Jingaku Takashi

Jingaku Takashi - 陣岳 隆 (born December 24, 1959) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Shibushi, Kagoshima. He made his debut in May 1977 and wrestled for Izutsu stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1983 and has two kinboshi. His highest rank was komusubi and he retired in September 1991.

## **Early Life**

Nakayama came from the same area of Japan as future stable-mates Sakahoko and Terao. His father worked for the local government and his mother was a former track and field athlete. He practiced Kendo from elementary school all the way to the first year of high school, but he eventually dropped out of high school and moved to Tokyo where he joined Kimigahama stable (later renamed Izutsu stable).

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut in May 1977 and was given the shikona "Jingaku" (陣岳). In his first tournament, Jingaku posted a strong 6-1 record, but missed out on the jonokuchi yusho after losing to Itoman in a playoff. He was promoted to sandanme in March 1978 and makushita in November 1978. In May 1982, he posted a 5-2 record at the rank of makushita 1 and was promoted to juryo in the following July 1982 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

Jingaku produced a decent 8-7 record in his first tournament as a sekitori and followed with an improved 9-6 record. In his third juryo tournament, Jingaku posted a strong 10-5 record at the rank of juryo 4 and was promoted to makuuchi in the following tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He first made the top makuuchi division in January 1983 but posted a losing record of 4–11 and so was immediately demoted. He won promotion back to the top division in January 1984, and remained there for virtually all of the rest of his career. In September 1984 he defeated a yokozuna for the first time when he upset Kitanoumi in one of the latter's final tournaments. He made the sanyaku ranks for the first time in November 1987 when he reached komusubi, but he proved to be out of his depth and scored only two wins against thirteen losses. He made komusubi once more in September 1990 at the age of 30, but again struggled, winning only three bouts. He suffered from stage fright, losing weight during tournaments because of stomach upsets. This affected his performance against top ranked wrestlers – he stumbled out of the dohyo in a match against Hokutoumi in September 1990 with his opponent barely having to touch him. He was restricted by a foot problem as well as digestive illness towards the end of his career. After 46 consecutive tournaments in the top division he was demoted to juryo after scoring only 4-11 at maegashira 15 in the July 1991 tourney, and he pulled out of the following tournament with a knee injury after fighting only one match. This brought to an end his streak of 1036 consecutive matches from sumo entry. He announced his retirement shortly afterwards.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Jingaku was for one year an elder of the Japan Sumo Association under the name Kasugayama Oyakata, but he was only borrowing the elder name from his stable-mate Sakahoko, and when Sakahoko retired in September 1992 Jingaku was unable to acquire stock elsewhere and had to leave the sumo world. He briefly opened up a sumo restaurant before working for a fish processing company.

## **Personal Life**

Since leaving sumo he has reverted to his birth name, Takashi Nakayama. He is married with two daughters and a son. In his free time he is a keen golfer.

Jingaku's hobbies are ice cream and yakiniku.

## **Fighting Style**

Jingaku was an exponent of tsuppari, a series of rapid thrusts to the opponent's chest, for which his Izutsu stable was famous, and often won by tsukidashi or thrust out. He used a migi-yotsu, or left hand outside, right hand inside grip when fighting on his opponent's mawashi or belt, and yorikiri (force out) was his most common winning kimarite. He was also known for using tsuri (lifting) techniques, and utchari, the ring edge pivot.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 499-538-13/1036 (87 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 309-396/705 (47 basho)
* **Juryo:** 68-54-13/121 (9 basho)
* **Makushita:** 72-61/133 (19 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 31-18/49 (7 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 13-8/21 (3 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Achievements**

* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Kitanoumi, (1) Onokuni

## **Gallery**

Jingaku poses with his kesho-mawashiFuture Yokozuna Asahifuji throws Jingaku (c. 1985)Jingaku after promotion to Komusubi (c. 1987)Jingaku (c. 1987)
## **Sources**

* Jingaku Takashi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Jingaku Takashi Rikishi Information