Daikirin Takayoshi

大麒麟 將能 Daikirin Takayoshi
Personal information
Born	Masakatsu Tsutsumi June 20, 1942(1942-06-20) Saga, Japan
Died	August 4, 2010(2010-08-04) (aged 68)
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Weight	140 kg (310 lb)
Career
Heya	Nishonoseki
Record	710-507-69
Debut	May, 1958
Highest rank	Ozeki (November, 1970)
Retired	November, 1974
Yūshō	1 (Juryo) 1 (Sandanme)
Sanshō	Technique (4) Outstanding Performance (5)
Kinboshi	3
* Career information is correct as of July 2007.

Daikirin Takayoshi (大麒麟 將能) (born Masakatsu Tsutsumi, 20 June 1942 - 4 August 2010) was a sumo wrestler from Saga Prefecture, Japan. He began his professional career in 1958 and reached his highest rank of ozeki twelve years later in 1970. He retired in 1974, and until June 2006 he was an elder of the Sumo Association under the name Oshiogawa.

Career

Born in Morodome in the city of Saga, he joined Nishonoseki stable and made his professional debut in May 1958. He initially fought under his own surname of Tsutsumi. After four years in the lower ranks he reached sekitori status in May 1962 upon promotion to the juryo division, and changed his shikona to Kirinji. He did not make an immediate impact but in May 1963 took the juryo yusho or championship with a 13-2 score which pushed him up to Juryo 1. A 10-5 record in the next tournament saw him enter the top makuuchi division for the first time but he had to pull out halfway into his debut tournament and returned to the second division.

After suffering some more injury problems he finally won promotion back to makuuchi in July 1965. He slowly climbed up the maegashira ranks before earning three kinboshi in successive tournaments from May to September 1966, defeating yokozuna Kashiwado twice, and then Sadanoyama. (He did not have to face the most successful yokozuna, Taiho, because they were members of the same stable). His 11-4 score in the September tournament saw him promoted to sekiwake. He remained in the sanyaku ranks for the next seven tournaments, earning several awards, before dropping back briefly to the maegashira ranks. In March 1968 at komusubi rank he defeated Sadanoyama, the winner of the previous two tournaments, in what was to be the yokozuna's last ever bout. Daikirin went on to finish runner-up, his final day defeat handing the yusho to maegashira Wakanami, who did not face any yokozuna or ozeki during the tournament.

Kirinji remained comfortably within the sanyaku ranks for the next two years, but with mainly 8-7 and 9-6 scores he was not a candidate for ozeki promotion. He was runner-up for the second time (to Kitanofuji) in November 1969, and in the July and September tournaments of 1970 he finally managed to put together two strong performances in a row, scoring 12-3 each time, and was promoted to ozeki at the age of 28. To mark the occasion he adopted a new shikona, Daikirin.

Daikirin remained as an ozeki for 25 tournaments over four years. He was unable to win a championship, although he was a runner-up twice more, to Tamanoumi in July 1971 and Wajima in May 1972. However he was also kadoban (in danger of relegation) a number of times. In November 1974, having barely maintained his rank with an 8-7 record in the previous tournament, he retired from sumo on the fourth day at the age of 32.

Retirement from sumo

He remained in the sumo world as an elder under the name Oshiogawa. In 1975, upon the death of his old stablemaster (former ozeki Sagonohana), he expected to inherit Nishonoseki stable, but could not come to agreement with Saganohana's widow.^[1] After former sekiwake Kongo's engagement to Saganohana's daughter was announced, Oshiogawa realised he now had no chance of taking over so instead he broke away and established his own Oshiogawa stable. He attempted to take a number of high ranking wrestlers with him, such as Aobajo and Tenryu, but Nishonoseki stable objected to this.^[1] The Japan Sumo Association intervened and Tenryu was forced to return to Nishonoseki and, disallusioned, quit to become a professional wrestler.^[1] Meanwhile, in addition to Aobajo, Oshiogawa produced a number of other sekitori such as Masurao Hiroo, Enazakura, Wakatoba and Wakakirin. In March 2005, with Oshiogawa approaching the mandatory retirement age and no obvious successor available, his stable was absorbed into the affiliated Oguruma stable. Oshiogawa retired from his position in the Sumo Association a year before reaching the mandatory retirement age, in June 2006. He died of pancreatic cancer in August 2010.^[2]

Top division record

Daikirin Takayoshi^[3]

year in sumo	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1963	x	x	x	x	East Maegashira #14 4–5–6	(Juryo)
1964	(Juryo)	(Makushita)	(Juryo)	(Juryo)	(Juryo)	(Juryo)
1965	(Juryo)	(Juryo)	(Juryo)	East Maegashira #14 8–7	West Maegashira #9 9–6	West Maegashira #4 7–8
1966	East Maegashira #5 6–9	East Maegashira #8 8–7	East Maegashira #5 9–6 O★	East Maegashira #3 6–9 ★	West Maegashira #4 11–4 T★	West Sekiwake 7–8
1967	West Komusubi 9–6 O	West Sekiwake 7–8	West Komusubi 12–3 TO	East Sekiwake 10–5	West Sekiwake 10–5	East Sekiwake 4–11
1968	East Maegashira #4 10–5	East Komusubi 12–3 O	West Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 6–9	West Maegashira #2 9–6
1969	East Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 9–6	East Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 8–7	East Komusubi 11–4	East Komusubi 11–4 O
1970	East Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 8–7	West Sekiwake 9–6	West Sekiwake 12–3 T	East Sekiwake 12–3 T	East Ōzeki 9–6
1971	West Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 9–6
1972	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	West Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 2–2–11	West Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki 10–5
1973	West Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 3–12	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 3–6–6	East Ōzeki 8–7
1974	East Ōzeki 9–6	West Ōzeki 9–6	East Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 0–4–11	West Ōzeki 8–7	West Ōzeki Retired 1–3–0
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) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0283-x. 
2. ^ "Former ozeki Daikirin dies at 68". Japan Times. 7 August 2010. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ss20100807a1.html. Retrieved 7 August 2010. 
3. ^ "Daikirin Takayoshi Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?shikona=daikirin&heya=-1&shusshin=-1&b=-1&high=-1&hd=-1&entry=-1&intai=-1&sort=1. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo tournament second division winners
• List of past sumo wrestlers

Persondata
Name	Daikirin, Takayoshi
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	20 June 1942
Place of birth	Saga, Japan
Date of death	4 August 2010
Place of death