Wakanohana Kanji I.

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
若 乃 花 幹 士 (初 代)
Wakanohana Kanji
Wakanohana Kanji I. (1956)
Personal data
real name Hanada Katsuji
Born March 16, 1928
place of birth Aomori
Died September 1, 2010
size 1.79 m
Weight 105 kg
Career
Heya Nishonoseki, Hanakago
Career record 593–253–70 (4 draws)
debut November 1946
Highest rank Yokozuna
Tournament victories 10
resignation May 1962

Wakanohana Kanji (I.) ( Japanese 若 乃 花 幹 士 (初 代) ; * March 16, 1928 in Hirosaki Prefecture Aomori ; † September 1, 2010 in Shinjuku Prefecture Tokyo ), actually Hanada Katsuji ( 花田 勝 治 ), was a Japanese sumo wrestler and the 45. Yokozuna . He is considered to be the founder of the famous Hanada wrestling dynasty .

youth

Wakanohana's family moved to Muroran on Hokkaidō after Typhoon Muroko destroyed the apple trees of the fruit growers in September 1934. Because his father was mentally and physically damaged by participating in the war , the young Wakanohana, who was still called Hanada Katsuji at the time, took on a responsible role in the family at an early age. At the age of 14 he started working in a steel mill.

Athletic career

When talent scouts from the Nishonoseki-beya wrestling team were on the lookout for young athletes, he succeeded in the test fight and was trained by Hanakago Oyakata, the former maegashira Onoumi, whose first ring name (Shikona) he inherited. In 1946, Wakanohana, as he now called himself, was one of the first rikishi to enter sumo after the war. Within three years he made it to the Makuuchi Division, where he soon earned the nickname "Devil of the Ring" ( 土 俵 の 鬼 , Dohyō no Oni ). The meeting with the then yokozuna Chiyonoyama on the 11th day of the autumn tournament in 1955, which ended in a draw after 17 minutes and 15 seconds and various pauses, remains memorable .

However, Wakanohana's greatest rival was Tochinishiki . Both were rather small and light for rikishi. Their rivalry continued throughout their careers, even when both were yokozuna. Neither could ever surpass the other, and their struggles remained exciting and spectacular, holding the tension of the millions of Japanese who watched the feud on the radio and soon on television. Her fight became famous at the Haru Basho in 1953, in which Tochinishiki tied his falling chonmage with a straw from the Dohyō boundary and was ultimately able to win. In May 1959, Wakanohana for his part snatched a tournament victory from the opponent on the last day. In 1960, the two met again as yokozuna at the Haru Basho - it was the first time that two previously undefeated grandmasters competed against each other in a tournament. This time too, Wakanohana was able to prevail. It was to be their last meeting, and Tochinishiki resigned soon after. Wakanohana followed him in 1962 after winning two more tournaments and thus both had won ten tournaments equally.

Organizational career

After retiring from active wrestling, Wakanohana founded his own stable ( heya ) called "Futagoyama", of which he became a master ( oyakata ). This produced the yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji II and Takanosato Toshihide . Wakanohana's younger brother, who later became Ōzeki Takanohana Kenshi , also attended this school. One of his sons later took over his uncle's Shikona and became the 66th yokozuna as Wakanohana . In 1993, Futagoyama Oyakata left office for reasons of age, and his brother, who later died, merged his own Fujishima-beya stable with the Futagoyama-beya, which also became the name of the combined stable.

From February 1988 to 1992 he was the chairman of the Japanese Sumo Association.

He died of kidney cancer on September 1, 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. a b 'Devil of the Dohyo' Wakanohana dies. In: The Japan Times Online. September 2, 2010, accessed September 5, 2010 .

Web links