was a Japanese

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

Yanagawa Yanagawa may refer to: * Yanagawa, Fukuoka * Yanagawa, Fukushima * Yanagawa (surname) * Yanagawa (film) {{disambig ...

Chikugo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of southwestern Fukuoka Prefecture. Chikugo bordered on Higo and Chikugo to the southeast, and Chikuzen to the north and east, Bungo to the east and Hizen to t ...

. He was the sport's 10th ''

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 o ...

''. Although the name of the style of the ''yokozuna'' 's in-ring ceremony is named after him, the fact that he himself practiced this style is highly debated.

Early life and career

He was born in Yanagawa,

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

, but would later change his name to . He lost his parents and grandmother in 1833 and had to work to help his three younger siblings. In 1841, a group from

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

-sumo, led by Oitekaze (an active '' ōzeki'' who was also a stablemaster), made a tour in

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...

to distract people after a period of famine. They went around and spotted the young man during an amateur tournament. Kyūkichi was reluctant to step into the ring, but Oitekaze was stunned by his ability to easily take over his opponents.
He made his debut in by joining the Jinmaku stable in Osaka-sumo in the summer of 1845. He was given the ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Muromachi period and established itself during the Edo period, where they were used as a means to hide the identities of the . Given by the master to his di ...

'', or ring name, of and never changed it. He later after moved to

in 1847, after being recruited by Edo-sumo '' ōzeki'' Oitekaze Kitarō. There, he wrestled for the

Yanagawa Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Fukuoka Prefecture. It was centered around Yanagawa Castle in what is now the city of Yanagawa, Fukuoka and was ruled by the ''tozama da ...

and was promoted to the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of Professional sumo divisions, 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 ...

'' division in February 1852. He was a very good fighter, but at that time, the position in the

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

was closer to a preferential treatment, so he did not receive promotions along his good performances. He won the equivalent of four consecutive tournaments. His wrestling is said to have been cautious and subdued. On the occasion of

Matthew C. Perry Matthew Calbraith Perry (April 10, 1794 – March 4, 1858) was a United States Navy officer who commanded ships in several wars, including the War of 1812 and the Mexican–American War. He led the Perry Expedition that Bakumatsu, ended Japan' ...

's visit to Japan, he had an opportunity to display his wrestling prowess in a tournament Perry and his military advisors attended.

''Yokozuna''

He was promoted to '' ōzeki'' in the January 1858 tournament, and was given a ''yokozuna'' license by the Yoshida family in the September 1861 tournament. As a ''yokozuna'' he was not known for his performance but rather his generosity, holding exhibition shows in his hometown and donating the proceeds to shrines, including a ''

torii A is a traditional culture of Japan, Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to ...

'' gate and lanterns. More than 10,000 spectators gathered, making the events the most successful since the founding of

Yanagawa, Fukuoka file:Yanagawa City Hall 2021.JPG, 270px, Yanagawa City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 62,268 in 26426 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km2. ...

. In the top ''makuuchi'' division, he won 127 bouts and lost 32 bouts, recording a winning percentage of 79.9.

Retirement from sumo

He retired in February 1865 and took the name Oitekaze. He later led the Edo Sumo Association as its chairman, and he acquired a reputation for honesty. He continued to gift temples and notably gave their gates to the

Ekō-in , also known as Honjo Ekō-in, is a Jōdo-shū Buddhist temple in Ryōgoku, Tokyo. The formal name of the temple is , reflecting its founding principle of Pariṇāmanā, or the spreading of Amida Buddha's benevolence to all souls of all living cr ...

temple and the

Asakusa Shrine is a Shinto shrine in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, Japan. Also known as , it is one of the most famous Shinto shrines in the city. The shrine honors the three men who founded the neighboring Sensō-ji. Part of a larger grouping of sacred buil ...

. It is said that it was under his mandate that the first three ''yokozuna'' in history ( Akashi Shiganosuke, Ayagawa Gorōji and Maruyama Gondazaemon) began to be considered as official wrestlers and no longer as myths of which we did not really know if they had existed. He died on June 15, 1890.

''Yokozuna'' in-ring ceremony

The name of one style of ''yokozuna

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

'' (the ''yokozuna'' ring-entering ceremony) came from him. His ritual choreography was said to be beautiful but it isn't proven that he performed the ritual movements in the Unryū-style. His style is said to have been imitated by Tachiyama Mineemon but Tachiyama's style is called Shiranui-style now and Unryū is credited with inventing the Shiranui-style. The common theory is that the names of the Unryū and Shiranui styles were switched. This was due to sumo scholar Kozo Hikoyama, who without researching properly, labelled Tachiyama's style as being that of

Shiranui Kōemon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kikuchi, Higo Province. He was the sport's 11th ''yokozuna''. He gives his name to one of the two styles for the ''yokozunas in-ring ceremony, although the question of whether he himself practiced ...

, whereas it was in fact created by Unryū. Hikoyama was such an authority that no one contradicted him, and the Shiranui name has stuck. Some believe that the Unryū and Shiranui ring-entering ceremonies were so beautiful that only the names were retained in later generations and that the names were switched because they were not thoroughly investigated when the style were officially named. It has been determined in later years from nishiki-e and photographs, what styles Unryū and Shiranui actually performed with evidence like a nishiki-e of Unryū performing a ''yokozuna'' ring-entering with his arms extended just like the Shiranui-style and a photograph of

Shiranui is an atmospheric ghost lights, atmospheric ghost light told about in Kyushu. They are said to appear on days of the noon moon such as the (29th or 30th day) of the seventh month of the lunisolar Japanese calendar when the wind is weak, in t ...

posing in the Unryū-style.

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

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. ''Yūs ...

.''

References