Taiho Koki - 大鵬 幸喜 (born May 29, 1940 - January 19, 2013) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Teshikaga, Hokkaido. He made his debut in September 1956 and wrestled for Nishonoseki stable. He reached the makuuchi division in January 1960 and has 3 special prizes, 1 kinboshi and 32 top division championships. He was the 48th yokozuna and he retired in May 1971.
Early Life[]
Taiho was born Ivan Boryshko (Ukrainian: Іва́н Бори́шко) in the town of Shikuka (currently Poronaysk, Sakhain Oblast, Russia) in South Sakhalin (Karafuto Prefecture) to a Japanese mother, Kiyo Naya, and an ethnic Ukrainian father, Markiyan Boryshko who fled the bolshevik revolution.
A young Taiho
In 1945, the Soviet Union invaded South Sakhalin and he fled to Teshikaga, Hokkaido, which he would list as his official birthplace when joining sumo. While escaping the war-torn Sakhalin, Naya and his mother escaped on the Ogasawara Maru ship to Hokkaido, however, they got off the ship early at Wakkanai, Hokkaido (the most Northern tip of Japan) since Naya's mother was feeling extremely fatigued due to sea sickness. Shortly after the Ogasawara Maru ship was torpedoed off the coast of Rumoi, Hokkaido, by a Soviet submarine which killed over 638 crew and passengers.
He lived in poverty while in Hokkaido and had to sell natto on the street to support his family. His mother remarried to a teacher, and he subsequently changed his surname to Sumiyoshi. At the age of ten, he reverted back to the Naya surname after his mother divorced the teacher. He attended Hokkaido Teshikagakoto School part-time while working for the Forestry Agency. In 1956, Nishonoseki stable came to Kunneppu, Hokkaido, for a tour and Naya was recruited for professional sumo.
Career[]
Early Career[]
He entered sumo in September 1956, joining Nishonoseki stable. He initially fought under his real name of Naya Koki. In March 1958 he won the sandanme yusho with a perfect 8-0 record and was promoted to makushita for the following May tournament. In his makushita debut, he finished with a 7-1 record, but missed out on the championship after losing to Kochi in the playoff. Nevertheless, he continued with strong performances and was promoted to juryo in May 1959.
Juryo Career[]
Taiho awaits for his upcoming bout in juryo (c. 1959)
Upon promotion to the second juryo division in May 1959 he was given the shikona (ring name) of "Taiho", meaning "Great peng" ("peng" is often translated to "phoenix"). In November 1959, Taiho won the juryo yusho with a strong 13-2 record and was promoted to makuuchi in January 1960. At the time of his top division debut, he had only posted one losing record.
Makuuchi Career[]
He was a runner-up in his first top division tournament and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize. In May 1960, he defeated Asashio to earn his first and only kinboshi. Furthermore, he finished with a strong 11-4 record and was awarded his second Fighting Spirit prize as well as promoted to komusubi for the July 1960 tournament. In his san'yaku debut he posted another 11-4 record and was promoted to sekiwake in September 1960 where he was runner-up and awarded the Technique prize. At sekiwake rank in November 1960 he won the first of his former record 32 tournament championships and earned promotion to ozeki.
Ozeki Career[]
Taiho produced a 10-5 record in his first tournament as ozeki. He was runner-up in the following March and May 1961 tournament. Following two consecutive tournament victories (his second and third) he became a yokozuna in September 1961, less than two years after his top division debut. Because the island of Sakhalin is/was claimed as a Japanese territory, Taiho is not considered the first non-Japanese yokozuna.
Yokozuna Career[]
At the time of his promotion Taiho was the youngest wrestler ever to have achieved sumo's highest rank of yokozuna aged 21 years and three months, a record subsequently surpassed by Kitanoumi who was one month younger. In a fashion which is considered to be exceptional for a newly promoted yokozuna he also managed to win his first tournament subsequent to his promotion. He was promoted simultaneously with Kashiwado, and their rivalry created what became known as the Hakuho era. Although Kashiwado was to win only five tournament championships, Taiho was to remark, "There was Taiho because there was Kashiwado. There was Kashiwado because there was Taiho." Outside of competition they had a genuine friendship, which continued until Kashiwado's death in 1996.
Taiho performs the yokozuna dohyo-iri (c. 1962)
Taiho outperformed Kashiwado very quickly, and during his tenure in sumo's highest rank he was dominant, especially in the early part of his career. Until 2005—when the 68th yokozuna Asashoryu bettered his record—he was the only post-war yokozuna to have achieved six tournament victories consecutively, a feat he managed on two separate occasions. Eight of Taiho's championships were achieved with a perfect record of 15 wins and no losses (zensho-yusho), a record that stood until 2013 when it was broken by Hakuho. He came back from withdrawing from or missing five straight tournaments to win the championship in September 1968 with a 14–1 record and embarked on a 45 bout winning streak. It was broken in March 1969 only after an incorrect decision by the judges, which caused such a furor that video replays were introduced after the incident.
His final championship came in January 1971 after a playoff with Tamanoumi, maintaining his record of winning at least one championship every year of his top division career. He had a good score of 12–3 in the following tournament, but announced his retirement five days into the May 1971 tournament after losing to the promising young wrestler Takanohana for the second time. He had been a yokozuna for nearly ten years. His career win ratio was in excess of 80%, which is also a post-war record. He became the first former rikishi to be offered (and accept) membership of the Japan Sumo Association without having to purchase a share (ichidai toshiyori), in recognition of his great achievements.
Retirement from Sumo[]
Taiho Oyakata (c. 2005)
Taiho branched off from his old heya and opened Taiho stable in December 1971. In February 1977, at the age of 36, he suffered a stroke, and his subsequent health problems may have played a part in him being passed over for the chairmanship of the Sumo Association. He had extensive rehabilitation sessions to get the left side of his body moving again. In general he did not manage to replicate his own wrestling success as a trainer, but he did produce Ozutsu, a sekiwake who fought in 78 consecutive top division tournaments from 1979 to 1992. He had his kanreki dohyo-iri ceremony to mark his 60th birthday in 2000, although his restricted mobility meant he could not perform it in full. In May 2002 Taiho recruited the Russian wrestler Roho. He handed over control of his stable to his son-in-law, ex-sekiwake Takatoriki, in February 2003.
Taiho reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in May 2005 and became the curator of the Sumo Museum at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. He still maintained close contact with his old stable, inviting yokozuna Hakuho to train there in May 2008.
Taiho was awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon by the Japanese government in 2004. In November 2009, he was one of 15 people to receive the Person of Cultural Merit award from the Japanese government, becoming the first sumo wrestler to be so honored.
Death[]
After suffering a stroke at 36 in 1977, Taiho used a wheelchair in the last stage of his life. He died of heart failure in a Tokyo hospital on January 19, 2013 at the age of 72. His death was announced by the Japan Sumo Association. In its obituary, Nikkan Sports named him "the strongest yokozuna in history." In February 2013, he posthumously became the second sumo wrestler to be commended with the People's Honour Award, with Yoshihide Suga calling him a "national hero." After winning the March 2013 championship, Hakuho urged the crowd to get to their feet and honor Taiho's memory with a moment of silence. He said that Taiho gave him regular advice, and told him that records are meant to be broken. Hakuho would indeed surpass Taiho's all-time championship record by winning his 33rd yusho in January 2015, two years after Taiho's death.
Personal Life[]
He married in 1966 at the height of his fame (coincidentally, the final day of the May Tournament that year, which he won, was also his 26th birthday), to the daughter of a ryokan proprietor. Their lavish reception at the Imperial Hotel was attended by 1000 guests and over 200 reporters. He was the first to hold a press conference afterwards, now a common occurrence with sumo marriages.
Taiho's youngest daughter married the former sekiwake Takatoriki, who took over the running of Taiho stable (renamed Otake stable) after Taiho's retirement. When Otake was dismissed from sumo after a gambling scandal, he divorced Taiho's daughter. Taiho's grandson Konosuke Naya (born 2000) joined Otake stable as a professional sumo wrestler in January 2018, using Oho as his shikona. He was followed into sumo by his brothers Kosei in November 2019 and Takamori in March 2020. Taiho's fourth and eldest grandson, Yukio Naya (born 1994), is a professional wrestler.
During his time as an active wrestler, his hobbies were baseball and mahjong. He was particularly diligent about training, and was known to invite every new member of the top division to train with him.
Fighting Style[]
Taiho defeats Takamiyama by sukuinage (scoop throw)
Taiho was noted for his skill and power when he grabbed his opponents' mawashi or belt– techniques known as yotsu-sumo. His preferred grip was hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most common winning move was yori-kiri, a straightforward force out, which accounted for about 30 percent of his wins. His most frequently used throws were sukuinage (the beltless scoop throw) and uwatenage (the overarm throw).
Record[]
Division Results[]
- Total: 872-182-136/1045 (87 basho)
- Makuuchi: 746-144-136/881 (69 basho)
- Juryo: 44-16/60 (4 basho)
- Makushita: 35-13/48 (6 basho)
- Sandanme: 27-5/32 (4 basho)
- Jonidan: 13-3/16 (2 basho)
- Jonokuchi: 7-1/8 (1 basho)
Championships[]
- 32 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (November 1960)
- 2nd (July 1961)
- 3rd (September 1961)
- 4th (November 1961)
- 5th (January 1962)
- 6th (July 1962)
- 7th (September 1962)
- 8th (November 1962)
- 9th (January 1963)
- 10th (March 1963)
- 11th (May 1963)
- 12th (January 1964)
- 13th (March 1964)
- 14th (September 1964)
- 15th (November 1964)
- 16th (March 1965)
- 17th (July 1965)
- 18th (November 1965)
- 19th (March 1966)
- 20th (May 1966)
- 21st (July 1966)
- 22nd (September 1966)
- 23rd (November 1966)
- 24th (January 1967)
- 25th (May 1967)
- 26th (September 1967)
- 27th (September 1968)
- 28th (November 1968)
- 29th (January 1969)
- 30th (May 1969)
- 31st (March 1970)
- 32nd (January 1971)
- 1 Juryo Championship (November 1959)
- 1 Sandanme Championship (March 1958)
Achievements[]
- Special Prizes: Fighting Spirit Prize (2), Technique Prize (1)
- Kinboshi: (1) Asashio
- Record: 2nd most career championships (32 championships)
- Record: Tied for 2nd most undefeated championships (8 undefeated championships)
- Record: Tied for 3rd most consecutive championships (6 consecutive championships)
- Record: 4th most tournaments ranked at yokozuna (58 tournaments)
- Record: 5th most top division wins (746 wins)
- Record: Tied for 6th most championship playoffs (6 playoffs)
- Record: Tied for 6th most wins in a calendar year (81/90 bouts)
- Record: 7th most consecutive wins (45 consecutive wins)
- Record: 9th most career wins (872 wins)
Shikona History[]
- Naya Koki (1956.09 - 1959.03)
- Taiho Koki (1959.05 - 1971.05)
Gallery[]
