Raiden Tameemon

Raiden Tameemon ( Japanese 雷電 爲 右 エ 門 , proper Seki Tarōkichi ( 関 太郎 吉 ); * January 1767 in Oishi, Nagano Prefecture ; † February 11, 1825 ) is still considered to be one of the most outstanding sumo wrestlers in history, although he is the Grandmaster title Yokozuna was never awarded.

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Raiden on a 19th century woodcut

Raiden was born under the name Tarōkichi as the son of poor farmers in a village in what was then Shinano Province. According to legend, he is said to have shown great physical strength as a child by chopping wood or carrying large containers of water home. His father Hanemon, a friend of sake and sumo, allowed the 14-year-old to take lessons from the mayor of the neighboring town of Nagaze (now Marukocho). As a 17-year-old he caught the attention of the Urakaze-beya stable master: the young farmer was 1.97 m tall and towered over most of his contemporaries by almost half a meter. Raiden also had huge arms and huge hands: a handprint that was made in Shofukuji Temple near Okayamais preserved, measures 24 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. As a wrestler, Raiden developed a fighting weight of 167 kg.

In training with Urakaze Kazuuki, who brought him to Edo , it was shown that the young wrestler not only had the qualities of his exceptional stature, but also had great talent, which resulted in mastery of technique, especially in the field of oshi sumo , that is, of pushing the opponent out of the ring, and showed at enormous speed. Soon Raiden switched to Isenoumi-beya, where Tanikaze became his mentor. In 1789 the name Raiden ("Donner", a battle name given by the sponsor) appeared for the first time on a ranking list, but it was not until the autumn tournament in 1790 that it made its debut. This basho , which he played as a sekiwake , as was common for beginners at the time , he won without defeat. In March 1795, after the death of Tanikazes, Raiden was promoted to (western) Ōzeki and held that rank for almost 17 years. Between November 1793 and April 1800 Raiden won all tournaments in which he participated without other strong fighters such as Tanikaze or Onogawa being able to compete for a title.

In the following years, too, he was mostly able to outclass his opponents. His superiority went so far that the organizers of the fights forbade him to use thrusting techniques. It was not until the spring tournament in 1811, at the age of 43, that Raiden stopped playing and withdrew from sumo wrestling. After his resignation, he became chairman of the Sumo Association of Unshu Province (now part of Shimane Prefecture ), the headquarters of his sponsors. In 1816 he finally retired to Edo. During this time he also finished his diary called Shokoku Sumo Hikae-cho ("Report on Sumo in Different Areas "), which he had kept since 1789.

After his death, he was buried in Asakusa in Edo, further graves in his hometown and in Matsue in Shimane Prefecture each contain a lock of hair.

Afterlife and meaning

As early as 1796, when Raiden was still active, statues were erected in his home village in his honor and in honor of his mother. You can also visit Raiden's parents' house and a stone sake barrel that Raiden himself had made in 1802 in memory of his father. In the meantime, not only have monuments been erected for Raiden, his likeness has also adorned postage stamps and beer labels.

Raiden had won 28 of the 35 tournaments contested over the years, seven of them without a loss or a draw. His 254 games won were only faced with ten defeats. This corresponds to a success rate of 96.2%. Raiden won eleven tournaments in a row and 44 fights in a row.

Although Raiden has the most successful rikishi record to date, he was never named yokozuna. This is probably due to the fact that the family of Raiden's sponsor, the daimyo Matsudaira Harusato , was among the enemies of the now ruling Tokugawa until the Battle of Sekigahara , while the Yoshida family, who were entitled to be granted the yokozuna license, had been with them for a long time was connected to the ruling clan. On the other hand, the yokozuna title was not considered an independent rank until the end of the 19th century. Despite everything, Raiden's name has been immortalized on one of the yokozuna plaques in Fukagawa Hachimangu Shrine in Tokyo since 1900 .

Web links

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