Wakamaeda Eiichiro

Wakamaeda Eiichiro - 若前田 英一朗 (born November 24, 1930 - June 3, 2007) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nishibiwajima, Aichi. He made his debut in January 1950 and last wrestled for Takasago stable. He reached the makuuchi division in May 1954 and has four special prizes as well as three kinboshi. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in January 1964.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Born in Nishikasugai District, Aichi, in the town of Nishibiwajima, he was spotted by scouts on a 1949 regional tour of Nagoya and joined Takasago stable in January 1950. Initially he fought under his own surname of Yui, but in 1952 changed his shikona to Wakamaeda, with the second kanji of Maeda taken from his stablemaster, the former yokozuna Maedayama. He was promoted to juryo in March 1953.

### **Juryo Career**

In his first tournament as a sekitori, Wakamaeda could only manage a 7-8 record and was demoted back down to makushita. He immediately returned to juryo in September 1953 and produced three consecutive winning records to earn a promotion to makuuchi in May 1954.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In his top division debut he was suffering from acute appendicitis from Day 9 but managed to stay in the tournament with pain-killing injections, and only withdrew on Day 13 once he had clinched a majority of wins against losses, or kachi-koshi. In May 1955 he defeated Yoshibayama in his first ever bout against a yokozuna, earning his first kinboshi, and he made his sanyaku debut at komusubi in January 1958, after a strong 11–4 record in the previous tournament. His komusubi debut was a memorable one as he defeated two yokozuna (Yoshibayama and Kagamisato) and was awarded the Fighting Sprit prize. Two 10–5 records in the next two tournaments, which included wins over yokozuna Wakanohana and Chiyonoyama, saw him move up to sekiwake and win two more Fighting Spirit prizes. However his quest for ozeki promotion was ended when he scored only 5–10 in July 1958. He returned to komusubi in January 1959, defeating Tochinishiki and winning the Technique prize, and was promoted back to sekiwake for the March 1959 tournament, but narrowly failed to get a majority of wins. His 3–12 at komusubi in the following May 1959 tournament was his final appearance in the sanyaku ranks. He was to win two further kinboshi, both against Wakanohana, in November 1960 and January 1962. He was finally demoted from the top division in September 1963 after a poor 2–13 score. He had fought in makuuchi for 50 tournaments, with a win-loss record of 355–389, with 6 injury absences. He retired two tournaments later in January 1964.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

His danpatsu-shiki, or official retirement ceremony was held in July 1964 in the same hall as the Nagoya tournament that year, the Kanayama Gymnasium. He remained in sumo as a coach for a short time, under the elder name of Onoe. After leaving the Japan Sumo Association in September 1964 he ran a sumo restaurant in Nagoya.

### **Death**

He died on June 3, 2007, at the age of 76 due to an illness.

## **Fighting Style**

Wakamaeda 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:** 484-475-9/959 (67 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 355-389-6/744 (50 basho)
* **Juryo:** 40-35/75 (6 basho)
* **Makushita:** 39-29/68 (5 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 23-7/30 (2 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 17-10-3/27 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 10-5/15 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (September 1951)
* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (May 1950)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (3), Technique Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 3: (2) Wakanohana I, (1) Yoshibayama

## **Shikona History**

* Yui Hideo (1950.01 - 1952.01)
* Wakamaeda Eijiro (1952.05 - 1958.01)
* Wakamaeda Eiichiro (1958.03 - 1960.07)
* Wakamaeda Raizo (1960.09 - 1963.07)
* Wakamaeda Eiichiro (1963.09 - 1964.01)

## **Gallery**

Wakamaeda with his kesho-mawashiWakamaeda with his mentor and stablemate Asashio (c. 1958)Wakamaeda serves as Yokozuna Asashio's sword bearer (c. 1959)Wakamaeda defeats Yokozuna Wakanohana (c. 1962)Wakamaeda's tegata
## **Sources**

* Wakamaeda Eiichiro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Wakamaeda Eiichiro Rikishi Information