Kurama Tatsuya (16 December 1952 – 26 January 1995) 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 Yasu, Shiga 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 made his professional debut in 1968, reaching the top '' makuuchi'' division in 1976. His highest rank was '' sekiwake'' and he won three special prizes and two '' kinboshi.'' He was well-known for his good looks and flamboyant personal life. After retiring in 1989 he became a sumo elder for a short time before leaving the Japan Sumo Association to work as a commentator and television personality. He died of leukemia in 1995.

Career

At junior high and at high school he did swimming and rugby, but was especially proficient at

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

. He made his debut for the

Tokitsukaze stable The is a stable of sumo wrestlers in Japan, one of the Tokitsukaze group of stables. It was founded in 1769 and was dominant during the Taishō period. In its modern form it dates from 1941 when it was established by Futabayama, who was still an ...

in September 1968. He was called the "last disciple of

Futabayama was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Oita Prefecture. Entering sumo in 1927, he was the sport's 35th ''yokozuna'' from 1937 until his retirement in 1945. He won twelve ''yūshō'' or top division championships and had a winning streak ...

," as the great '' yokozuna'' who had founded the stable died at the end of the year. His stable master for most of the rest of his career was the former '' ōzeki'' Yutakayama. He fought under his real name for his entire career, never adopting a traditional '' shikona.'' He was restricted by back problems early in his career, and it took him 40 tournaments from his professional debut to reach the '' sekitori'' ranks, but once he got there he was regarded as extremely promising. Emperor Showa, a fan of sumo, asked in Kuruma's ''

jūryō 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 ...

'' debut of the tournament director Kasugano (ex-''yokozuna''

Tochinishiki was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tokyo. He was the sport's 44th ''yokozuna''. He won ten top division ''yūshō'' or tournament championships and was a rival of fellow ''yokozuna'' Wakanohana I. He became the head coach of Kasuga ...

) how far he could go, to which Kasugano responded, " ōzeki". He made the top '' makuuchi'' division in July 1976, and was ranked there for 62 tournaments in total. He won his first '' sansho'' or special prize for Fighting Spirit in January 1978, and in the following tournament in March 1978 made his ''

sanyaku The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

'' debut at '' komusubi.'' In this tournament he defeated ''ozeki'' Takanohana and

Mienoumi is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Matsusaka, Mie. He was the 57th ''yokozuna'' of the sport. After retiring he founded the Musashigawa stable and was a chairman of the Japan Sumo Association. He was the first rikishi in histo ...

and won his first Technique prize. In May he reached what was to be highest rank of '' sekiwake,'' which he held for just one tournament. He won his second Technique prize in May 1981 and reached the ''komusubi'' rank on several more occasions, but was never to return to the ''sekiwake'' rank. He earned two '' kinboshi'' for defeating ''yokozuna'' as a '' maegashira'' ( Wajima in September 1978 and Wakanohana in May 1981). However, those were his only two wins against ''yokozuna'' in 44 attempts, and he was unable to defeat Kitanoumi in 17 bouts. His final appearance in the top division was in May 1988. For much of his top division career he had been the only Shiga Prefecture native, but his demotion coincided with the beginning of Shiga-born Misugisato's top division career. Kurama was a highly popular wrestler, and was regarded as one of the most handsome rikishi of his time (alongside Wakanohana II). His failure to make ''ōzeki'' (for which Kasugano eventually apologized to the Emperor for making an incorrect prediction) was put down to Kurama's flashy personal life, which included driving Lincoln Continentals, spending a million yen a night going out, building a mansion named after himself in Ichikawa, and marrying the actress Yayoi Watanabe. He was also involved in an accident in 1985 when he crashed into two cars waiting at a traffic light, which contributed to the Sumo Association introducing a ban on wrestlers driving.

Retirement from sumo

He retired in September 1989, and was the oldest man in any of the

professional sumo divisions 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 ...

at the time. His retirement followed a diagnosis of

chronic myelogenous leukemia Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), also known as chronic myeloid leukemia, is a cancer of the white blood cells. It is a form of leukemia characterized by the increased and unregulated growth of myeloid cells in the bone marrow and the accumulat ...

. He became 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 Japan Sumo Association under the name Shikoroyama, but left his role in 1990 due to ill health. He became a

tarento Television personalities in Japan, known as in Japanese, are celebrities who regularly appear in mass media in Japan, especially as panelists on variety shows. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, bankable stars in America were described as "tal ...

, wrote a number of sumo books and was a sumo commentator. At this time there was a boom in sumo's popularity generated by the rise of the Takahanada and

Wakahanada is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler. As an active wrestler he was known as , and his rise through the ranks alongside his younger brother Takanohana Kōji saw a boom in sumo's popularity in the early 1990s. He is the elder son of th ...

brothers. During this period his illness was kept secret from the public and known only to close relatives. A bone marrow transplant was a possibility, with his brother a match, but also risky with only a 50 percent success rate and immediate death if a failure, and so he decided to continue with

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...

instead.

Death

He died of leukemia in January 1995 at the age of 42. His wife wrote a best-selling book about their struggles with his illness, which was also turned into a TV drama. She continues to operate a

chankonabe is a Japanese stew (a type of nabemono or one-pot dish) commonly eaten in vast quantity by sumo wrestlers as part of a weight-gain diet. Ingredients and consumption The dish contains a ''dashi'' or chicken broth soup base with sake or ''mir ...

restaurant called Chanko Kurama in Chiba Prefecture. Kurama’s older brother runs a different restaurant with the same name in Ritto.

Fighting style

He was a ''yotsu-sumo'' wrestler, who preferred fighting on '' mawashi'' or belt with a ''hidari-yotsu'' or right hand outside grip. His favourite techniques or '' kimarite'' were ''yori-kiri'' (force out) and ''uwatenage'' (overarm throw).

Career record

References