Tamanoumi Daitaro

Tamanoumi Daitaro - 玉乃海 太三郎 (born January 2, 1923 - September 27, 1987) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Oita City, Oita Prefecture. He made his debut in May 1937 and wrestled for Nishonoseki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1952 and has five special prizes, nine kinboshi and one top division championship. His highest rank was sekiwake and he retired in January 1961.

## **Early Life**

Miura was born in Oita as the eldest son of six brothers to an itamae who worked at a Japanese restaurant. When he was in elementary school, he excelled in baseball and was offered a spot at Oita Commercial High School, but he refused as he did not attend junior high school. He was then recruited into professional sumo by Yokozuna Tamanishiki.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut at the age of 14 in May 1937, joining Nishonoseki stable, then run by active yokozuna Tamanishiki, although upon Tamanishiki's death the following year Tamanoumi Umekichi became his stablemaster. He used the shikona of Fukusumi. However, during a sumo tour of Shanghai in 1940, he got into a drunken argument with a driver. Military police went to the site and he also began to fight with them. Police officers wanted him shot, but ozeki Haguroyama (later yokozuna) and his stablemaster apologized to them. He survived, but was forced to leave sumo and was drafted into the Japanese army. After escaping a POW camp in Siberia and returning to Japan to work in a shipyard, he was invited to return to sumo in 1950. He was allowed to resume his career in the third makushita division where he had left off, and made the juryo division in May 1951.

### **Juryo Career**

Upon promotion to juryo, he changed his shikona to "Tamanoumi" (玉乃海), which was the shikona his stablemaster had used. In his first tournament as a sekitori, he finished with an 8-7 record. He followed with three more winning records and was promoted to makuuchi in September 1952.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In his second makuuchi tournament, in January 1953, Tamanoumi finished runner-up to Kagamisato with a 13-2 record and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize. In May 1953, he faced Haguroyama in the ring for the only time. Tamanoumi defeated the man who had helped save his life, in what was to be the last bout of Haguroyama's career.

Tamanoumi reached his highest rank of sekiwake in 1957 but then was forced to sit out a couple of tournaments through injury. He fell to the maegashira ranks and considered retiring, but came back to win the top division tournament championship in November 1957 (the first time the Kyushu honbasho had been staged) with a perfect 15–0 score. During that tournament he wore a gold-coloured mawashi, the first wrestler to flout the Japan Sumo Association's rule that only dark colours should be worn. It had been given to him by the chairman of his supporter's club, who was also the head of the shipping company for whom he had worked in his years out of sumo. Because other wrestlers regarded it as a symbol of good luck, and also because NHK began colour broadcasts of sumo matches in 1960, many others have followed Tamanoumi's lead and worn brightly coloured mawashi. He was runner-up in two other tournaments and earned nine kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

Upon retirement from active competition, he became an elder in the Japan Sumo Association, under the name Kataonami. In May 1961, he branched out, taking two junior wrestlers with him, and established Kataonami stable. In March 1970, he oversaw the promotion of Yokozuna Tamanoumi Masahiro, however, the Yokozuna died suddenly in October 1971 after a delayed appendectomy. The stable went on to produced many notable wrestlers including sekiwake Tamanofuji, and komusubi's Tamaryu and Tamakiyama. In his later years he was also a somewhat controversial commentator for NHK's sumo coverage.

### **Death**

He died on September 27, 1987, at Juntendo University Hospital in Bunkyo, Tokyo, due to heart failure. He was 64 years old and nearing the mandatory retirement age of 65.

## **Personal Life**

His second wife was a teacher of traditional Japanese music as well as a professional singer.

Tamanoumi served for the Imperial Japanese Army (read more in the early career section). Due to his military experience, he would usually have his wrestlers sing military songs during training. After retiring, he planned on visiting the ceremony of his fallen comrades at Guadalcanal.

## **Fighting Style**

Tamanoumi 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 (force out). He was also fond of employing sotogake (outside leg trip) and uwatenage (overarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 403-331-35/730 (56 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 303-280-32/579 (41 basho)
* **Juryo:** 38-20-2/58 (4 basho)
* **Makushita:** 37-16/53 (4 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 14-9-1/23 (3 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 4-3/7 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-1/7 (1 basho)
* **Shinjo:** 1-2/3 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makuuchi** Championship (November 1957)
* 1 **Jonokuchi** Championship (May 1938)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Fighting Spirit Prize (3), Outstanding Performance Prize (2)
* **Kinboshi:** 9: (4) Tochinishiki, (2) Chiyonoyama, (1) Haguroyama, (1) Kagamisato, (1) Yoshibayama
* **Record:** Tied for **10th** most gold stars (9 gold stars)

## **Shikona History**

* Fukusumi# Tomohiro (1937.05 - 1951.01)
* Tamanoumi Tomohiro (1951.05 - 1955.03)
* Tamanoumi Daisaburo (1955.05 - 1957.11)
* Tamanoumi Daitaro (1958.01 - 1961.01)

## **Gallery**

Tamanoumi awaits his upcoming matchTamanoumi after promotion to Sekiwake (c. 1957)Tamanoumi wears the first mawashi of color (c. 1957)Tamanoumi wins his first and only Yusho (c. 1957)Tamanoumi's first and only Yusho parade (c. 1957)Tamanoumi's Yusho portrait (c. 1957)Tamanoumi with his kesho-mawashiTamanoumi after retirement as Kataonami Oyakata (c. 1982)Tamanoumi's tegata
## **Sources**

* Tamanoumi Daitaro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tamanoumi Daitaro Rikishi Information