- Nishinoumi Kajirō I
-
西ノ海 嘉治郎
Nishinoumi Kajirō
Personal information Born Kajirō Kozono
February 19, 1855
Kagoshima, JapanDied November 30, 1908 (aged 53) Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) Weight 128 kg (280 lb) Career Heya Takasago Record 127-37-97-25draws-4holds Debut January 1882 (Tokyo sumo) Highest rank Yokozuna (March, 1890) Retired January 1896 Yūshō 2 (Makuuchi, unofficial) * Career information is correct as of September 2007. Nishinoumi Kajirō I (西ノ海 嘉治郎, February 19, 1855 – November 30, 1908) was a sumo wrestler from Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 16th Yokozuna, and the first to be officially listed as such on the banzuke ranking sheets, an act which strengthened the prestige of yokozuna as the highest level of achievement in professional sumo.
Contents
Early career
He began his career in Kyoto sumo, joining Tokinokoe stable in 1873.[1] He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in 1879, and made sekiwake in September 1879, a tournament which was held under the joint auspices of the Kyoto and Osaka sumo organisations.[1] He was persuaded by Uragoro Takasago, formerly of Osaka sumo, to join Tokyo sumo in his newly founded Takasago stable.[1] He made his debut in a special makuuchi division rank in January 1882. He had a rapid rise, making ozeki just seven tournaments later in January 1885. His rivals included stablemates Odate, Ichinoya and Konishiki. Nishinoumi fell to sekiwake in January 1886, despite recording a kachi-koshi winning score, as at the time a sekiwake on the east side of the banzuke with a better record could overtake an ozeki on the same side.[1] After winning a yusho equivalent with an unbeaten 9-0 score in May 1889 he returned to ozeki, and after another good 7-2 score in the next tournament he was awarded a yokozuna licence in March 1890.
Yokozuna
However, Nishinoumi's promotion caused a problem. Although he had been made a yokozuna, his rank was listed as haridashi ozeki, below his rival ozeki Konishiki Yasokichi I on the banzuke (the sumo wrestlers' hierarchy) for the May 1890 tournament. This was because of Konishiki's 8-0 unbeaten score in the previous tournament.[1] Nishinoumi's name was literally shunted out to the side on the banzuke, and he complained about that.[1] To placate him, yokozuna was written on the banzuke for the first time in sumo history. It was a compromise but the name yokozuna became an official rank for the first time after the dispute. In the top makuuchi division, he won 127 bouts and lost 37 bouts, recording a winning percentage of 77.4.
Retirement from sumo
Nishinoumi became an elder known as Izutsu after his retirement in January 1896, and became head coach of Izutsu stable. He produced several top wrestlers from Kagoshima Prefecture, amongst them the 25th yokozuna Nishinoumi Kajirō II (the great-grandfather of current Izutsu head Sakahoko) who succeeded him upon his death from heart failure in 1908.[1]
Top division record
*Championships from this period were unofficial
*There was no fusensho system until March 1927
*All top division wrestlers were usually absent on the 10th day until 1909January May 1882 East Maegashira #9 (5-1-3-1draw) East Maegashira #9 (4-3-2-1draw)* 1883 West Maegashira #5 (5-2-1-2draws) West Komusubi (3-1-5-1draw) 1884 West Sekiwake (5-1-1-3draws) West Sekiwake (5-2-1-1draw-1hold) 1885 West Ōzeki (3-0-2-5draws) West Ōzeki (6-1-1-2draws) 1886 West Sekiwake (4-2-1-2draws-1hold) West Sekiwake (5-3-1-1draw) 1887 West Sekiwake (4-1-4-1draw) West Komusubi (1-0-9) 1888 West Komusubi (5-2-2-1draw) West Komusubi (6-2-1-1draw) 1889 West Sekiwake (6-1-1-2draws) West Sekiwake (9-0-1) 1890 West Ōzeki (7-2-1) East Yokozuna (3-1-5-1draw) 1891 East Yokozuna (7-2-1) East Yokozuna (3-1-6) 1892 East Yokozuna (1-1-8) East Yokozuna (6-1-2-1hold)* 1893 East Yokozuna (6-3-1) East Yokozuna (5-3-2) 1894 East Yokozuna (7-0-3) Sat out due to injury 1895 East Yokozuna (4-0-6) East Yokozuna (2-1-6-1hold)* 1896 retired x *tournament actually held one month later than listed.
- The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.[2]
- A third figure in win-loss records represents matches sat-out during the tournament
- an X signifies the wrestler had yet to reach the top division at that point in his career or a tournament after he retired
Green Box=Tournament Championship See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Rikishi of Old:The 16th Yokozuna Nishinoumi Kajiro I". Sumo Fan Magazine. December 2008. http://www.sumofanmag.com/content/Issue_22/Rikishi_of_Old.pdf. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
- ^ "Nishinoumi Kajiro Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?r=3464. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
External links
- previous:
- Umegatani Tōtarō I
- 16th Yokozuna
- 1890 - 1896
- next:
- Konishiki Yasokichi I
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title Categories:- 1855 births
- 1908 deaths
- Japanese sumo wrestlers
- Yokozuna
- People from Kagoshima Prefecture
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