- Takamiyama Daigorō
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- "Takamiyama" redirects here. For the first official championship winner, see Takamiyama Torinosuke.
高見山大五郎
Takamiyama DaigorōPersonal information Born Jesse Kuhaulua
June 16, 1944
Hawaii, USAHeight 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Weight 204 kg (450 lb; 32.1 st) Career Heya Takasago Record 812-845-22 Debut March, 1964 Highest rank Sekiwake (September, 1972) Retired May, 1984 Yūshō 1 (Makuuchi)
1 (Jonidan)
1 (Jonikuchi)Sanshō Outstanding Performance (6)
Fighting Spirit (5)Kinboshi 12 (Wajima (7), Sadanoyama,
Kashiwado, Kitanofuji,
Kotozakura, Kitanoumi)* Career information is correct as of August 2007. Takamiyama Daigorō 高見山大五郎 (born 16 June 1944 as Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua in Hawaii, U.S.) is a former sumo wrestler, the first foreign born rikishi to win the top division championship (in 1972). 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.
Contents
Early life
Kuhaulua was born in Happy Valley, Maui to parents who were mostly of Hawaiian descent. Due to his impressive height of 6 foot 2 inches (189 cm) and 280 pounds (127 kg), he was recruited as a tackle for the Henry Perrine Baldwin High School football team. His football coach noticed that he had weak legs and hips, and recommended that he train his lower body through sumo, a sport popular among the local Japanese-American community. He joined a local amateur sumo club and it was there that he was spotted by visiting professional sumo wrestlers from Japan. He was eventually recruited by the head coach of Takasago stable, former yokozuna Maedayama.[1] After graduating from Baldwin High School in Wailuku in 1963 he left for Tokyo on February 22, 1964 to join Takasago stable as a new recruit.
Sumo career
Takamiyama made his professional debut in March 1964. He achieved sekitori status in March 1967 when he won promotion to the second highest juryo division. He reached the top makuuchi division five tournaments later. He had an exceptionally long top division career that spanned from January 1968 to January 1984. For many years he held the record for having competed in the most tournaments as a top division wrestler, at 97 (these were also consecutive tournaments). In November 2009 this record was broken by the veteran ozeki Kaio, and Kaio has also surpassed his long-standing record of 1430 top division bouts. However, Takamiyama still holds the record for the most consecutive bouts in the top division (1231), as he did not miss a match from his debut until he was forced to withdraw from the September 1981 tournament because of a training injury.[1]
He won a total of twelve kinboshi (gold stars awarded for maegashira wins against a yokozuna), a record which stood until Akinoshima surpassed it in the 1990s. His first kinboshi came in only his second top division tournament against Sadanoyama, who had won the previous two tournaments but suddenly retired just two days after losing to him. His final gold star came ten years later at the age of 35, against Kitanoumi in September 1978 - only the third time the yokozuna had been beaten that year. Takamiyama also won eleven special prizes, or sansho for his performances in tournaments.
The highlight of his career came in July 1972 when he won the tournament championship with a 13-2 record - the first foreigner ever to do so. Ranked at maegashira 4, he lost only to Kotozakura and Takanohana and defeated Asahikuni on the final day to finish one win ahead of Takanohana. A congratulatory letter from US President Richard Nixon was read out by the US Ambassador to Japan at the presentation ceremony, marking the only time that English has been officially spoken on the dohyo.
Following this victory he was promoted to sumo's third highest rank of sekiwake. He was to hold this rank a further seven times, but he was ultimately unable to score ten wins or more in consecutive tournaments and so was never able to reach the ozeki ranking. Nevertheless, he paved the way for other Hawaii wrestlers such as Konishiki and Akebono.[2] His final appearance in the sanyaku ranks was at komusubi in September 1982 at age 38, making him the second oldest postwar sanyaku wrestler after ex-ozeki Nayoroiwa.
Due to his exceptionally large size - he weighed over 200 kg as his peak - and trademark sideburns and bright orange mawashi, Takamiyama was an instantly recognisable figure to the Japanese public, even amongst those who did not regularly follow sumo. He appeared in several television commercials before the practice was banned by the Sumo Association. His great fighting spirit, and his determination to never miss a bout no matter what injuries he might be carrying - a Japanese character trait known as gaman - were much admired.
Retirement from sumo
Takamiyama's goal had always been to fight until the age of forty,[1] but a serious elbow injury sustained in November 1983 caused him to fall to juryo, and in May 1984, facing certain demotion to the third makushita division, he announced his retirement after twenty years in sumo. He was just a few weeks short of his fortieth birthday. He became a member of the Japan Sumo Association, with the name Azumazeki. To do so he had taken Japanese citizenship in 1980.
He subsequently opened his own training stable, Azumazeki-beya, in 1986, the first and so far only foreign born former wrestler to do so. Akebono became the stable's first sekitori in 1990, and became the first foreign born yokozuna in 1993. One of Azumazeki's stated goals after this was to coach a Japanese wrestler to the top division, and this was achieved in July 2000 when the popular Takamisakari made his makuuchi debut. He was later joined by Ushiomaru, who in 2009 took over the running of the stable when Azumazeki reached the mandatory retirement age of sixty five.[3]
His farewell party at a local hotel in Tokyo on 6 June 2009 attracted 1000 guests, including Akebono and Konishiki. A congratulatory letter from US President Barack Obama was read out.[4]
Fighting style
Takamiyama's technique was somewhat rudimentary (his eleven sansho awards did not include a Technique Prize). His two most common winning techniques were yori-kiri and oshi-dashi.[5] Being exceptionally strong he regularly won by kime-dashi (armlock force out) and tsuri-dashi (lift out). His balance was suspect, as his long legs meant he was rather top-heavy with his centre of gravity too high.[6] As a result, he was often prone to being thrown by lighter, more agile opponents. Two lightweights who he often had trouble with were Asahikuni and Washuyama.[6]
Top division record
Takamiyama Daigoro[1]
year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, TokyoMarch
Haru basho, OsakaMay
Natsu basho, TokyoJuly
Nagoya basho, NagoyaSeptember
Aki basho, TokyoNovember
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka1968 East Maegashira #9
9–6
FEast Maegashira #4
5–10
★East Maegashira #6
8–7
West Maegashira #2
7–8
West Maegashira #3
8–7
F★West Maegashira #1
4–11
1969 West Maegashira #6
6–9
West Maegashira #8
9–6
West Maegashira #3
7–8
West Maegashira #3
6–9
East Maegashira #5
9–6
West Komusubi
8–7
1970 West Komusubi
8–7
East Komusubi
4–11
West Maegashira #5
11–4
East Komusubi
5–10
West Maegashira #3
6–9
East Maegashira #5
8–7
1971 West Komusubi
4–11
East Maegashira #3
6–9
West Maegashira #3
9–6
West Komusubi
8–7
East Komusubi
8–7
East Komusubi
8–7
1972 East Komusubi
6–9
East Maegashira #3
6–9
East Maegashira #7
8–7
West Maegashira #4
13–2
OWest Sekiwake
5–10
West Maegashira #1
9–6
O★1973 West Sekiwake
8–7
West Sekiwake
4–11
West Maegashira #4
8–7
West Komusubi
3–12
West Maegashira #4
9–6
East Maegashira #1
5–10
1974 West Maegashira #4
8–7
West Maegashira #1
10–5
O★★West Sekiwake
8–7
West Sekiwake
11–4
OFEast Sekiwake
6–9
East Maegashira #1
7–8
★1975 East Maegashira #2
6–9
★East Maegashira #5
8–7
East Maegashira #3
10–5
West Komusubi
5–10
West Maegashira #4
11–4
★East Komusubi
8–7
1976 East Komusubi
9–6
OEast Sekiwake
7–8
West Komusubi
8–7
East Komusubi
5–10
East Maegashira #4
8–7
★East Maegashira #1
8–7
1977 East Komusubi
5–10
East Maegashira #3
6–9
★East Maegashira #7
9–6
West Maegashira #2
9–6
East Komusubi
9–6
OEast Sekiwake
3–12
1978 East Maegashira #6
9–6
West Maegashira #1
6–9
West Maegashira #3
6–9
★West Maegashira #6
10–5
East Maegashira #1
5–10
★East Maegashira #6
9–6
1979 West Komusubi
2–13
East Maegashira #9
8–7
East Maegashira #5
8–7
East Maegashira #1
3–12
West Maegashira #10
10–5
West Maegashira #2
3–12
1980 West Maegashira #11
8–7
West Maegashira #6
8–7
East Maegashira #3
6–9
West Maegashira #4
7–8
West Maegashira #5
7–8
East Maegashira #6
6–9
1981 East Maegashira #11
8–7
East Maegashira #7
9–6
FEast Maegashira #3
6–9
West Maegashira #7
10–5
FEast Maegashira #1
0–2–13
East Maegashira #11
9–6
1982 East Maegashira #5
8–7
East Maegashira #2
5–10
East Maegashira #8
10–5
East Maegashira #1
8–7
East Komusubi
5–10
East Maegashira #4
4–11
1983 East Maegashira #9
9–6
East Maegashira #2
4–11
West Maegashira #7
8–7
East Maegashira #2
5–10
West Maegashira #7
6–9
East Maegashira #11
8–5–2
1984 East Maegashira #8
1–7–7
(Juryo) West Jūryō #12
Retired
2–13–0x x x Record given as win-loss-absent Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions
Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s) P=Playoff(s)
Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira
Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — JonokuchiSee also
- Glossary of sumo terms
- List of past sumo wrestlers
- List of sumo tournament winners
- List of sumo record holders
References
- ^ a b c d Adams, Andrew;Shilling, Mark (1985). Jesse: Sumo Superstar. Japan Times. ISBN 4-7890-0272-1.
- ^ Atherton, Paul (2003-01-29). "Sumo in crisis?". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/2705587.stm. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
- ^ Lewis, Ferd (2007-06-07). "Maui-born Kuhaulua able to bridge generation gap". The Honolulu Advertiser. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Jun/07/sp/FP706070352.html. Retrieved 2007-06-28.
- ^ "Jesse Takamiyama retires from sumo". AP. 6 June 2009. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hw6DUVTHM_bcuxFky6we70xVqCRwD98L7VHO0. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
- ^ "Takamiyama bouts by kimarite". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi_kim.aspx?r=4050. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ a b Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. p. 159. ISBN 0-8348-0283-x.
External links
Categories:- 1944 births
- Living people
- American sumo wrestlers
- Japanese people of American descent
- Japanese sumo wrestlers
- Native Hawaiian people
- Naturalized citizens of Japan
- Sumo people from Hawaii
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