Kashiwado Tsuyoshi

Kashiwado Tsuyoshi
Personal information
Born	Tsuyoshi Togashi (1938-11-29)November 29, 1938 Yamagata, Japan
Died	December 8, 1996(1996-12-08) (aged 58)
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	139 kg (306 lb)
Career
Stable	Isenoumi
Record	715-295-140
Debut	September, 1954
Highest rank	Yokozuna (September, 1961)
Retired	July, 1969
Championships	5 (Makuuchi) 1 (Jūryō) 1 (Makushita)
Special Prizes	Fighting Spirit (2) Technique (4) Outstanding Performance (2)
* Up to date as of July 2007.

Kashiwado Tsuyoshi (柏戸 剛, November 29, 1938 - December 8, 1996) was a sumo wrestler from Japan. He was the sport's 47th yokozuna, fighting at sumo's highest rank from 1961 to 1969. After his retirement he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and ran his own training stable from 1970 until his death.

Career

Born in what is now part of the city of Tsuruoka in the northern prefecture of Yamagata, Kashiwado made his professional debut in September 1954, joining Isenoumi stable. He initially fought under his own surname of Togashi. Upon reaching the top makuuchi division in September 1958 he rose rapidly up the rankings. In only his fourth top division tournament, following a shikona change to Kashiwado, he was runner-up to yokozuna Tochinishiki with a 13-2 record and earned special prizes for Fighting Spirit and Technique. He made the san'yaku ranks in November 1959, winning promotion to ōzeki in September 1960 and taking his first top division yūshō in January 1961. After taking part in a playoff for the championship in September of that year, he was promoted to yokozuna, joining the aging pair of Asashio and Wakanohana who were soon to retire.

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

Kashiwado was to win five top division championships, a long way behind the thirty-two captured by his rival Taihō, who was promoted to yokozuna simultaneously with him. He was however a tournament runner-up on no fewer than fifteen occasions. He suffered from many injury problems during his career, which led to him being dubbed the "glass yokozuna". He failed to complete four tournaments in a row from January to July 1963. However he made a spectacular comeback in September 1963, winning his first championship as a yokozuna (and second yūshō in total) with a perfect 15-0 record. He was listed as a yokozuna on the banzuke for 47 tournaments, which puts him in equal 6th place on the all-time list.^[1] He was popular among sumo crowds, appealing to those who found Taihō too dominant.^[2] The eight years in which the two shared the yokozuna rank was known as the Hakuhō era, a combination of their names (Haku is another reading of Kashi.)^[2]

Fighting style

Kashiwado's favoured kimarite or techniques were migi-yotsu (a left hand outside, right hand inside grip on the opponents mawashi), yorikiri (force out) and tsukidashi (thrust out). In all, about sixty percent of his wins were by either force out or force out and down (yoritaoshi).

Retirement from sumo

After retiring from active competition in July 1969 he remained in the sumo world as an elder, and he opened up his own stable, Kagamiyama, in November 1970. He coached Tagaryū to the top division championship in September 1984. He also served as a director of the Sumo Association and was head of the judges committee until 1994.^[3] He died of liver failure in 1996, at the age of 58. Taihō was at Kashiwado's bedside and was distraught over his death.^[4]

Career record

• The Kyushu tournament was first held in 1957, and the Nagoya tournament in 1958.

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament top division champions
• List of sumo tournament second division champions
• List of yokozuna

References

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile