Wakanohana Kanji I

He was born in Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, and moved to Hokkaidō as a child. After working as a stevedore, he was scouted by the maegashira Onoumi,[1] joining Nishonoseki stable in November 1946. He was trained harshly by Rikidōzan in Nishonoseki stable, but he reportedly bit Rikidōzan's leg in retaliation for his training.[2] Onoumi became head coach of Shibatayama stable after his retirement in May 1952, and Wakanohana followed him to the new stable. It was renamed Hanakago stable in September 1953.

Wakanohana and Chiyonoyama take a break during their 17-minute draw in September 1955

He reached the top division in 1950. During his career he was nicknamed the Dohyō no Oni, or Devil of the dohyō due to his great fighting spirit and endurance. In September 1955 he fought a bout against yokozuna Chiyonoyama that lasted for over 17 minutes before being declared a draw.[1] In contrast, most sumo matches are over in a few seconds. He was promoted to ōzeki after that tournament. He won his first top division championship in May 1956. Shortly before the following tournament his four-year-old eldest son Katsuo was scalded to death when a boiling hot pot of chankonabe fell on him.[3] Despite being devastated by the tragedy,[4] Wakanohana chose to compete in the tournament but ended up dropping out with a fever.[3] He had to wait until January 1958 for promotion to yokozuna, which was confirmed shortly after he took his second tournament championship. He was the first yokozuna produced by the Nishonoseki ichimon or group of stables in over 20 years and consequently he had to borrow the keshō-mawashi of the former Futabayama to perform his first dohyō-iri or yokozuna ring entering ceremony.[4]

Wakanohana's great rival as yokozuna was Tochinishiki. They were very evenly matched, being of similar height and weight, and both ended up with ten top division titles each. In March 1960, they faced each other undefeated on the final day – the first time ever that two yokozuna had met like this.[3] Wakanohana won the match and Tochinishiki retired after the next tournament. Wakanohana kept going until the new era of yokozuna Taihō and Kashiwado, retiring in May 1962.

Wakanohana was such a popular wrestler that he even starred in a feature film 若ノ花物語 土俵の鬼 Wakanohana monogatari dohyou no oni about his life, made by the Nikkatsu movie studio and released across Japan December 27, 1956.[4][5]

After retirement he set up his own training stable, Futagoyama, which produced a string of top wrestlers, including ōzeki Takanohana (his brother) and Wakashimazu, and yokozuna Wakanohana II and Takanosato. He was also head of the Japan Sumo Association from 1988 to 1992.[6] Among his reforms was an attempt to improve the quality of the tachi-ai or initial charge of a bout by fining wrestlers who engaged in matta, or false starts. In his first year as head of the Association, he also performed his kanreki dohyō-iri or '60th year ring entrance ceremony' to commemorate his years as yokozuna. At the end of his last tournament in charge he presented the Emperor's Cup to his nephew, Takahanada, who had become the youngest ever top division tournament winner.[7] Upon his retirement from the Sumo Association in 1993, his stable merged with his brother's Fujishima stable. He became director of the Sumo Museum. He died of kidney cancer in September 2010 at the age of 82. Umegatani I, who lived to 83, is the only yokozuna to live longer than him.[8]

Wakanohana was a noted technician, and his trademark was his overarm throwing techniques.[8] As well as uwatenage and dashinage he was also well known for yobimodoshi, or pulling body slam, a kimarite that has virtually disappeared from professional sumo today. He was equally adept at both a hidari-yotsu (right hand outside, left hand inside) and migi-yotsu (the reverse) grip on his opponent's mawashi.

• The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka in 1953.

• Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.

• Glossary of sumo terms
• Kanreki dohyō-iri
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament top division champions
• List of sumo tournament top division runners-up
• List of yokozuna

• Japan Sumo Association profile