later career he suffered from a number of injuries, particularly to his knee, and he retired in 1990 at the age of 29. He is now the head coach of Ōnomatsu stable and a director of the Japan Sumo Association.
This article is about the sports award. For the 1968 mass poisoning in Japan by PCBs, see Yushō disease
The following are the events in professional sumo during 2003.
Musashimaru Kōyō is a former sumo wrestler. He made his professional debut in 1989, and reached the top makuuchi division in 1991. After reaching ozeki rank in 1994 his progress seemed to stall, but in 1999 he became the second foreign-born wrestler in history to reach the rank of yokozuna. He won over 700 top division bouts and took twelve top division tournament championships during his career. Musashimaru's sheer 235 kg (518 lb) bulk combined with 1.92 m of height made him a formidable opponent, and he was remarkably consistent and injury-free for most of his career. An amiable personality, his fan base was helped by a surprising facial resemblance to Japanese warrior hero Saigō Takamori. After retiring in 2003, he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and founded the Musashigawa stable in 2013.
Gojōrō Katsuhiro is a former sumo wrestler from Aoba-ku, Sendai, Japan. Making his professional debut in 1989, he spent a total of 53 tournaments as an elite sekitori ranked wrestler, reaching a highest rank of maegashira 3 in 1998. After a number of injury problems he retired in 2005 at the age of 32. He is now a sumo coach under the name Hamakaze-oyakata.
Sōkokurai Eikichi is a professional sumo wrestler from Inner Mongolia, China. He is the only Chinese national to reach the top makuuchi division. Sōkokurai is of Mongolian descent. He made his professional debut in 2003 and was promoted to the top division in September, 2010. In April 2011 he was ordered to retire by the Japan Sumo Association after being found guilty of involvement in match-fixing. Refusing to do so, he was dismissed. However, in March 2013 his dismissal was nullified by the Tokyo District Court and after the Sumo Association decided not to appeal the decision he reappeared on the banzuke in July 2013 at the Nagoya Basho, ranked as a maegashira 15, the rank he was at when he was expelled. His highest rank to date of maegashira 2 was achieved in March 2017. He has won one special prize for Technique and one gold star for beating a yokozuna.
Gagamaru Masaru is a professional sumo wrestler from Georgia. The third Georgian national after Kokkai and Tochinoshin to make the top makuuchi division, he made his professional debut in November 2005, reaching the jūryō division in November 2009 and makuuchi in July 2010. Originally from Kise stable, he briefly competed for the Kitanoumi stable before moving back to the Kise stable after it was re-established. His highest rank has been komusubi. He has won two special prizes for Fighting Spirit and has been runner-up in one tournament.
Ichinojō Takashi is a sumo wrestler from Arkhangai, Mongolia. He is notable as being the second foreign-born wrestler, and the first of non-Japanese descent allowed to debut at an elevated rank in the third makushita division due to his amateur sumo success. In only his third professional tournament he took the second division jūryō championship. In his fifth professional tournament, his first in the top makuuchi division, he was the runner-up and promoted all the way to sekiwake, his highest rank to date. He is the heaviest man in the top division as of March 2019.
