Tamanoumi Masahiro

Tamanoumi Masahiro - 玉の海 正洋 (born February 5, 1944 - October 11, 1971) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Gamagori, Aichi. He made his debut in March 1959 and last wrestled for Kataonami stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 1964 and has six special prizes, four kinboshi and six top division championships. He was the 51st yokozuna and he died while as an active wrestler in October 1971.

## **Early Life**

He was born Taniguchi Masao (谷口正夫) in Osaka, but due to the bombing raids of that city he was evacuated to Gamagori where he grew up. He excelled at judo in junior high school. The future Katsuhikari was one year senior to him in his judo club. After being adopted into the Takeuchi (竹内) family, he changed his family name according. Although planning to become a police officer, he was invited by former sekiwake Tamanoumi Daitaro to join Nishonoseki stable, the same stable as yokozuna Taiho.

## **Career**

### **Early Career**

He began his professional sumo career in March 1959, using the shikona, or ring name, surname Tamanoshima (玉乃嶋). In July 1959 he won the jonidan yusho with a perfect 8-0 record and was promoted to sandanme in the following September tournament. He was promoted to makushita in November 1960 and in 1962 his coach, Tamanoumi Daitaro, set up his own Kataonami stable and Tamanoshima joined it. In July 1963 he posted a 6-1 record at the rank of makushita 4 and was promoted to juryo in the following tournament.

### **Juryo Career**

At the time of his juryo debut, Tamanoshima was still only 19 and the youngest sekitori in both divisions. In his first tournament as a sekitori, he finished with a 9-6 record and he followed with a 10-5 record and was promoted to the rank of juryo 4 in January 1964. In this tournament he posted a strong 11-4 record and was promoted to makuuchi in March 1964 after only three tournaments in juryo.

### **Makuuchi Career**

In May 1964, he changed the spelling of his shikona surname to 玉乃島. In 1965 a change in the rules meant that wrestlers from the same group of stables could meet each other in tournament competition, and Tamanoshima defeated Taiho in their first official match.

He posted five consecutive winning records from his debut and was promoted to the rank of komusubi in January 1965. In March 1965 he defeated both yokozuna Tochinoumi and Sadanoyama to earn his first and second kinboshi and was awarded the Outstanding Performance prize. He followed with an 8-7 record and was promoted to sekiwake in July 1965. In January 1966 he produced a 13-2 record and was runner-up to Kashiwado's 14-1 record. In May 1966 he posted a 10-5 record and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize. He followed with a 9-6 and 11-4 record and was promoted to ozeki in November 1966. Even though he had only finished with 30 wins in the previous three tournaments, he proved to be a challenge for the top wrestlers and had defeated at least one yokozuna in the previous four tournaments.

### **Ozeki Career**

At first, he was unable to reach a score in double figures at ozeki rank, but his results began to improve significantly from November 1967. In May 1968, after three runner-up performances in a row, he finally captured his first yusho, or tournament title, with a 13–2 record. The Yokozuna Deliberation Committee decided against promotion to yokozuna after this result due to the absence of both Taiho and Kashiwado from the tournament and his two losses to low-rankers in the first week. His second title came in September 1969. In November 1969 he posted a 10–5 record, and in January 1970 he took part in a playoff for the title with fellow ozeki Kitanofuji. Tamanoshima lost the match, but after the tournament both Kitanofuji and Tamanoshima were promoted to the yokozuna rank. With Kashiwado already retired, and Taiho soon to follow, the two ushered in a new Kita-Tama era.

### **Yokozuna Career**

Upon reaching yokozuna Tamanoshima changed his ring name to Tamanoumi Masahiro, taking his coach's old shikona surname. His first tournament championship as a yokozuna came in September 1970 and he followed it up with another victory in November, defeating Taiho in a playoff. In July 1971 Tamanoumi won his sixth and final championship, his first with a perfect 15–0 record.

## **Death**

Tamanoumi had needed an appendectomy since at least July 1971, but he felt the responsibility of a yokozuna's duties and had not wanted to withdraw from the September 1971 tournament. After competing there taking painkillers and remarkably managing a 12-3 record, he went into hospital only after being an attendant at Taiho's retirement ceremony on October 2.

Due to the delay in having the operation he was on the brink of peritonitis. The procedure seemed to have gone well and he was due to leave hospital on October 12, but on the morning of the 11th he collapsed and could not be saved. It emerged he had suffered a pulmonary embolism. He was only the fourth man in history to die whilst an active yokozuna. Kitanofuji was a good friend of Tamanoumi as well as a rival and was shocked by his death. He was just 27 years old and considered to be in his prime and likely to have won many more championships had he lived. In his last seven tournaments he had won four and been runner-up in the other three, and had lost only nine out of 105 bouts. His winning percentage as a yokozuna was .867, second only to Futabayama in the 20th century, and he gave away only three kinboshi in that time. He was the first yokozuna to pass away as an active wrestler since Tamanishiki in 1938. Coincidentally, they both died due to a delayed appendectomy.

## **Personal Life**

Tamanoumi was born to ethnic Koreans in Osaka and his birth name was Yigi Yun (윤이기). When joining sumo, his name was listed as Taniguchi Masao which indicates that he already naturalized. His Korean ancestry was kept out of the media and it was relatively unknown during his time as an active wrestler.

He was a fan of bowling and at the time of his death he was engaged to professional bowler.

## **Fighting Style**

At 1.77 m (5 ft 9.5 in) and 135 kg (298 lb) Tamanoumi was not particularly large, but he had great strength and agility. His favored kimarite were yori kiri (force out), uwatenage (overarm throw) and tsuridashi (lift out). He preferred a migi yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside) grip on his opponent's mawashi.

## **Record**

### **Division Results**

* **Total:** 619-305/924 (76 basho)
* **Makuuchi:** 469-221/690 (46 basho)
* **Juryo:** 30-15/45 (3 basho)
* **Makushita:** 73-46/119 (17 basho)
* **Sandanme:** 33-21/54 (7 basho)
* **Jonidan:** 8-0/8 (1 basho)
* **Jonokuchi:** 6-2/8 (1 basho)

### **Championships**

* 6 **Makuuchi** Championships
	+ 1st (May 1968)
	+ 2nd (September 1969)
	+ 3rd (September 1970)
	+ 4th (November 1970)
	+ 5th (March 1971)
	+ 6th (July 1971)
* 1 **Jonidan** Championship (July 1959)

### **Achievements**

* **Special Prizes:** Outstanding Performance Prize (4), Fighting Spirit Prize (2)
* **Kinboshi:** 4: (2) Sadanoyama, (2) Tochinoumi

## **Shikona History**

* Tamanoshima Masao (1959.03 - 1970.01)
* Tamanoumi Masahiro (1970.03 - 1971.09)

## **Gallery**

Tamanoumi Masahiro - (Retrieved from the Nihon Sumo Kyokai)Tamanoshima's tegataTamanoumi's tegataTamanoshima (center) wins the Jonokuchi Yusho (c. 1959)Tamanoshima converses with longtime rival KitanofujiTamanoshima after promotion to Komusubi (c. 1965)Tamanoshima gets promoted to Ozeki (c. 1966)Tamanoshima wins his first Yusho (c. 1968)Tamanoshima's first Yusho parade (c. 1968)Tamanoshima celebrates his first Yusho (c. 1968)Tamanoshima wins his second Yusho (c. 1969)Tamanoshima's second Yusho parade (c. 1969)Tamanoshima with longtime rival Kitanofuji (c. 1969)Tamanoshima gets promoted to Yokozuna (c. 1970)Tamanoshima celebrates promotion to Yokozuna (c. 1970)Tamanoumi practices the Yokozuna dohyo-iri (c. 1970)Tamanoumi's first dohyo-iri as Yokozuna (c. 1970)Tamanoumi promoted alongside rival Kitanofuji (c. 1970)Tamanoumi with Yokozuna Taiho and Yokozuna Kitanofuji (c. 1970)Tamanoumi defeats Taiho to win his third Yusho (c. 1970)Tamanoumi wins his third Yusho (c. 1970)Tamanoumi defeats Taiho to win his fourth Yusho (c. 1970)Tamanoumi wins his fourth Yusho (c. 1970)Tamanoumi wins his fifth Yusho (c. 1971)Tamanoumi (right) launches at his rival Kitanofuji (c. 1970)Tamanoumi wins his sixth and final Yusho (c. 1971)Tamanoumi's sixth and final Yusho parade (c. 1971)Tamanoumi performs the Yokozuna dohyo-iri (c. 1971)Tamanoumi prepares for his upcoming matchTamanoumi's (left) final appearance on the dohyo (c. 1971)Tamanoumi's body transferred away from the hospital (c. 1971)Tamanoumi's funeral (c. 1971)Kitanofuji pays his respects to Tamanoumi (c. 1971)A monument of Yokozuna TamanoumiTamanoumi's Yusho portrait on display (c. 2019)

## **Sources**

* Tamanoumi Masahiro Japanese Wikipedia Article
* Tamanoumi Masahiro Rikishi Information