Tachiyama Mineemon

Tachiyama Mineemon - 太刀山 峯右衞門 (born August 15, 1877 - April 3, 1941) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Toyama City, Toyoma Prefecture. He made his debut in May 1900 and last wrestled for Tomozuna stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1903 and has eleven top division championships. He was the 22nd yokozuna and he retired in January 1918.

## **Early Life**

Yajiro Oimoto was born in Toyama as the second son of parents engaged in the tea industry. From an early age he kneaded tea leaves which made him much stronger than his peers. At the insistence of Itagaki Taisuke and Saigo Tsugumichi, he joined Tomozuna stable in 1899.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He made his professional debut in May 1900 and was given the shikona "Tachiyama" (太刀山). After only three tournaments in the unsalaried ranks, he was promoted to juryo in January 1902. In his second juryo tournaments, he finished with a perfect 10-0 record at the rank of juryo 3 and was promoted to makuuchi in January 1903. He was so strong that most of the wrestlers in the stable were unable to practice with him. Therefore, Hitachiyama Taniemon became his practical coach.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In only his fourth tournament, Tachiyama finished with an 8-1-1 record which was equivalent to a yusho, but championships were not official until 1909. He would win another unofficial championship in the summer of 1907 as sekiwake. After four years ranked as sekiwake, he was promoted to ozeki in June 1909.

### **Ozeki Career**

In his ozeki debut, Tachiyama finished runner-up to Takamiyama Torinosuke with an 8-2 record. In June 1910, he won his first official championship with a 9-0-1draw record. In the following February 1911 tournament, Tachiyama won his second official championship with an 8-0-1draw-1hold record and his promotion to yokozuna was confirmed after the tournament.

### **Yokozuna Career**

Much taller and stronger than his contemporaries, Tachiyama never had a losing record (make-koshi) in his eighteen-year career, and whilst at the yokozuna rank lost only three bouts. He once won 43 bouts in a row, lost one to Nishinoumi Kajiro II, then won another 56 in a row. If he had not lost that match (which he claimed many years later was deliberate, to help out his rival yokozuna who was struggling at the time), he would have set an all-time record of 100 consecutive wins. As it stands, his second winning streak of 56 bouts, which began on the 9th day of the January 1912 tournament, is the fifth best in history after Futabayama, Tanikaze, Hakuho and Umegatani I.

His run ended on the 8th day of May 1916 tournament, when he was finally defeated by Tochigiyama Moriya. On the final day of January 1917 tournament, he was defeated by Onishiki Uichiro. Tochigiyama and Onishiki were pupils of Hitachiyama. After this second loss, he retired. He won a total of 11 championships, with nine being official and two being unofficial.

## **Retirement from Sumo**

After retiring from active competition he was briefly an elder of the Sumo Association under the name Azumazeki, but left the sumo world in May 1919 as he was displeased with the Sumo Association. Since he made a lot of money as an active wrestler, he spent the rest of his life relaxing while drawing pictures of Mt. Fuji, which was his hobby.

In 1937 he became the first yokozuna to perform a kanreki dohyo-iri, or '60th year ring entrance ceremony' to commemorate his years as yokozuna. He died on March 4, 1941, at the age of 63.

## **Personal Life**

In 1917, he said to wrestlers, "I will give you one bale of rice if you can walk around the dohyo shouldering me." A boy, who had not made his debut in professional sumo yet, acceded to his request. He failed at the first attempt but succeeded at the second. About 15 years later, that boy became yokozuna Tamanishiki San'emon.

His style of yokozuna dohyo-iri (ring-entering ceremony) came to be known as Shiranui after it was imitated by later yokozuna Haguroyama. However, he insisted that his style was Unryu Kyukichi's.

His sheer strength and physical presence drew comparisons with Raiden Tameemon, but also meant he was perhaps less popular with the general public than his predecessors Hitachiyama and Umegatani II.

## **Fighting Style**

His most feared skill was tsuki, or pushing. On the 3rd day of June 1910 tournament, Tachiyama's thrusts caused future Sekiwake Kohitachi Yoshitaro to fly over spectators where he fell in the fourth row of seats. Kohitachi was wounded and left the tournament. Tachiyama is reported to have waved a shell weighing 400 kg (880 lb) with one arm. He was, however, good on the mawashi as well.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 211-30-73-11draws-5holds/257 (33 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 195-27-73-10draws-5holds/237 (31 basho)
* **Juryo:** 16-3-1draw/20 (2 basho)

### **Championships**

* 9 **Makuuchi** Championships
	+ 1st (June 1910)
	+ 2nd (February 1911)
	+ 3rd (June 1911)
	+ 4th (January 1912)
	+ 5th (May 1912)
	+ 6th (May 1913)
	+ 7th (January 1914)
	+ 8th (June 1915)
	+ 9th (May 1916)
* 2 Unofficial **Makuuchi** Championships (*championships did not become official until 1909*)
	+ 1st (May 1904)
	+ 2nd (May 1907)

### **Achievements**

* **Record:** Tied for 4th most undefeated championships (7 undefeated championships)
* **Record:** 5th most consecutive wins (56 consecutive wins)

## **Shikona History**

* Tachiyama Mineemon (1902.01 - 1912.05)
* Tachiyama Totaro (1913.01 - 1913.01)
* Tachiyama Mineemon (1913.05 - 1918.01)

## **Gallery**

Tachiyama Mineemon - Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo KyokaiTachiyama's tegata
## **Sources**

* Tachiyama Mineemon Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tachiyama Mineemon Rikishi Information