Kagamisato Kiyoji

Kagamisato Kiyoji
鏡里 喜代治

Kagamisato (right) and Tokitsukaze (1953)
Personal information
Born Kiyoji Okuyama
(1923-04-30)April 30, 1923
Tonai, Aomori, Japan
Died February 29, 2004(2004-02-29) (aged 80)
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8 12 in)
Weight 161 kg (355 lb)
Career
Stable Tokitsukaze
Record 415–189–28
Debut January 1941
Highest rank Yokozuna (January 1953)
Retired January 1958
Championships 4 (Makuuchi)
1 (Sandanme)
1 (Jonidan)
Special Prizes Outstanding Performance (1)
Fighting Spirit (1)
Gold Stars 2 (Maedayama, Azumafuji)
* Up to date as of September 2007.

Kagamisato Kiyoji (鏡里 喜代治, April 30, 1923 – February 29, 2004) was a sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 42nd yokozuna.

Career

He was born Kiyoji Okuyama in a small fishing village in Sannohe District. He came from a poor family as his father had died when he was very young, and he had to support his mother when his older siblings left the house.[1] He was already large as a teenager and soon spotted by a wrestler named Kagamiiwa and invited to join sumo.[1] More interested in basketball, and with his mother also reluctant, the young Okuyama initially refused, but after his family was provided with financial assistance he eventually travelled to Tokyo to repay Kagamiiwa's kindness.[1] In the summer of 1940, he joined the now retired Kagamiiwa's Kumegawa stable. He made his professional debut in January 1941 and was given the shikona or sumo name of Kagamisato. When the great yokozuna Futabayama Sadaji established his own stable, Kagamisato followed his stablemaster there, and it was later renamed Tokitsukaze stable.

He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in June 1947. In October 1949 he defeated two yokozuna and produced a fine 12–3 score, also becoming the first wrestler to win two special prizes in the same tournament. He was promoted from the maegashira ranks to sekiwake, third from the top. He reached the second highest ōzeki rank just four tournaments after that. Having been a runner-up on four previous occasions, he reached the top yokozuna rank after finally winning his first top division championship in January 1953. There had been four yokozuna competing in that tournament, but all had performed badly, with Terukuni announcing his retirement. Keen to have a strong yokozuna, the Japan Sumo Association overrode the initial objections of the Yokozuna Deliberation Committee and promoted him.[1]

During his yokozuna career he won three more tournament titles, all with 14–1 scores, but also had some less impressive results. A somewhat reserved figure, he was perhaps less popular with the public than some of his higher profile yokozuna rivals such as Tochinishiki and Wakanohana I.[1] He also had a difficult relationship with the press.[1]

In the January 1958 tournament, his rival Yoshibayama Junnosuke retired from being an active sumo wrestler. Kagamisato announced that if he failed to win at least ten bouts, he too would retire.[1] He finished 9–6 and kept his word by announcing his retirement on the final day. He had had a chronic knee problem for many years and felt he had reached his physical limit.[1]

Retirement from sumo

Kagamisato's handprint displayed on a monument in Ryōgoku, Tokyo

After his retirement he remained with the Sumo Association as an elder. He briefly became head of Tokitsukaze stable after the death of Futabayama but was forced out as Futabayama's widow wanted Yutakayama to take over. As a result, he switched to the Tatsutagawa elder name and opened up his own Tatsutagawa stable in 1971.[1] He reached the mandatory retirement age in April 1988 and stood down, passing the stable over to former sekiwake Aonosato. He had not managed to produce any top division wrestlers in that time. He remained a heavy man, weighing around 110 kg in his later years, but he still lived until the age of 80, making him one of the longest lived yokozuna of all time.[1]

Pre-modern top division record

Kagamisato Kiyoji[2]
- Spring
Haru basho, Tokyo
Summer
Natsu basho, Tokyo
Autumn
Aki basho, Tokyo
1947 Not held East Maegashira #14
73
 
East Maegashira #8
56
 
1948 Not held East Maegashira #10
65
 
East Maegashira #9
65
 
1949 West Maegashira #7
85
 
East Maegashira #4
87
 
East Maegashira #1
123
OF
1950 East Sekiwake #1
114
 
East Sekiwake #1
96
 
East Sekiwake #1
87
 
1951 West Sekiwake #1
114
 
West Ōzeki #2
105
 
West Ōzeki #1
123
 
1952 East Ōzeki #1
114
 
West Ōzeki #1
114
 
East Ōzeki #1
123
 
- New Year
Hatsu basho, Tokyo
Spring
Haru basho, Osaka
Summer
Natsu basho, Tokyo
Autumn
Aki basho, Tokyo
1953 East Ōzeki #1
141
 
West Yokozuna #1
105
 
West Yokozuna #1
123
 
East Yokozuna #1
96
 
1954 East Yokozuna #2
132
 
East Yokozuna #1
105
 
East Yokozuna #1
114
 
West Yokozuna #1
96
 
1955 East Yokozuna #3
105
 
West Yokozuna #2
456
 
East Yokozuna #2
114
 
West Yokozuna #1
141
 
1956 East Yokozuna #1
141P
 
East Yokozuna #1
87
 
East Yokozuna #2
96
 
West Yokozuna #1
141
 
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna Ōzeki Sekiwake Komusubi Maegashira

Modern top division record

Year in sumo January
Hatsu basho, Tokyo
March
Haru basho, Osaka
May
Natsu basho, Tokyo
July
Nagoya basho, Nagoya
September
Aki basho, Tokyo
November
Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1957 East Yokozuna #1
357
 
West Yokozuna #2
114
 
West Yokozuna #1
105
 
Not held West Yokozuna #1
87
 
East Yokozuna #2
Sat out due to injury
0015
1958 East Yokozuna #2
Retired
96
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions

Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: =Kinboshi(s); P=Playoff(s)
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna Ōzeki Sekiwake Komusubi Maegashira

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Kuroda, Joe (June 2006). "Kagamisato Kiyoji (1923-2004)- the 42nd Yokozuna". Sumo Fan Magazine. Retrieved 2008-05-17.
  2. "Kagamisato Kiyoji Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. Retrieved 2007-09-24.

External links

Previous:
Chiyonoyama Masanobu
42nd Yokozuna
1953–1958
Next:
Yoshibayama Junnosuke
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title
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