Tamakirin Yasumasa

Tamakirin Yasumasa - 玉麒麟 安正 (born May 8, 1961) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Chichibu, Saitama. He made his debut in Janaury 1980 and last wrestled for Oshiogawa stable. He reached the juryo division in May 1986. His highest rank was juryo 6 and he retired in July 1987.

## **Early Life**

On the 8th of May, 1961 Akira Taue was born the eldest son of a construction worker, in Saitama, Japan. As a teenager and young adult in Kagemori Junior High School, Taue was quite active in various sports such as shotput, baseball and judo. After graduating Taue would work as a part time auto-mechanic, while attending the Saitama Prefectural Chichibu High School. There Taue was sent a recommendation for the high school's sumo club. He joined the club in his second year of high school, and he won the third place in the national sumo high school championship.

## **Career**

Taue was then invited in the Oshiogawa stable, and made his professional sumo debut, in January of 1980. He was promoted to sandanme in Janaury 1981 and makushita in May 1982. After four consecutive 5-2 records in makushita, he was promoted to juryo in May 1986. Upon turning sekitori, he changed his shikona from his surname to "Tamakirin" (玉麒麟). He could only manage a 7-8 record in his juryo debut and was demoted back down to makushita. He returned to juryo in September 1986 and rose as high as juryo 6 in January 1987. However, after three consecutive losing records, he announced his retirement after the July 1987 tournament. It was also suspected that he abruptly retired due to a stained relationship with his stablemaster.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

### **Professional Wrestling Career**

After his debut, Taue would mostly wrestle in the tag team division of All Japan. During this time he along with Shinichi Nakano would win the All Asia Tag Team Championship belts on June 5th, 1990. After many from All Japan's roster would leave for Genichiro Tenryu's new promotion, the SWS, Taue would band with Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and Toshiaki Kawada to form the Super Generation Army. Soon after their formation, Taue would defect to Jumbo Tsuruta's stable, otherwise known as Tsuruta-gun. The ensuing rivalry between the Super Generation Army and Tsuruta-gun would produce all time tag team, and 6-man tag team classic matches. On September 30th, 1990, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter would award Taue and Tsuruta versus Misawa and Kawada, 5 stars.

However, he became better known for tag team wrestling. He won his first championship, the All Asia Tag Team Championship, with Shinichi Nakano on June 5, 1990. He won the World Tag Team Championship for the first time on March 4, 1992, teaming with Jumbo Tsuruta. He formed a tag team with Toshiaki Kawada, called The Holy Demon Army, a team which ended up holding the World Tag Team Championship 6 times. The team split when Taue left AJPW for Mitsuharu Misawa's new Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in August 2000, while Kawada decided to stay.

In Noah Taue continued tag team wrestling, teaming mostly with Takuma Sano. On November 5, 2005, Taue was able to defeat Takeshi Rikio with his Ore ga Taue finisher to capture the GHC Heavyweight Championship, which he held into the new year before losing it to Jun Akiyama on January 22, 2006.

On June 27, 2009, following the June 13 death of Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue was appointed as the new president of Pro Wrestling Noah. On May 12, 2013, Taue announced that he would be officially retiring from the ring in December. On December 7, 2013, Taue wrestled his retirement match, where he, Takeshi Morishima, Takashi Sugiura, and Genba Hirayanagi defeated Genichiro Tenryu, Tatsumi Fujinami, Masao Inoue, and Kentaro Shiga, with Taue pinning Inoue for the final win of his career.

Taue served as the Noah president until November 1, 2016, when the company was sold to IT development company Estbee, after which he was given the new role of an advisor. He would resign from his position in February 2017.

### **Post Wrestling Career**

In June 2017, after studying with Mitsuhiro Matsunaga, Taue opened his own steakhouse in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan, called Steak Izakaya Champ, where he personally cuts and cooks the steak, as well as greeting customers.

On August 22, 2018, Taue announced at a press conference that he was battling stomach cancer. The diagnosis came from when he was originally hospitalized from a fall at his home on March 2 that caused bleeding from the stomach, which required an emergency blood transfusion. He also revealed that on April 16, he underwent a gastrectomy after discovering the cancer during an examination.

## **Fighting Style**

Fukuryudake 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 was yorikiri, or force out.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 193-149-7/342 (46 basho)
* **Juryo:** 44-46/90 (7 basho)
* **Makushita:** 85-69/154 (22 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 46-31/77 (11 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 12-2/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1-7/7 (2 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Taue Akira (1980.01 - 1986.03)
* Tamakirin Yasumasa (1986.05 - 1986.05)
* Taue Akira (1986.07 - 1986.07)
* Tamakirin Yasumasa (1986.09 - 1987.07)

## **Gallery**

Tamakirin's (center) high school sumo career (c. 1979)Tamakirin during the juryo dohyo-iriTamakirin prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1986)Tamakirin after retirement as a professional wrestler (c. 2005)Akira Taue's signature
## **Sources**

* Tamakirin Yasumasa Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tamakirin Yasumasa Rikishi Information