Kagamisato Kiyoji

鏡 里 喜 代 治
Kagamisato Kiyo

Personal data
real name	Okuyama Kiyoji
Born	April 30, 1923
place of birth	Sannohe, Aomori Prefecture
Died	February 29, 2004
size	1.74 m
Weight	161 kg
Career
Heya	Tokitsukaze
Career record	360-163-28 (makuuchi)
debut	January 1941
Highest rank	Yokozuna (January 1953)
Tournament victories	4 (Makuuchi) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonidan)
resignation	January 1958

Kagamisato Kiyoji ( Japanese 鏡 里 喜 代 治 ; born April 30, 1923 in Sannohe , Aomori Prefecture as Okuyama Kiyoji ( 奥 山 喜 世 治 ); † February 29, 2004 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese sumo wrestler . He was the 42nd yokozuna between 1953 and 1958 .

Kagamisato was known as the "full moon of the fighting ring", referring to his impressive belly, which he used to force opponents out of the ring. As a young fighter experimenting with tsuppari ( punching techniques), he developed his yotsu sumo over time . At 1.74 m in length, he was not particularly tall, but the 160 kg he reached over the course of his career made him a heavy wrestler. He was known to the public as a quiet man of particular moral integrity.

Kagamisato, who grew up poorly with his mother as a half- orphan , was discovered during a jungyo (tour of sumo wrestlers) by the then Ōzeki Kagamiiwa and invited to Tokyo. After initial disinterest, Kagamisato, who was still called Okuyama Kiyoji at the time, came three years later to the newly founded Kumegawa-beya wrestling stable of Kagamiiwa, who is now the stable master. In January 1941 Kagamisato took part in a sumo tournament for the first time .

In 1942, Kumegawa Oyakata and his wrestlers joined the newly founded heya of the yokozuna Futabayama . Here, in the later Tokitsukaze-beya, Kagamisato, although only a beginner in professional sport, enjoyed the personal guidance of the grandmaster whom he admired throughout his life and with whom he worked well beyond his active time. Equipped in this way, Kagamisato achieved first tournament victories in the Jonidan Division (January 1942) and the Sandanme Division (January 1943). In May 1943, his name appeared for the first time in the ranking of the Makushita Division; the young Kagamisato had thus arrived directly below the prestigious (and financially far more lucrative) sekitori leagues. However, a training injury to his knee stopped his progress for the time being by receiving a make-koshi for her .

Since Japan was at war, this delay also had an impact outside the sumo world. All wrestlers who did not belong to the respected top two divisions were drafted into the army in 1944 . Like his heya colleagues, Kagamisato spent his military service with a transport unit of the 69th Army Regiment in Haratsuka . It was not until June 1945 that he was able to take part in a tournament again and with a 3-2 kachi-koshi achieved a result that was sufficient to finally be promoted to the juryo division. After further excellent results, the banzuke (ranking) led him in June 1947 for the first time as a wrestler in the Makuuchi division, the highest class of Japanese professional sumo.

In October 1949, Kagamisato finished second in the tournament, in the course of which he defeated both the reigning yokozuna Azumafuji and the then Ōzeki Chiyonoyama (yokozuna 1951-59) as first-placed maegashira of the eastern group, ie the highest ranked fighter of his rank . For the first time in history, this achievement brought him the two special prizes for fighting spirit and special achievement at the same time, as well as the doctorate for Sekiwake , omitting the usually obligatory komusubi rank.

In 1951 he was promoted to Ōzeki, allegedly to his own surprise. After six tournaments in this rank, he won the January tournament in 1953 with 14-1, in which all four active yokozuna achieved such poor results that the sumo association, against the resistance of the yokozuna nomination council, pushed through the promotion of Kagamisato because the yokozuna rank in the eyes the officials should be "refreshed" with younger wrestlers. In fact, with Haguroyama and Terukuni, who resigned after this tournament, two of the grandmasters at the time had already been in office for over ten years.

As a yokozuna Kagamisato was indeed never as popular as his colleagues Tochinishiki , Chiyonoyama or Wakanohana I. ; he gave fewer interviews and was known to be calm and disciplined. However, he was able to show positive results against all three of the named yokozuna when he announced his resignation in the middle of the January tournament in 1958 after the end of the current basho. In 38 tournaments in the makuuchi he had suffered 360 163 defeats, in 28 fights he had not started. Compared to his coach, he justified the decision with growing problems with his right knee.

After the end of his wrestling career, Kagamisato worked as a trainer in Tokitsukaze-beya, which he left after the death of Futabayama / Tokitsukaze Oyakata and an interlude as stable master and founded his own wrestling stable with Tatsutagawa-beya, which, however, did not produce a top fighter in his time. In April 1988, as he reached the association's age limit, he retired. Although he was dependent on a wheelchair after a stroke and remained severely overweight into old age, he lived for fifteen years, the second highest age of any yokozuna in history before he passed away in 2004.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Kagamisato is the family name, Kiyoji the first name.

Web links

• Sheet and video clips on the website of NSK (English)
• Joe Kuroda, "Kagamisato Kiyoji (1923-2004) - the 42nd yokozuna," Sumo Fan Magazine, Issue 7, June 2006
• Bastien Pourquié: "A retrospective on Kagamisato" , Le Monde du Sumo, Issue 3, April 2004 (English)