Mitsuneyama Keiji

Mitsuneyama Keiji, real name Tōichi Shimamura (7 February 1922 – 15 August 1989) was a sumo wrestler from Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan who won the top division yūshō or tournament championship in 1954. His highest rank was ōzeki and he earned nine kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna when ranked as a maegashira, and seven special prizes. After his retirement in 1960 he was the head coach of Takashima stable.

Mitsuneyama Keiji
三根山 宝國
With the Emperor's Cup in 1954
Personal information
BornTōichi Shimamura
(1922-02-07)7 February 1922
Tokyo, Japan
Died15 August 1989(1989-08-15) (aged 67)
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 12 in)
Weight150 kg (330 lb)
Career
StableTakashima
Record479-389-35
DebutMay 1937
Highest rankŌzeki (September 1953)
RetiredJanuary 1960
Elder nameTakashima
Championships1 (Makuuchi)
1 (Jūryō)
1 (Sandanme)
Special PrizesOutstanding Performance (5)
Fighting Spirit (2)
Gold Stars9
Terukuni (3)
Kagamisato (2)
Akinoumi
Maedayama
Azumafuji
Chiyonoyama
* Up to date as of June 2020.

Career

Mitsuneyama in a bout against Nayoroiwa in 1953

He began his professional career in 1937, joining Takashima stable, reaching the top makuuchi division in 1944. He earned nine kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna whilst ranked as a maegashira, and seven sanshō or special prizes. In 1953, at the age of 31, he was promoted to the second highest rank of ōzeki, after 16 tournaments in the lower san'yaku ranks, ten at sekiwake and six at komusubi. Three tournaments later he took his only top division yūshō or tournament championship, with a 12–3 record. At 32 years and one month he is the sixth oldest first time yūshō winner since World War II, behind Kyokutenhō, Tamawashi, Tamanoumi, Yoshibayama and Takatōriki. He lost the ōzeki rank in 1955, largely due to injuries. He carried on fighting in the maegashira ranks, last under the shikona Mitsuneyama Hōkoku, until January 1960 when he retired at the age of nearly 38.

Retirement from sumo

He remained in the sumo world as a toshiyori or elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name Kumagatani Oyakata and founded his own Kumagatani stable. In May 1961 he acquired the Takashima elder name and changed the name of the stable to Takashima stable. He produced the top division wrestlers Daiju and Kōbōyama, but resigned due to ill health in 1982, the heya being absorbed into another incarnation of Kumagatani stable founded by the former Yoshinomine.[1] He continued to work as a coach at Kumagatani before leaving the Sumo Association in January 1985. He died in 1989.

Pre-modern top division record

  • Through most of the 1940s only two tournaments were held a year and only one tournament was held in 1946. The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka tournament in 1953.
Mitsuneyama Keiji[2]
- Spring
Haru basho, Tokyo
Summer
Natsu basho, Tokyo
Autumn
Aki basho, Tokyo
1944 West Maegashira #12
114
 
East Maegashira #4
73
East Maegashira #1
64
1945 Not held West Komusubi #1
16
 
West Maegashira #6
37
 
1946 Not held Not held West Maegashira #10
112
 
1947 Not held East Komusubi #2
451
 
East Maegashira #2
83
1948 Not held West Komusubi #1
74
 
East Sekiwake #1
47
 
1949 East Maegashira #2
94
O
West Komusubi #1
681
 
West Maegashira #1
87
 
1950 West Sekiwake #1
366
 
East Maegashira #2
87
East Komusubi #1
114
 
1951 East Sekiwake #2
132
O
East Sekiwake #1
78
 
East Sekiwake #2
114
O
1952 East Sekiwake #1
87
 
West Sekiwake #1
114
O
East Sekiwake #1
69
 
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna Ōzeki Sekiwake Komusubi Maegashira
- New Year
Hatsu basho, Tokyo
Spring
Haru basho, Osaka
Summer
Natsu basho, Tokyo
Autumn
Aki basho, Tokyo
1953 East Komusubi #2
105
 
East Sekiwake #2
114
F
East Sekiwake #1
123
O
East Ōzeki #2
87
 
1954 East Ōzeki #2
105
 
East Ōzeki #1
123
 
East Ōzeki #1
105
 
West Ōzeki #1
510
 
1955 East Ōzeki #1
96
 
East Ōzeki #1
375
 
West Ōzeki #1
69
 
East Sekiwake #2
Sat out due to injury
0015
1956 East Maegashira #2
411
 
West Maegashira #6
510
 
East Maegashira #13
96
 
West Maegashira #10
105
F
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna Ōzeki Sekiwake Komusubi Maegashira

Modern tournament record

  • Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.
Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo
March
Haru basho, Osaka
May
Natsu basho, Tokyo
July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya
September
Aki basho, Tokyo
November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1957 East Maegashira #2
78
East Maegashira #3
510
 
East Maegashira #6
96
Not held East Maegashira #2
69
West Maegashira #3
510
 
1958 East Maegashira #8
510
 
East Maegashira #14
105
 
West Maegashira #7
105
 
East Maegashira #2
78
 
West Maegashira #3
69
 
East Maegashira #5
78
 
1959 East Maegashira #6
69
 
East Maegashira #8
78
 
West Maegashira #9
78
 
West Maegashira #10
87
 
East Maegashira #9
96
 
East Maegashira #3
213
 
1960 East Maegashira #13
Retired
447
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Top Division Runner-up Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna Ōzeki Sekiwake Komusubi Maegashira

See also

References

  1. Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. p. 205. ISBN 0-8348-0283-X.
  2. "Mitsuneyama Hokoku Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
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