Nishinoumi Kajirō I facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Nishinoumi Kajirō |
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| 西ノ海 嘉治郎 | |
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| Personal information | |
| Born | Kozono Kajirō February 19, 1855 Sendai, Satsuma, Japan |
| Died | November 30, 1908 (aged 53) |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in) |
| Weight | 128 kg (282 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Takasago |
| Record | 127-37-97-25draws-4holds |
| Debut | January 1882 (Tokyo sumo) |
| Highest rank | Yokozuna (March, 1890) |
| Retired | January 1896 |
| Championships | 2 (Makuuchi, unofficial) |
| * Up to date as of September 2007. | |
Nishinoumi Kajirō I (born February 19, 1855 – died November 30, 1908) was a famous Japanese professional sumo wrestler. He came from Sendai, in the area known as Satsuma Province. He became the 16th yokozuna, which is the highest rank in sumo. He was also the first yokozuna to have his title officially written on the banzuke (the sumo ranking list). This made the yokozuna rank even more important and respected in professional sumo.
Becoming a Sumo Star
Nishinoumi's real name was Kozono Kajirō. He started his sumo career in Kyoto in 1873. He joined a sumo training group called Tokinokoe stable. By 1879, he had moved up to the top sumo division, called makuuchi. In September 1879, he reached the rank of sekiwake.
Later, a famous sumo master named Takasago Uragorō convinced Nishinoumi to join his new training group, Takasago stable, in Tokyo. Nishinoumi started wrestling in Tokyo sumo in January 1882. He quickly moved up the ranks. Just seven tournaments later, in January 1885, he became an ōzeki, which is the second-highest rank.
Nishinoumi wrestled against other strong wrestlers from his own stable, like Ōdate, Ichinoya, and Konishiki. People saw him as a very talented wrestler. He, Ichinoya, and Ōdate were known as the "Takasago Trio" because they were all so promising.
In January 1886, Nishinoumi briefly dropped back to sekiwake rank. This happened even though he had a winning record. Back then, a wrestler with a better record could sometimes take a higher rank from another wrestler on the same side of the banzuke.
He returned to the ōzeki rank after winning a tournament in May 1889 with a perfect 9–0 record. After another strong performance in the next tournament, he was given the special yokozuna license in March 1890.
The First Official Yokozuna
When Nishinoumi became a yokozuna, it caused a bit of a problem. Even though he had the yokozuna title, his rank was still listed as haridashi ōzeki (a special ōzeki position) on the banzuke for the May 1890 tournament. This put him below his rival ōzeki, Konishiki Yasokichi I. Konishiki had just had an amazing 8–0 winning record in the tournament before.
Nishinoumi's name was literally pushed to the side on the ranking list. He was not happy about this and complained to the sumo officials. To make him happy, the word yokozuna was written on the banzuke for the very first time in sumo history. This was a special agreement just for him. Because of this argument, yokozuna officially became a recognized rank in sumo.
During his time in the top makuuchi division, Nishinoumi won 127 matches and lost 37. This means he won about 77.4% of his fights.
Life After Sumo
Nishinoumi retired from sumo in January 1896. After retiring, he became a sumo elder, taking the name Izutsu. He then became the head coach of Izutsu stable, a sumo training group.
He helped train several excellent sumo wrestlers from Kagoshima Prefecture, his home area. One of these wrestlers was the 25th yokozuna, Nishinoumi Kajirō II. This wrestler later took over as head of Izutsu stable after Nishinoumi Kajirō I passed away from heart failure in 1908.
See also
- Glossary of sumo terms
- List of past sumo wrestlers
- List of yokozuna
