was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Inzai,

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

. He was the sport's 24th ''

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 ...

''.

Career

His real name was . He fought out of

Miyagino stable is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Isegahama '' ichimon'' or group of stables. It was founded by the 43rd ''yokozuna'' Yoshibayama as ''Yoshibayama dōjō'' while he was still an active wrestler, before changing to its current name in 19 ...

and made his debut in the ''

jonokuchi 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 in May 1903, with his ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Edo period, where they were used as a means to attract customers and hide the identities of the '' rikishi''. Like standard Japanese names, a ''shikona'' ...

'' name spelled . In May 1908, he changed his ring name to Ōtori Tanigorō. He reached the top division in January 1909 and won his first tournament championship in his debut tournament at the rank of '' ōzeki'' 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 Okuma or Ōkuma may refer to: Surname *Ōkuma Shigenobu (大隈重信) (1838 – 1922) 8th and 17th Prime Minister of Japan, founder of Waseda University * Enuka Okuma, Canadian actress of Nigerian descent Other uses *Okuma Corporation, a manufact ...

presented a ''

tachi A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and ''katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on t ...

'', or long sword, to him. 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 was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. He was the sport's 19th ''yokozuna'' from 1903 till 1914. His great rivalry with Umegatani Tōtarō II created the "Ume-Hitachi Era" and did much to popularise sumo. He i ...

and so his fighting style was regarded as unacceptable. His record as ''yokozuna'' was 35 wins against 24 defeats, compared with 36 wins and only four defeats at ''ōzeki''. 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 The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. A B C D E F G H ...

'' at that time). He had insisted that his successor had to be a ''yokozuna'', so it became inactive for a while. Eventually ''yokozuna''

Yoshibayama , real name , was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Atsuta District, Hokkaido. He was the sport's 43rd ''yokozuna''. He suffered a number of injuries and only won one tournament championship, but was a popular wrestler. He was a runner ...

revived the stable and assumed the Miyagino name in 1960. On November 11, 2006, a

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

to Ōtori was established in his home city of Inzai.

Career

Top Division Record

References

See also