Daikirin Takayoshi (大麒麟將能) (20 June 1942 – 4 August 2010), born Masakatsu Tsutsumi, was a

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

wrestler from Saga Prefecture,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He began his professional career in 1958 and reached his highest rank of '' ōzeki'' twelve years later in 1970. He retired in 1974, and until June 2006 he was an

elder An elder is someone with a degree of seniority or authority. Elder or elders may refer to: Positions Administrative * Elder (administrative title), a position of authority Cultural * North American Indigenous elder, a person who has and tr ...

of the Sumo Association under the name Oshiogawa.

Career

Born in Morodome in the city of

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...

, he joined

Nishonoseki stable Nishonoseki stable may refer to: * Nishonoseki stable (1911–2013) (1911–2013) was a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Nishonoseki group of stables (''ichimon'') named after it. It first appeared in the late eighteenth century and was re-e ...

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 '' jūryō'' division, and changed his '' shikona'' to Kirinji. He did not make an immediate impact but in May 1963 took the ''jūryō'' '' yūshō'' or championship with a 13–2 score which pushed him up to ''jūryō'' 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 was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Yamagata Prefecture. He was the sport's 47th yokozuna, fighting at the sport's highest rank from 1961 to 1969. After his retirement he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and ran his o ...

twice, and then Sadanoyama. (He did not have to face the most successful ''yokozuna'', Taihō, 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 '' san'yaku'' ranks for the next seven tournaments, earning several

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

, 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 ''yokozunas last ever bout. Kirinji went on to finish runner-up, his final day defeat handing the ''yūshō'' to ''maegashira'' Wakanami, who did not face any ''yokozuna'' or ''ōzeki'' during the tournament. Kirinji remained comfortably within the ''san'yaku'' ranks for the next two years, but with mainly 8–7 and 9–6 scores he was not a candidate for ''ōzeki'' 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 ''ōzeki'' at the age of 28. To mark the occasion he adopted a new ''shikona'', Daikirin. Daikirin remained as an ''ōzeki'' 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 ''ōzeki'' Sagonohana), he expected to inherit Nishonoseki stable, but could not come to agreement with Saganohana's widow. After former ''sekiwake'' Kongō'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 Aobajō and Tenryū, but Nishonoseki stable objected to this. The Japan Sumo Association intervened and Tenryū was forced to return to Nishonoseki and, disillusioned, quit to become a professional wrestler. Meanwhile, in addition to Aobajō, Oshiogawa produced a number of other ''sekitori'' such as Masurao, Enazakura, Daishi, Wakatoba and

Wakakirin , born September 21, 1983 as , is a former sumo wrestler from Hyōgo prefecture in Japan. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 9. He was thrown out of the sport in February 2009 after being arrested for cannabis possession. In 2010 he became a prof ...

. 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 Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

in August 2010 at the age of 68.

Career record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Daikirin, Takayoshi 1942 births 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in Japan Deaths from pancreatic cancer Japanese sumo wrestlers Ōzeki People from Saga (city) Sumo people from Saga Prefecture

Career

Retirement from sumo

Career record

See also

References