Ōtori Tanigorō

鳳 谷五郎 Ōtori Tanigorō
Personal information
Born	Akira Takida April 3, 1887(1887-04-03) Chiba, Japan
Died	November 16, 1956(1956-11-16) (aged 69)
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Weight	113 kg (250 lb)
Career
Heya	Miyagino
Record	107-49-68-6draws-10holds (Makuuchi)
Debut	May, 1903
Highest rank	Yokozuna (February, 1915)
Retired	May, 1920
Yūshō	2 (Makuuchi)
* Career information is correct as of October 2007.

Ōtori Tanigorō (鳳 谷五郎, April 3, 1887 – November 16, 1956) was a sumo wrestler from Inzai, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 24th Yokozuna.

Career

He fought out of Miyagino stable and made his debut in the jonokuchi division in May 1903. He reached the top division in January 1909 and won his first tournament championship in his debut tournament at ozeki rank in January 1913. He was undefeated in that tournament, recording seven wins, one draw and one no decision. His second championship in January 1915, which he took with ten straight wins, saw him promoted to yokozuna.

Okuma Shigenobu presented Tachi, or long sword, for him.^[1] However, his record at sumo's highest rank was very patchy and he did not manage to win any further championships. He was known for his wide variety of techniques, but at that time the most popular yokozuna was Hitachiyama and so his fighting style was regarded as unacceptable.^[2] His record as yokozuna was 35 wins against 24 defeats, compared with 36 wins and only four defeats at ozeki rank. He retired in May 1920. In the top makuuchi division, he won 108 bouts and lost 49 bouts, recording a winning percentage of 68.8.

He was head coach of Miyagino stable from 1916 until his death in 1956 (there was no mandatory retirement age for oyakata at that time). He had insisted that his successor had to be a yokozuna, so it became inactive for a while. Eventually yokozuna Yoshibayama revived the stable and assumed the Miyagino name in 1960.

On November 11, 2006, a monument to Ōtori was established in his home city of Inzai.^[3]

Top division record

*There was no fusensho system until March 1927
*All top division wrestlers were usually absent on the 10th day in January 1909

	January	May
1909	West maegashira #10 (4-3-1-2holds)	West maegashira #2 (7-2-1draw)*
1910	West Sekiwake (2-6-2holds)	West maegashira #3 (5-3-1-1hold)*
1911	West Komusubi (0-3-6-1hold)*	West maegashira #6 (5-1-3-1hold)*
1912	East Komusubi (6-2-1-1hold)	West Sekiwake (7-1-2draws)
1913	West Ozeki (7-0-1-1draw-1hold)	East Ozeki (8-1-1draw)
1914	East Ozeki (8-2)	West Ozeki (3-1-6)
1915	West Ozeki (10-0)	West Yokozuna (2-2-6)*
1916	West Yokozuna (6-3-1draw)	Sat out
1917	East Yokozuna (8-2)	East Yokozuna (3-2-5)
1918	West Yokozuna (7-3)	West Yokozuna (0-1-9)
1919	West Yokozuna (3-1-5-1hold)	West Yokozuna (3-6-1)
1920	West Yokozuna (3-4-3)	retired

*tournament actually held one month later than listed.

• The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.^[4]
• A third figure in win-loss records represents matches sat-out during the tournament (usually due to injury)

Green Box=Tournament Championship

References

1. ^ "鳳 谷五郎" (in Japanese). http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~sumo/profile/1/19090101.htm. Retrieved 2008-06-13. 
2. ^ Atsuo Tsubota. "横綱伝　19代～25代" (in Japanese). http://www.ep.sci.hokudai.ac.jp/~tsubota/yokoduna/y04.html. Retrieved 2008-06-14. 
3. ^ "まいたいむ北総2006年11月25日号" (in Japanese). http://www.mytime-e.net/backnumber/2006/back20061125.html. Retrieved 2008-05-16. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Otori Tanigoro Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?r=3594. Retrieved 2008-06-14. 

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament winners
• List of yokozuna

previous: Ōkido Moriemon	24th Yokozuna 1915 - 1920	next: Nishinoumi Kajirō II
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title

Persondata
Name	Otori Tanigoro
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1887-04-03
Place of birth	Chiba, Japan
Date of death	1956-11-16
Place of death