Rikidozan

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力 道 山
Rikidōzan
Rikidozan
Personal data
real name Mitsuhiro Momota
Born November 14, 1924
place of birth Kankyō-nandō, former Japanese Empire, today's North Korea
Died December 15, 1963
size 1.77 m
Weight 108 kg
Career
Heya Nishonoseki
Career record 135-82-23
debut 1946
Highest rank Sekiwake
Tournament victories 0
resignation 1950

Rikidōzan ( Japanese 力 道 山 ; Kor .: 역도산; * November 14, 1924 in Kankyō-nandō , Korea as Kim Sin-nak ; † December 15, 1963 in Tokyo ) was Shikona of the Japanese sumōtori , wrestler and wrestling official. His name as an official was Mitsuhiro Momota ( 百 田 光浩 , Momota Mitsuhiro ), a name he chose primarily to disguise his Korean origins. He is considered the father of Puroresu , modern Japanese wrestling.

Career

Sumo

Rikidōzan was born in 1924 in what was then the Japanese colony of Chōsen . His birth name was Kim Sin-nak ( 김신락 , 金 信 洛 ). He was trained to be a sumo wrestler as a child. However, due to the social discrimination against Koreans in Japan , his true origin was still concealed many years after his death; the name Mitsuhiro Momota was invented, as was its alleged Nagasaki origin . His sumo name Rikidōzan means "stony mountain road".

As a member of the Heya Nishonoseki he made his debut in May 1940 and worked his way up to the top sumo league, the Makuuchi division , in the following six years . He achieved his best tournament result in June 1947 when he finished a tournament in second behind the yokozuna Haguroyama . Overall, Rikidozan played 23 tournaments with a match record of 135 wins and 82 losses. His highest rank in the banzuke was sekiwake . In 1950 he ended his career in sumo, according to his own account for financial reasons. However, he was also known for being easy to lose his temper, which was not particularly popular in the sumo scene. He is also said to have been discriminated against because of his origin.

Wrestling

Rikidozan made his wrestling debut in 1950 with a draw with an American after the fight time. From now on he regularly competed against American wrestlers. Because of his victories against them, he quickly gained popularity in Japanese wrestling . This is also based on the collective feeling of depression of the Japanese in post-war Japan , who longed for a hero so that they could endure their everyday worries more easily. His victory with judoka Kimura Masahiko became famous in a tag team match against The Sharp Brothers, which became a national legend. The match was watched by a fanatical crowd of 20,000 people in front of a television set in front of Shibashi Station. The booking supported his popularity value by always hiring his opponents for the role of the bad guy fighting with illegal means. When Rikidōzan was engaged for fighting in America , he took over this role.

The key success Rikidōzans was the victory over Lou Thesz on 6 October 1957 with the Rikidōzan to the NWA International Heavyweight Championship title could secure a regional title of the National Wrestling Alliance , the Japanese for cooperating Wrestling League Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance had been created , which Rikidōzan founded in 1953. He was not to give up the title of NWA International Heavyweight Champion until his death. Another highlight of his career was a 2-out-of-3 falls match against The Destroyer , which on May 24, 1963 achieved the highest ratings on Japanese television to date.

Rikidozan also won several regional NWA doctorates in Hawaii and San Francisco . His trademark in wrestling was the karate chop , which was less derived from karate than from the punching techniques of sumo. In addition to his own career, Rikidōzan trained young wrestlers, his students include Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba , who have become legends themselves . As a result of his success, Rikidozan amassed a fortune that he invested in condominiums, nightclubs , hotels and boxing promotions.

death

Rikidozan died on December 15, 1963 in Tokyo. A week earlier, on December 8, a yakuza named Katsuji Murata had injured him in one of his nightclubs with a knife whose blade had been moistened with urine . His murderer had already visited him shortly after the crime and apologized. The injury, which was underestimated in its dangerousness, led to peritonitis , from which Rikidozan died at the age of only 39. Over a thousand mourners attended his funeral.

Murata was convicted of manslaughter and was imprisoned for eight years. After his release from prison, he rose to be a high-ranking yakuza. Every year he visited the grave of his victim and asked forgiveness from the children of Rikidozan.

For Japanese wrestling, the death of Rikidozan had almost devastating consequences. The Japanese fans assumed that wrestling was "real". With the revelation of Rikidōzan's dealings with the yakuza, it was revealed that wrestling is only fake, causing many fans to turn away. Only his students Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba were able to save Japanese wrestling again.

Afterlife

Rikidōzan is considered the father of Puroresu and a legend in Japan

Rikidōzan was inducted into the newly established Hall of Fame of the independent wrestling magazine Wrestling Observer Newsletter 1996 . His life was filmed in South Korea in 2004 under the title Rikidōzan , the title role played by Sol Kyung-gu .

North Korea has been trying to reclaim the legacy of Rikidozans for itself since the mid-1990s. So comic books, novels and video cassettes appeared that remind us of his life.

In 2017, Rikidōzan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame .

Wrestling title

  • All Asia Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • All Asia Tag Team Championship (4 ×) - with Toyonobori
  • JWA All Japan Tag Team Championship (1 ×) - with Toyonobori
  • NWA International Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • Japanese Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • World Big League (5 ×)
  • NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship (3 ×) - with Bobby Bruns (1), Azumafuji (1) and Koukichi Endoh (1)
  • NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2011)
  • NWA San Francisco
  • North American Wrestling Alliance / Worldwide Wrestling Associates
  • NAWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 ×)
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (1966)

literature

  • Haruo Yamaguchi, Koji Miyamoto and Scott Teal: The Great Wrestling Venues, Volume 4: Japan: The Rikidozan Years. Crowbar Press 2019. ISBN 978-1-940391-26-7
  • Li Ho In: I am a Korean - The story of the World Professional Wrestling Champion Rikidozan. Foreign Languages ​​Publishing House 1989, OCLC 25966342 .

Web links

Commons : Rikidōzan  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas A. Green, Joseph R. Svinth: Martial Arts of the World: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of History and Innovation . ABC-CLIO, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59884-244-9 , p. 609 ( google.de [accessed on May 29, 2020]).
  2. ^ A b Fred Blassie, Keith Elliot Greenberg: "Classy" Freddie Blassie: Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks . Simon and Schuster, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7434-6316-4 , pp. 93 ( google.de [accessed on May 29, 2020]).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Michael Bosack: Remembering Rikidōzan: The (Korean) Symbol of Japan's Postwar Strength. In: Tokyo Review. December 16, 2019, accessed May 29, 2020 (American English).
  4. ^ A b Michael Weiner: Race, Ethnicity and Migration in Modern Japan: Race, ethnicity and culture in modern Japan . Taylor & Francis, 2004, ISBN 978-0-415-20855-0 , pp. 166 ( google.de [accessed on May 29, 2020]).
  5. ↑ a b Rikidozan. WWE.com, accessed May 29, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b c d Professional Wrestling Online Museum - Ring Chronicle Hall of Fame Inductee - Rikidozan. February 2, 2009, accessed May 29, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Looking back at the death of Rikidozan. In: TokyoReporter. May 10, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2020 (American English).
  8. ^ Wrestler an unlikely icon for N Korea - Taipei Times. In: TaipeiTimes. July 21, 2003, accessed May 29, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b Congratulations to the 2017 WWE Hall of Fame Legacy inductees. In: WWE.com. Retrieved on May 29, 2020 (English).
  10. ↑ Steve Gerweck: NWA Hall of Fame class announced for 2011 . In: WrestleView . November 14, 2011. Archived from the original on November 17, 2011. Retrieved on November 14, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Rikidozan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 力 道 山 (Japanese, battle name); 역도산 (Korean, battle name); Kim, Sin-nak (maiden name); 김신락 (maiden name, Hangeul); 金 信 洛 (maiden name, Hanja); Mitsuhiro, Momota (real name); 百 田 光浩 (Japanese, real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese sumōtori, wrestler and wrestling official
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamgyŏng-namdo in what is now North Korea
DATE OF DEATH December 15, 1963
Place of death Tokyo