Takanohana Kenshi

Takanohana Kenshi - 貴ノ花 健士 (born February 19, 1950 - May 30, 2005) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hirosaki, Aomori. He made his debut in May 1965 and wrestled for Futagoyama stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 1968 and has nine special prizes, one kinboshi and two top division championships. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in January 1981.

## **Early Life**

Hanada was born in Muroran, Hokkaido, and was the youngest of 10 siblings. He had been a champion swimmer while at school, specializing in butterfly, but did not think he could make a living out of it. He was determined to join professional sumo, in spite of some opposition from his family, who had wanted him to continue swimming (he was considered a possibility to make the team for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City).

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He began his career in the spring of 1965, joining Futagoyama stable which had been set up his elder brother, former yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji I, three years previously. He initially fought under his own surname of Hanada. In his first professional tournament, he won the jonokuchi yusho after defeating Kawasaki in a playoff. He rose up the ranks at a fast pace and made it to juryo by March 1968.

### **Juryo Career**

At the time of his juryo debut Handa was only 18 years 0 months which was the youngest ever for a juryo promotion at the time (the record is now held by his son Takanohana). He also had not produced a single losing record at the time and was on a 16 tournaments kachi-koshi streak. He posted an 8-7 record in his first juryo tournament to extend his streak to 17 tournaments, however, he followed with a 7-8 record, his first career make-koshi (losing record). In September 1968 he won the juryo yusho with an 11-4 record and was promoted to makuuchi in November 1968.

### **Makuuchi Career**

He reached the top makuuchi division in November 1968 at the age of just 18 years 8 months, the youngest ever at the time (the record is now held by his son Takanohana). He weighed barely 100 kg, and would remain one of the lightest men in the top division for the rest of his career. He adopted the shikona of Takanohana in 1969.

In July 1970, he produced an 11-4 record and was promoted to komusubi in the following September 1970 tournament. In his san'yaku debut Takanohana finished with a 9-6 record and was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize and a promotion to sekiwake. Even though Takanohana could only manage a 7-8 record in his sekiwake debut, he continue to challenge top wrestlers and he was the last man to beat yokozuna Taiho, in May 1971. From March 1971 to September 1971, in a span of four tournaments, Takanohana won a special prize in each tournament, even though he only finished with single-digit winning records. This was because he showed tremendous spirit in his bouts which also made him one of the most popular wrestlers of his time. This earned him the nickname "Prince of Sumo" due to his good looks and relatively slim build. In May 1972, he finished with an 11-4 record and was runner-up to Wajima's 12-3 yusho. Takanohana followed with another runner-up performance in July and was simultaneously awarded the Fighting Spirit prize and the Technique Prize. in July he produced a 10-5 record and was awarded his ninth special prize. Having accumulated 33 wins in the previous three tournaments, his promotion to ozeki was confirmed for the November 1972 tournament.

### **Ozeki Career**

He was promoted at the same time as his friend and rival Wajima, who quickly went on to be promoted to yokozuna. Takanohana's progress was slower, but he did win two top division tournament (or honbasho) championships in March and September 1975, each time delighting the crowds by defeating the giant yokozuna Kitanoumi in a playoff. He and Wakanohana were the first brothers ever to each win a top division tournament title. He was also runner-up in the January and March 1977 tournaments. However he was ultimately unable to defeat Kitanoumi or Wajima on a regular basis, and was hampered by his inability to put on weight, and so never made the yokozuna rank. Nevertheless, he was an ozeki for fifty tournaments, corresponding to over eight years in the rank. This was a record until July 2007 when it was broken by Chiyotaikai. He was a bigger crowd attraction than some yokozuna.

By the early 1980s he was finding it harder to hold onto his rank, and had been overtaken by his stablemate Wakanohana Kanji II, and other younger wrestlers. One of his final bouts was a memorable clash in September 1980 with Hawaiian born Takamiyama, who was nearly twice his weight and like Takanohana, extremely popular with the Japanese public. Takanohana looked to have won the match with an underarm throw, only for the judges to reverse the referee's decision and rule that the tip of Takanohana's topknot or oichomage had brushed the surface of the dohyo ahead of his opponent.

After losing to the rising star Chiyonofuji twice in a row in September and November 1980, he decided the time was right to retire. The two were often compared, and Takanohana had been something of a mentor to Chiyonofuji, advising him to give up smoking to help increase his weight, something that Takanohana himself had never been able to manage.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After retiring from sumo in January 1981, he took the name Fujishima and established the Fujishima stable in 1982, which grew to be one of the most powerful in terms of top makuuchi ranked wrestlers. When his elder brother retired as a stablemaster in 1993 he purchased the Futagoyama toshiyori-kabu or elder stock, with the help of 300 million yen from his koenkai, or network of supporters. The two stables merged, and the newly renamed Futagoyama stable had one quarter of all the top ranked rikishi in it at one point, including two yokozuna, an ozeki and many others regularly in the junior san'yaku ranks. During this time it was undoubtedly the most powerful stable the sumo world has seen in the postwar period. He oversaw the promotion of both of his sons to yokozuna, the first time ever that two siblings have held sumo's highest rank.

He was married in 1970 to a former actress and beauty queen, Fujita Noriko, who was once "Miss Oita Prefecture". They were divorced in 2001.

His health began to decline in 2003, and he withdrew from his duties in the Sumo Association. He passed on control of Futagoyama stable to his son Takanohana in January 2004, and made his last public appearance in January 2005 at the retirement ceremony of one of his former wrestlers, Takanonami.

### **Death**

In February 2005, his son publicly announced that his father was struggling with mouth cancer (he had been a heavy smoker of Mild Seven cigarettes for most of his life). He underwent extensive treatment, but no recovery was possible, and on 30 May 2005, he succumbed to the disease at the age of 55.There was an acrimonious battle between Takanohana's sons over who should be head mourner at his funeral. More than 1200 attended the event, which was held in Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. The Sumo Association also held a public funeral in the Ryogoku Kokugikan on June 13. This was the first time in nine years that a former wrestler had been afforded this honor.

## **Family**

Takanohana was born the youngest of 10 siblings. His elder brother Katsuji was the 45th yokozuna and wrestled under the prestigious shikona Wakanohana I. One of his other brothers wrestled under the shikona Wakamidori but only rose up to sandanme. His bother-in-law was sekiwake Wakamisugi. Takanohana's mother's cousin was former maegashira Takenosato. He was married in 1970 to a former actress and beauty queen, Fujita Noriko, who was once "Miss Oita Prefecture". He was the father of Wakanohana Masaru and Takanohana Kōji, and as head of the Futagoyama stable coached both of them to the yokozuna rank.

## **Fighting Style**

Takanohana's favoured techniques were hidari-yotsu (a right hand outside, left hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi), tsuridashi (lift out) and uwatenage (overarm throw). He was also noted for his ability to spin at the edge of the ring and turn the tables on his opponent with the utchari throw.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 726-490-58/1208 (95 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 578-406-58/976 (70 basho)
* **Juryo:** 70-50/120 (8 basho)
* **Makushita:** 42-21/63 (9 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 19-9/28 (4 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 11-3/14 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 2 **Makuuchi** Championships
	+ 1st (March 1975)
	+ 2nd (September 1975)
* 2 **Juryo** Championships
	+ 1st (September 1968)
	+ 2nd (November 1969)
* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (July 1965)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Technique Prize (4), Outstanding Performance Prize (3), Fighting Spirit Prize (2)
* **Kinboshi:** (1) Kitanofuji
* **Record:** **3rd** most tournaments ranked at ozeki (50 tournaments)

## **Shikona History**

* Hanada Mitsuru (1965.05 - 1969.03)
* Takanohana Mitsuru (1969.05 - 1973.07)
* Takanohana Toshiaki (1973.09 - 1974.03)
* Takanohana Mitsuo (1974.05 - 1974.07)
* Takanohana Kenshi (1974.09 - 1978.05)
* Takanohana Toshiaki (1978.07 - 1981.01)

## **Gallery**

Takanohana Kenshi - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Takanohana's tegataHanada after promotion to Juryo at age 18 (c. 1968)Hanada tries on his kesho-mawashi after promotion to Juryo (c. 1968)Hanada becomes the youngest sekitori ever (c. 1968)Hanada battles Asaarashi in Juryo (c. 1968)Takanohana after promotion to Komusubi (c. 1970)Takanohana defeats Yokozuna Taiho (c. 1970)Takanohana with fellow future Ozeki Daiju (c. 1971)Takanohana defeats and retires Yokozuna Taiho (c. 1971)Takanohana with one of his many sansho prizes (c. 1971)Takanohana's famous match against Yokozuna Kitanofuji (c. 1972)Takanohana gets promoted to Ozeki (c. 1972)Takanohana promoted to Ozeki alongside Wajima (c. 1972)Takanohana after promotion to Ozeki (c. 1972)Takanohana serves as Wajima's flag bearer (c. 1973)Takanohana defeats Kitanoumi to win his first Yusho (c. 1975)Takanohana receives the Yusho flag from his brother (c. 1975)Takanohana wins his first Yusho (c. 1975)Takanohana celebrates his first Yusho (c. 1975)Takanohana's first Yusho parade (c. 1975)Takanohana wins his second Yusho (c. 1975)Takanohana's second Yusho parade (c. 1975)Takanohana presented with one of his Yusho portraits (c. 1975)Takanohana poses with his kesho-mawashi (c. 1976)Takanohana defeats former Ozeki Kaiketsu (c. 1976)Takanohana awaits his upcoming match (c. 1979)Takanohana defeats Yokozuna Wajima (c. 1979)Takanohana famous match against Takamiyama (c. 1980)Takanohana loses his final match to Zaonishiki (c. 1981)Takanohana announces his retirement (c. 1981)Takanohana's retirement ceremony (c. 1981)Takanohana after retirement as Fujishima OyakataTakanohana with his two Yokozuna sons, Takanohana and WakanohanaTakanohana's funeral (c. 2005)
## **Sources**

* Takanohana Kenshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Takanohana Kenshi Rikishi Information