Nayoroiwa Shizuo

Nayoroiwa Shizuo - 名寄岩 静男 (born September 27, 1914 - January 26, 1971) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nayoro, Hokkaido. He made his debut in May 1932 and wrestled for Tatsunami stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1937 and has two special prizes as well as two kinboshi. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in September 1954.

## **Early Life**

Shizuo Iwakabe was born in Otaru, Hokkaido, and his parents ran a moxibustion and acupuncture treatment business. When he was 10 months old, his family moved to the town of Nayoro and ran a pig farm. In junior high school, Iwakabe often fell alseep in class due to hard labor during the day, but he excelled in physcial education and was fond of judo. He later aspired to become an acupuncturist, like his parents, and in 1931 he travelled to Tokyo to attend an acupuncture school. During this time, he was recruited for professional by Tatsunami Oyakata (former komusubi Midorishima) due to his large physique.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut in May 1932 under the shikona "Nayoroiwa" (名寄岩). Along with his stablemates Futabayama and Haguroyama, he supported Tatsunami stable. In January 1935, he won the sandanme yusho with a perfect 6-0 record and was promoted to makushita in May 1935. He went on to win the makushita yusho in January 1936 and was promoted to juryo in May 1936. After only one tournament in juryo, he was promted to makuuchi in January 1937.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In January 1938, he defeated yokozuna Musashiyama, gaining his first kinboshi or gold star. He was subseqeuntly promoted to sekiwake for the following May 1938 tournament. He wrestled at the san'yaku levels for nine conseuctive tournaments, and after he posted four straight double-digit winning records, he was promoted to ozeki in January 1943.

### **Ozeki Career**

He only lasted three tournaments as ozeki and was demoted to sekiwake in May 1944. He was promoted to ozeki again in November 1946, but he lost all eleven bouts in the November 1947 tournament. He was demoted again in the May 1948 tournament. Of his six tournaments at ozeki rank he only achieved a kachi-koshi or winning record in two of them, and his overall record as an ozeki was 26 wins against 31 losses, with 22 absences.

### **Later Career**

In the May 1950 tournament, he won his first Fighting Spirit Award. In the September 1952 tournament, he defeated yokozuna Chiyonoyama, gaining a kinboshi and winning his second Fighting Spirit Award. In January 1953 he returned to sekiwake, and he remains the oldest man in the post-war era to be promoted to a san'yaku rank. During the Autumn 1954 tournament which held from September 19 to October 3, he reached his fortieth birthday, and after the tournament he retired from an active wrestler after 22 years in sumo.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After his retirement, he re-established the Kasugayama stable, which he ran until his death in 1971. Among his rikishi was the maegashira Onobori and juryo Byakuhoyama. He served as a ringside judge for the majority of his post-sumo career, however, he stopped after suffering a stroke in 1965.

### **Death**

He died of liver cancer on January 26, 1971, at the age of 56. In 1981, 10 years after his death, a statue of him was erected in his hometown of Nayoro, Hokkaido.

## **Personal Life**

His grandson, Toshiteru Katagiri, joined Matsugane stable in March 2006 and wrestled under his surname "Katagiri" (片桐). He aimed to become a sekitori like his grandfather, but was only able to reach the rank of sandanme 8 and retired in November 2010 due to a retinal detachment.

## **Fighting Style**

Nayoroiwa was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who prefers grappling to pushing and thrusting techniques. He favored a migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) position when gripping his opponent's mawashi (belt). His most common kimarite were yorikiri (force out), yoritaoshi (crush down), tsuridashi (lift out), utchari (backward pivot throw), and uwatenage (overarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 337-297-33/634 (54 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 292-279-33/571 (44 basho)
* **Juryo:** 9-2/11 (1 basho)
* **Makushita:** 15-7/22 (2 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 6-0/6 (1 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 10-8/18 (3 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-1/6 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (Janaury 1936)
* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (January 1935)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (2)
* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Musashiyama. (1) Chiyonoyama

## **Shikona History**

* Nayoroiwa Kumagoro (1932.05 - 1939.05)
* Nayoroiwa Shizuo (1940.01 - 1954.09)

## **Gallery**

Nayoroiwa Shizuo - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)
## **Sources**

* Nayoroiwa Shizuo Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Nayoroiwa Shizuo Rikishi Information