Shishihō Yoshimasa (born Osamu Tanaka; August 14, 1955 – October 7, 2006) 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 th ...

wrestler from

Moriyama 270px, Lake Biwa from Moriyama is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 85,485 in 34,366 households and a population density of 1533.63 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Mo ...

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He made his professional debut in January 1971, and became the first ''

sekitori A ''sekitori'' (関取) is a '' rikishi'' (力士, sumo wrestler) who is ranked in one of the top two professional divisions: '' makuuchi'' and '' jūryō''. The name literally translates to having taken the barrier, as only a relatively small fr ...

'' from Taiho stable when he reached 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. Fo ...

'' division in July 1977. He reached the top division in September 1979. His highest rank was ''

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 on ...

'' 2. His favourite techniques were ''migi-yotsu'' and ''uwatenage''. Upon retirement in May 1987 he was hired by the

Sumo Association The , officially the ; sometimes abbreviated JSA or NSK, and more usually called Sumo Kyōkai, is the governing body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling, called , in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Ed ...

as a '' wakaimonogashira''. He left the sumo world in July 1991. He died of cancer in 2006.

Career record

References

1955 births Japanese sumo wrestlers Sumo people from Nagasaki Prefecture 2006 deaths {{sumo-bio-stub

Career record

See also

References