Kiryugawa Mitsuo

Kiryugawa Mitsuo - 鬼竜川 光雄 (born December 2, 1923 - October 22, 2003) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kuraishi, Aomori. He made his debut in January 1939 and wrestled for Tokitsukaze stable. He reached the makuuchi division in November 1947. His highest rank was maegashira 6 and he retired in January 1961.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

Imagawa moved to Tokyo in late 1938 and joined Kumegawa stable which was led by former ozeki Kagamiiwa who came from the same hometown as Imagawa. He made his professional debut in January 1939 under the shikona "Kiryugawa" (鬼竜川). He was promoted to sandanme in May 1941 and makushita in January 1942. Upon his stables closure in January 1942, he transferred to the recently established Futabayama Dojo (later renamed Tokitsukaze stable). He was promoted to juryo in May 1944 and was promoted to makuuchi in November 1947.

### **Makuuchi Career**

One tournament after his top division debut, he was given the shikona "Kiryuzan" (鬼竜山), however, after the shikona change, he suffered from a broken nose and visceral diseases and was subsequently demoted back down to makushita in January 1949. Due to these unlucky events, he reverted his shikona back to Kiryugawa and was promoted back to juryo in May 1949. He won the juryo yusho with a strong 13-2 record in January 1954 and was promoted back to makuuchi in March 1954 after a near six year break. However, Kiryugawa was unable to establish himself in the top division and wrestled mainly in juryo for the following two years. Beginning in 1958, he had a late career resurgence and was promoted back to makuuchi in January 1958 where he was able to establish himself as a makuuchi regular. He was promoted to a career-best maegashira 6 in May 1959. He eventually fell back down to juryo in March 1960 and ultimatley retired from sumo in January 1961 after falling back down to makushita.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After retiring, Kiryugawa remained in the Japan Sumo Association as an elder under the name Katsunoura. He mainly worked as a coach at Tokitsukaze stable and left the sumo world in December 1988 after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65.

### **Death**

Kiryugawa died on October 22, 2003, at a hospital in Sumida, Tokyo, due to colorectal cancer. He was 79 years old.

## **Fighting Style**

Kiryugawa 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 uwatenage (overarm throw) and shitatenage (underarm throw). Only weighing 73 kg (161 Ib), Kiryugawa was one of the lightest wrestlers of his time.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 437-434-28/869 (72 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 121-145-11/266 (19 basho)
* **Juryo:** 247-244-3/489 (37 basho)
* **Makushita:** 47-35-14/82 (10 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 5-3/8 (1 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 12-4/16 (2 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 5-3/8 (1 basho)

## **Shikona History**

* Kiryugawa Mitsuo (1939.01 - 1947.11)
* Kiryuzan Mitsuo (1948.05 - 1948.10)
* Kiryugawa Mitsuo (1949.01 - 1961.01)

## **Sources**

* Kiryugawa Mitsuo Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Kiryugawa Mitsuo Rikishi Information