was a Japanese sumo wrestler from

Kesennuma is a city in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 59,803 and a population density of in 26,390 households. The total area of the city is . Large sections of the city were destroyed by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake an ...

, Mutsu Province. He was the sport's 9th ''

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

Born , he later took the surname . He aspired to become a rikishi because his second brother was an '' ōzeki''. In 1823, he attempted to make his debut in , but he was completely ignored by his master (''komusubi'' Arakuma Rikinosuke) due to his short height of only , and did nothing but chores and was not allowed to train or even step in the ring. He joined Hidenoyama stable in 1827 and made his debut in March 1828, under the ''

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'' ...

'', or ring name, . Then, he wrestled for the under the ''shikona'' . Due to the poor financial situation of the Matsuidara clan, he was removed from his position around 1827. After reaching the rank of ''sekiwake'' he was given the ''shikona'' and reached ''ōzeki''. However, it is said that his promotion was more of a fill-in for Shiranui's repeated failures to appear, and he was dropped back at ''sekiwake''. In 1844, after he was promoted back to ''ōzeki'' he changed his ''shikona'' twice by taking the name of and then succeeding to his master by taking the name .

''Yokozuna''

He received his ''yokozuna'' licence from the in September 1845. His height of is lowest among all ''yokozuna'' in sumo's long history. He was not one of the greatest wrestlers of his time, but received the licence because he had influential backers and is even sometimes assimilated as a full member of the Yoshida family. ''Ōzeki'' Tsurugizan Taniemon reportedly handed over the ''yokozuna'' licence to Hidenoyama.

Retirement from sumo

He retired in March 1850, as he was 54 years old at the time, and is said to have performed in the ''yokozuna'' ring-entering ceremony until 1861. He recorded 30 consecutive wins and won the equivalent of six championships before the modern ''

yūshō is the term for a championship in Japanese. This article focuses on championships in the sport of professional sumo. It is awarded in each of the six annual '' honbasho'' or official tournaments, to the wrestler who wins the most bouts. ''Y� ...

'' system was established. In the top ''makuuchi'' division, he won 112 bouts and lost 21 bouts, recording a winning percentage of 84.2. After his retirement, he was an elder known as Hidenoyama and trained later ''yokozuna'' Jinmaku. Hidenoyama died in June, 1862 and ''sekiwake'' Kasagiyama (笠置山) succeeded the name Hidenoyama.

The "Kaei turmoil"

Hidenoyama served as a judge (''naka-aratame'', modern ''shimpan'') but this gave him many opportunities to give favourable decisions to his own pupils. At that time, there were many lower division wrestlers and they were sometimes forced to be absent from sumo bouts. They attempted to have their number of sumo bouts increased. He had the right of deciding their attendances and rejected this, excluding his own pupils. The other lower ranking wrestlers were angry, accusing him of bias, and went on strike because of his practices in 1851. It was the first walkout in sumo history and the event is now known as the 'Kaei turmoil' (嘉永の紛擾). Hidenoyama eventually apologized to the wrestlers.

Fighting style

He was not good at wrestling against skillful wrestlers like ''sekiwake'' Inagawa (稲川) and ''ōzeki'' , but he was able to compensate for his small size, roundness and fragility by training hard. He is also said to have a great fighting spirit.

Homage

A 10-ton bronze statue of Hidenoyama was erected in

, Miyagi Prefecture, at the entrance of the bay. In 2011, the statue became a symbol of resilience after surviving the

Great East Japan Earthquake Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

Top division record

*''The actual time the tournaments were held during the year in this period often varied.'' ''*Championships for the best record in a tournament were not recognized or awarded before the 1909 summer tournament and the above unofficial championships are historically conferred. For more information see

.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidenoyama Raigoro 1808 births 1862 deaths Japanese sumo wrestlers Sumo people from Miyagi Prefecture Yokozuna People from Kesennuma, Miyagi 19th-century wrestlers