Daikirin Takayoshi

Daikirin Takayoshi - 大麒麟 將能 (born June 20, 1942 - August 4, 2010) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Morodomi, Saga. He made his debut in May 1958 and last wrestled for Nishonoseki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1963 and has nine special prizes as well as three kinboshi. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in November 1974.

## **Early Life**

When he was in junior high school, he was a member of the judo club. In addition he also excelled in academics and was the president of the student council and he was aiming on attending the National Defense Academy of Japan. However, he was recruited by Nishonoseki Oyakata (former ozeki Saganohana) for professional sumo and he joined Nishonoseki stable after graduating junior high school.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut in May 1958, wrestling under his surname Tsutsumi. He was promoted to sandanme in September 1959 and makushita in September 1960. He was unable to establish himself in makushita until he won the sandanme yusho with a perfect 7-0 record in May 1961. In May 1962 he finished with a 4-3 record while ranked at makushita 1 and was promoted to juryo for the following July 1962 tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

Upon promotion to juryo he changed his shikona to "Kirinji" (麒麟児). He did not make an immediate impact but in May 1963 took the juryo yusho or championship with a 13–2 score which pushed him up to juryo 1. A 10–5 record in the next tournament saw him enter the top makuuchi division for the September 1963 tournament.

### **Makuuchi Career**

Kirinji had to pull out halfway into his debut tournament due to a rupture of the left knee cruciate ligament and returned back to the second division. He briefly fell down to makushita in March 1964, but returned to juryo in the following May tournament.

After suffering some more injury problems he finally won promotion back to makuuchi in July 1965. He slowly climbed up the maegashira ranks before earning three kinboshi in successive tournaments from May to September 1966, defeating yokozuna Kashiwado twice, and then Sadanoyama. (He did not have to face the most successful yokozuna, Taiho, because they were members of the same stable). His 11–4 score in the September tournament saw him promoted to sekiwake.

He remained in the san'yaku ranks for the next seven tournaments, earning several awards, before dropping back briefly to the maegashira ranks. In March 1968 at komusubi rank he defeated Sadanoyama, the winner of the previous two tournaments, in what was to be the yokozuna's last ever bout. Kirinji went on to finish runner-up, his final day defeat handing the yusho to maegashira Wakanami, who did not face any yokozuna or ozeki during the tournament. Kirinji remained comfortably within the san'yaku ranks for the next two years, but with mainly 8–7 and 9–6 scores he was not a candidate for ozeki promotion. He was runner-up for the second time (to Kitanofuji) in November 1969, and in the July and September tournaments of 1970 he finally managed to put together two strong performances in a row, scoring 12–3 each time, and was promoted to ozeki at the age of 28. To mark the occasion he adopted a new shikona, Daikirin.

### **Ozeki Career**

Daikirin remained as an ozeki for 25 tournaments over four years. He was unable to win a championship, although he was a runner-up twice more, to Tamanoumi in July 1971 and Wajima in May 1972. However he was also kadoban (in danger of relegation) a number of times. In November 1974, having barely maintained his rank with an 8–7 record in the previous tournament, he retired from sumo on the fourth day at the age of 32.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

He remained in the sumo world as an elder under the name Oshiogawa. In 1975, upon the death of his old stablemaster (former ozeki Sagonohana), he expected to inherit Nishonoseki stable, but could not come to agreement with Saganohana's widow. After former sekiwake Kongo's engagement to Saganohana's daughter was announced, Oshiogawa realised he now had no chance of taking over so instead he broke away and established his own Oshiogawa stable. He attempted to take a number of high-ranking wrestlers with him, such as Aobajo and Tenryu, but Nishonoseki stable objected to this. The Japan Sumo Association intervened and Tenryu was forced to return to Nishonoseki and, disillusioned, quit to become a professional wrestler. Meanwhile, in addition to Aobajo, Oshiogawa produced a number of other sekitori such as Masurao, Enazakura, Daishi, Wakatoba and Wakakirin. In March 2005, with Oshiogawa approaching the mandatory retirement age and no obvious successor available, his stable was absorbed into the affiliated Oguruma stable. Oshiogawa retired from his position in the Sumo Association a year before reaching the mandatory retirement age, in June 2006.

### **Death**

He died of pancreatic cancer in August 2010 at the age of 68.

## **Personal Life**

Daikirin's hobbies were reading, jogging and go (board game). His favorite food was Kusa mochi.

In March 1961 when he was in makushita, a tapeworm, which is a type of parasitic worm, was discovered living inside him. He began taking therapeutic drugs and eventually recovered.

## **Fighting Style**

Daikirin 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. He was also fond of employing tsuridashi (lift out) and utchari (backward pivot throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 710-507-54/1211 (100 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 473-337-49/805 (58 basho)
* **Juryo:** 124-97-4/220 (16 basho)
* **Makushita:** 36-26-1/62 (9 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 42-26/68 (9 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 30-18/48 (6 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-3/8 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Juryo** Championship (May 1963)
* 1 **Sandanme** Championship (May 1961)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Outstanding Performance Prize (5), Technique Prize (4)
* **Kinboshi:** 3: (2) Kashiwado, (1) Sadanoyama

## **Shikona History**

* Tsutsumi Takayoshi (1958.05 - 1962.05)
* Kirinji Takayoshi (1962.07 - 1970.03)
* Daikirin Takayoshi (1970.05 - 1974.11)

## **Gallery**

Daikirin Takayoshi - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Daikirin's tegataKirinji wins the Juryo Yusho (c. 1963)Kirinji serves as Yokozuna Taiho's flag bearer (c. 1966)Kirinji defeats Yokozuna Kashiwado (c. 1967)Kirinji serves as Yokozuna Taiho's sword bearerDaikirin gets promoted to Ozeki (c. 1970)Daikirin prepares for his upcoming match (c. 1970)Daikirin in the preparation room with stablemate TaihoDaikirin defeats future Yokozuna Wajima (c. 1972)Daikirin announces his retirement (c. 1974)Daikirin's retirement ceremony (c. 1975)Daikirin after retirement as Oshiogawa Oyakata
## **Sources**

* Daikirin Takayoshi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Daikirin Takayoshi Rikishi Information