Mienoumi Tsuyoshi

Mienoumi Tsuyoshi - 三重ノ海剛司 (born February 4, 1948) is a former Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Matsusaka, Mie. He made his debut in July 1963 and last wrestled for Dewanoumi stable. He reached the makuuchi division in September 1969 and has nine special prizes, five kinboshi and three top division championships. He was the 57th yokozuna and he retired in November 1980.

Early Life[]

Ishiyama was born in February 1948 and was the fifth child of a construction worker who participated in amateur sumo tournaments. Sadly, Ishiyama's father passed away when he was in the seventh grade and his family began to struggle financially. The young Ishiyama did judo in junior high school and was introduced to a sumo coach at Dewanoumi stable, but was initially rejected due to his short stature. After this, he got a job at an aluminum factory in Edogawa, Tokyo, however, the working environment was atrocious so he decided to give sumo anther shot. He contacted the Dewanoumi stable again and this time was accepted by Dewanoumi Oyataka himself, the former Dewanohana Kuniichi.

Career[]

Early Career[]

His first bout was in July 1963, aged just 15. At first fighting under his real name, he took on the shikona of Mienoumi in July 1966, but did not adopt the Tsuyoshi given name until September 1976. He won the sandanme yusho in September 1967. After being personally trained by the new Dewanoumi Oyakaya, former yokozuna Sadanoyama, he developed his technique and was promoted to the juryo division in March 1969.

Juryo Career[]

In his first tournament as a sekitori, he finished with a solid 9-6 record. He followed up with a 10-5 record and was promoted to the rank of juryo 3 in July 1969 where he finished with another 9-6 record and was promoted to makuuchi in September 1969 after three tournaments in juryo.

Makuuchi Career[]

In July of the following year, he reached the rank of komusubi, defeating two yokozuna (Taiho and Tamanoumi) and receiving his first prize for Outstanding Performance. He was promoted to sekiwake in the next tournament in September 1970, but could only manage a 6-9 record.

A051d41f3f9d2108010541363c8dca5b8c18201e — The last draw in professional sumo (c. 1974)

Mienoumi suffered from a chronic liver problem throughout his career, and although he tried to keep it under control by changing his diet, it was a factor in his eventual retirement.

In November 1971, he finished with his first runner-up performance of 11-4 to Kitanofuji's 13-2 record. In September 1974, his 11th day match with Futagodake was declared a draw (hikiwake). This is the last draw in the top division to date.

After many years of bouncing back and forth between the maegashira and sanyaku ranks, Mienoumi finally began making a strong ozeki run in 1975. After three straight tournaments in sekiwake, Mienoumi finished with an 11-4 record in September 1975. In the following November 1975 tournament, he finished with a 13-2 record to earn two special prizes as well as his very first top division championship. Even though he only finished with 32 wins which is one short than the usual 33 wins to be considered for ozeki promotion, his promotion to ozeki was still confirmed as there was only one ozeki at the time (Takanohana).

Ozeki Career[]

20210524-05231227-sph-000-1-view — Mienoumi performs the yokozuna dohyo-iri (c. 1980)

In his first tournament as an ozeki, Mienoumi finished with a subpar 8-7 record. However, he sprained his ankle and subsequently had to withdraw mid-tournaments in March and May 1976 which resulted in a demotion back down to sekiwake after just three tournaments as ozeki. He finished the following tournament with a 10-5 record and was restored back to the ozeki rank. For the following three years Mienoumi would produce somewhat average results and was never a contender fo the championship nor did he finish with runner-up performances. It was not until May 1979 where he was a runner-up for the fourth time, to Wakanohana with a 13–2 record. He followed that up with a superb 14–1 record in the following tournament, defeating Wakanohana, Kitanoumi and Wajima, only losing the championship in a playoff to Wajima on the final day. In September 1979 he was finally promoted to yokozuna.

Yokozuna Career[]

The 97 tournaments it took him to do so is the slowest ever progress to sumo's top rank. His oyakata declared that he would be happy with just one more yusho before Mienoumi's retirement. In the event, Mienoumi won his second and third tournaments as yokozuna, the latter with a perfect record, but after this had several absences due to injury and illness, fighting a full fifteen bouts in only four tournaments as yokozuna, before retiring in November 1980. He has the lowest win-loss ratio of any post-war yokozuna.

Retirement from Sumo[]

Upon retirement Mienoumi took the name of Musashigawa Oyakata and established Musashigawa stable in 1981. Until then Dewanoumi stable had discouraged any breaking away, and he was the first from Dewanoumi in 62 years to amicably set up a new stable.

TKY201008040372 — Musashigawa Oyakata address the press (c. 2010)

By 2000 Musashigawa stable had become one of the strongest stables in sumo with a yokozuna, Musashimaru, and three ozeki, Dejima, Musoyama and Miyabiyama. Musashigawa performed an early kanreki dohyo-iri in 2007 (normally performed on a yokozuna's 60th birthday) to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Musashigawa stable. On September 8, 2008, he became the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association following the resignation of Kitanoumi. One of his first actions was to demand a controversial tightening up of the rules for the tachi-ai, or initial charge, which led to many false starts in the September 2008 tournament. Following a series of scandals involving wrestlers gambling and associating with organised crime members, he was suspended for the July 2010 tournament and announced his resignation the following month. He also cited health concerns, as he had been undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. In September 2010 he also stood down as head of Musashigawa stable, although he remained a coach there. Former ozeki Musoyama is now head coach of what is now Fujishima stable. In December 2012 he announced that the former Musashimaru would inherit his elder name when Musashigawa reached 65 years of age in February 2013. He is now director of the Sumo Museum at the Ryogoku Kokugikan.

Personal Life[]

Mienoumi was born to ethnic Koreans living in Japan. He naturalized immediately before joining professional sumo and his birth-name was Orang Lee (이오랑) before he changed it to Ishiyama Goro.

Mienoumi was married in September 1974. His son Toshiaki Ishiyama (born 1975) was also a professional sumo wrester who joined Musashigawa stable in Janaury 1994 and was as high as sandanme 81. He retired in March 1996 and has since become an actor.

Fighting Style[]

Mienoumi was a yotsu-sumo wrestler who preferred grappling techniques to pushing or thrusting. His favourite grip on his opponent's mawashi was hidari-yotsu, a left hand inside and right hand outside position. He regularly won by yorikiri (force out) and uwatedashinage (pulling overarm throw).