Ouchiyama Heikichi

Ouchiyama Heikichi - 大内山 平吉 (born June 19, 1926 - November 1, 1985) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Hiraiso, Ibaraki. He made his debut in January 1944 and wrestled for Tokitsukaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1949 and has one special prize as well as two kinboshi. His highest rank was ozeki and he retired in March 1959.

## **Early Life**

Hekichi Ouchi was born the eldest son of a fisherman in the small fishing village of Hiraiso (modern day Hitachinaka) in Ibaraki prefecture. He helped out on the fishing boats by diving into the water to catch fish and was adept at catching abalone and octopus. He was not particularly large in elementary school, but increased rapidly in height after that. During the war he was recruited by the Imperial Japanese Navy, assigned to the anti-submarine patrol unit with his father.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He joined Futabayama stable (later Tokitsukaze stable) in January 1944 and initailly wrestled under his surname "Ouchi" (大内). He breezed through the lower divisions and was promoted to makushita in November 1945 after only spending one tournament in each of the previous divisions. In June 1946, Ouchi won the makushita yusho with a perfect 5-0 record at the rank of makushita 26 and was promoted to juryo in November 1947.

### **Juryo Career**

In his first tournament as a sekitori, Ouchi produced a strong 7-4 record. In the following May 1948 tournament, he was given the shikona "Ouchiyama" (大内山). After two more solid results in juryo, Ouchiyama was promoted to makuuchi in January 1949.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In his debut tournament at komusubi in May 1951 he was the only man to defeat tournament winner Chiyonoyama, who was promoted to yokozuna after the tournament. Ouchiyama defeated him again in May 1952, this time ranked as a maegashira,and earned his first kinboshi or gold star. After finishing as runner-up to Chiyonoyama with a 13–2 record in March 1955 (Chiyonoyama defeated him in a playoff for the championship) he was promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ozeki. His promotion was helped by the fact that the only ozeki at the time, Mitsuneyama, was struggling with injury and was demoted shortly afterwards. He was chosen ahead of his sekiwake rival Matsunobori, who was also challenging for promotion. He was the first ozeki over 2 metres tall since the so-called kanban or "guest ozeki" of the Edo period who were only listed on the banzuke to draw crowds to tournaments. He was said to have broken the jinx that wrestlers who are too big do not win promotion.

### **Ozeki Career**

Ouchiyama's ozeki career began well, with a memorable bout on the final day of the May 1955 tournament against Tochinishiki which went to a re-match, and an 11–4 record in the September 1955 tournament won by his stablemate Kagamisato. However he injured his foot in January 1956 and was also hampered by acromegaly and diabetes. He managed to stay at ozeki for only eight tournaments in total, as two consecutive make-koshi or losing scores saw him demoted from the rank after the January 1957 tournament. He was unfortunate in that the tournament in which he was kadoban he had to withdraw shortly before his match on Day 5 due to injuring his knee doing shiko stamps in the training area. He was the only yokozuna or ozeki since 1950 to have won only one sansho in his career – the Outstanding Performance prize in the tournament that led to his promotion. He did not get a Fighting Spirit Prize in March 1953 despite a 12–3 record as a maegashira. This was because the makuuchi division was a great deal larger in his time and maegashira wrestlers fought largely amongst themselves and did not face yokozuna or ozeki. There was also no sharing of prizes amongst more than one wrestler in those days.

### **Later Career**

Ouchiyama fought in the maegashira ranks until his retirement in 1959, getting another kinboshi for defeating Tochinishiki in May 1957 (a rare example of a former ozeki winning a kinboshi). He came back from a knee injury to produce another runner-up performance in the January 1958 tournament.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

He became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association, working as a coach at his old stable. He was initially known as Shikoroyama Oyakata, and then Tatsutayama Oyakata from 1961. He accompanied his old stablemate Kagamisato when he left Tokitsukaze stable in 1971 to establish Tatsutagawa stable. He also worked as a judge of tournament bouts, and it was remarked upon that audience members seated directly behind him would miss most of the action. In his later years he also operated a chankonabe restaurant named "Ouchi". It was later taken over by his son and has been featured in the TV series *Kodoku no Gourmet*.

### **Death**

He continued to work at Tatsutagawa stable until his death from a brain tumor at the age of 59 in November 1985. The stable was small, and had been unable to produce a sekitori since its founding, but Takamichi eventually did reach juryo in March 1987, 14 months after Ouchiyama's death.

## **Fighting Style**

As well as his great height Ouchiyama was known for his strong and flexible legs, and his speed. His most common winning kimarite were yorikiri (force out), yoritaoshi (force out and down), kotenage (armlock throw) and uwatenage (overarm throw).

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 347-278-53/621 (51 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 304-256-53/556 (41 basho)
* **Juryo:** 21-12/33 (3 basho)
* **Makushita:** 11-6/17 (3 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 4-1/5 (1 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 4-1/5 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 3-2/5 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 1 **Makushita** Championship (June 1947)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Outstansing Performance Prize (1)
* **Kinboshi:** 2: (1) Chiyonoyama, (1) Tochinishiki

## **Shikona History**

* Ouchi Heikichi (1944.01 - 1947.11)
* Ouchiyama Heikichi (1948.05 - 1959.03)

## **Gallery**

Ouchiyama Heikichi - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)

## **Sources**

* Ouchiyama Heikichi Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Ouchiyama Heikichi Rikishi Information