Ōnobori Mitsuhiro (born Isamu Ishida, August 1, 1925 – March 1, 2009) was a sumo wrestler and coach from

Karuizawa, Nagano is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Karuizawa is one of the oldest and most ...

, Japan. He made his professional debut in January 1941, reaching a highest rank of ''

maegashira , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' 1. He retired in 1957. From 1971 to 1990 he was the head coach of

Kasugayama stable was a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Isegahama '' ichimon'' or group of stables. In its modern form it dates from 1954 when it was re-established by former '' ōzeki'' Nayoroiwa who led it until his death in 1971. It went out of existence ...

Career

He joined

in 1941, recruited by the 14th Kasugayama Oyakata, ex-''sekiwake''

Fujinokawa Fujinokawa Takeo (born 26 September 1946 as Takeo Morita) is a former sumo wrestler from Otofuke, Hokkaido, Japan. He made his professional debut in May 1961 and reached a highest rank of ''sekiwake'' in May 1967. He was a runner-up in two top div ...

. However the stable shut down in 1947 and he was transferred to

Tatsunami stable Asahiyutaka Katsuteru (born 10 September 1968) is a former sumo wrestler from Kasugai, Aichi, Japan. His highest rank was ''komusubi''. He is now the head coach of Tatsunami stable. Career He joined Ōshima stable and made his professional debu ...

. In 1955 the stable was revived by ex-''ozeki'' Nayoroiwa and he once again became a member of Kasugayama stable. He reached the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

'' division in 1951 and in just his second tournament in the division he had his greatest success, finishing runner-up to

Chiyonoyama was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Fukushima, Hokkaidō. He was the sport's 41st '' yokozuna'' from 1951 until 1959. He is regarded as the first "modern" ''yokozuna'' in that he was promoted by the Japan Sumo Association itself an ...

in May 1951 with a 12–3 record and winning the Fighting Spirit

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

. In January 1955 he defeated ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

'' Tochinishiki to earn his only ''

kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo wrestling to record a lower-ranked (''maegashira'') wrestler's victory over a ''yokozuna''. It is believed that the term stems from the usage of the terms ''shiroboshi'' (lit: white star) to designate a bo ...

,'' or gold star. Although he scored ten wins against five losses from ''

'' 5 in this tournament, there was no '' sanyaku'' position open for him and he was ranked at ''maegashira'' 1 on the ''

banzuke A , officially called is a document listing the rankings of professional sumo wrestlers published before each official tournament (''honbasho''). The term can also refer to the rankings themselves. The document is normally released about two w ...

'' in the following tournament in March 1955. He scored only two wins against thirteen losses, and this was to be his highest rank. After 21 top division tournaments he was demoted to the

juryo Professional sumo as administered by the Japan Sumo Association 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 ...

division after the May 1956 tournament. He did not compete on the '' dohyo'' again, officially retiring in January 1957.

Retirement from sumo

Onobori remained in sumo as an elder of the

Japan Sumo Association The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling (called ''Ōzumō'', 大相撲) in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). ''Rikishi'' (active ...

, working as a coach at his old stable under a variety of elder names. In January 1971 he became head coach of Kasugayama stable following the death of ex-Nayoroiwa. He raised

Kasugafuji Kasugafuji Akihiro (February 20, 1966 – March 9, 2017), born as Shoki Iwanaga, was a Japanese sumo wrestler and coach from Oshika, Miyagi. He was an active wrestler in professional sumo from 1981 until 1996, reaching a highest rank of ''maegashi ...

, who also reached the rank of ''maegashira'' 1. Onobori was a director of the Sumo Association for four years from 1982, and an auditor from 1986. One of his nieces married

Asahifuji is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Aomori. He joined professional sumo in 1981, reaching the top ''makuuchi'' division just two years later. He reached the second highest rank of '' ōzeki'' in 1987 and became the 63rd ''yokoz ...

in 1988. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in 1990, and Kasugayama stable was wound up and absorbed into Ajigawa stable (although it was later revived by Kasugafuji upon his own retirement). Onobori died in Tokyo in March 2009 at the age of 83, from pneumonia.

Pre-modern career record

*''The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka in 1953.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Onobori, Mitsuhiro 1925 births 2009 deaths Japanese sumo wrestlers Sumo people from Nagano Prefecture

Career

Retirement from sumo

Pre-modern career record

See also

References