Haguroiwa Tomomi

Haguroiwa Tomomi - 羽黒岩 盟海 (born June 30, 1946 - October 23, 2016) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nobeoka, Miyazaki. He made his debut in May 1961 and last wrestled for Tatsunami stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1967 and has one special prize as well as two kinboshi. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in January 1978.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He left junior high school and joined Tatsunami stable in May 1961 at the age of 14. He made his debut alongside future sekiwake Fujinokawa, and future maegashira Tochifuji and Wakanoumi. He was promoted to sandanme in July 1962 and makushita in September 1963. In September 1965 he produced a 6-1 record at the rank of makushita 2 and was promoted to juryo in the following November 1965 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

At the time of his juryo debut, he was still only 19 years old. He was very consistent in his first run as a sekitori. He posted six consecutive 8-7 records and was promoted to the top of juryo in November 1966 where he produced a strong 11-4 record to earn promotion to makuuchi for the January 1967 tournament. At the time of his makuuchi debut, he was still only 20 years old and was thus seen as a new hope.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In January 1967 he became the first wrestler from Miyazaki Prefecture to reach the top division for 116 years, the previous being Tomozuna Ryosuke in 1851. His first makuuchi run lasted a year before he fell down to juryo for one tournament in January 1968. He won his first (and only) special prize in the January 1969 tournament, for Fighting Spirit.

Haguroiwa is best remembered for his feat in the March tournament of 1969 when (still competing under his family name of Toda) he ended the 45 bout winning streak of yokozuna Taiho, which was a postwar record at the time. This was the first kinboshi of his career. However, it caused controversy because the bout had initially been awarded to Taiho by the referee before the judges intervened and reversed his decision, but photographs published in newspapers the next day suggested that Toda had stepped out first and Taiho should have been given the victory after all. This embarrassment was called the "Error of the Century", and it led to the Sumo Association introducing instant replay to assist judges in future decisions. He had one other victory over a yokozuna, defeating Kashiwado in May 1969. He switched to the Haguroiwa shikona in January 1971. In May 1973 he reached his highest rank of komusubi, but scored only two wins against thirteen losses. He never reached the sanyaku ranks again. He had an excellent record against Takanohana Kenshi, beating him nine times and losing just three times, and even after Takanohana became an ozeki he beat him three times out of four. He suffered a neck injury in a match against Masudayama in July 1977 which led to him dropping to the juryo division, and he announced his retirement in January 1978. He had fought in the top division for 55 tournaments, with a record of 385 wins, 427 losses and 13 absences.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Following his retirement he became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association under the name Ikazuchi Oyakata. He worked as a coach at Tatsunami stable and was also a member of the judging committee. He reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in June 2011.

### **Death**

Tomomi died of kidney failure on 23 October 2016 at the age of 70.

## **Fighting Style**

Haguroiwa was proficient in both yotsu-sumo (grappling) and oshi-sumo (pushing and thrusting) techniques. His favored grip on his opponent's mawashi was migi-yotsu, a left hand outside, right hand inside position. His most often used winning kimarite was yorikiri (force out), followed by oshidashi (push out).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 626-624-20/1247 (101 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 385-427-13/810 (55 basho)
* **Juryo:** 134-129/262 (19 basho)
* **Makushita:** 58-33/91 (13 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 23-19/42 (6 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 22-13-7/35 (6 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** (1) Taiho, (1) Kashiwado

## **Shikona History**

* Toda Tomojiro (1961.05 - 1970.11)
* Haguroiwa Tomokazu (1971.01 - 1973.07)
* Haguroiwa Tomomi (1973.09 - 1978.01)

## **Gallery**

Haguroiwa during the Makuuchi dohyo-iri as Toda (c. 1968)Haguroiwa serves as Wakanami's flag bearer (c. 1968)Haguroiwa waits for his upcoming match (c. 1969)Haguroiwa snaps Taiho's 45 bout win streak (c. 1969)Haguroiwa poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1976)Haguroiwa prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1977)Haguroiwa's career ending neck injury (c. 1977)Haguroiwa announces his retirement (c. 1978)Haguroiwa's retirement ceremony pamphlet (c. 1978)Haguroiwa after retirement as Ikazuchi Oyakata (c. 2010)Haguroiwa's tegata
## **Sources**

* Haguroiwa Tomomi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Haguroiwa Tomomi Rikishi Information