Tochinoumi Teruyoshi - 栃ノ海 晃嘉 (born March 13, 1938 - January 29, 2021) was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Inakadate, Aomori. He made his debut in September 1955 and last wrestled for Kasugano stable. He reached the makuuchi division in March 1960 and has 7 special prizes, 1 kinboshi and 3 top division championships. He was the 49th yokozuna and he retired in November 1966.
Early Life[]
Shigehiro Hanada was born in the village of Kodaji (later annexed to the village of Inakadate) in Aomori, Japan. He lost his father at the age of six and he lost his mother upon entering high school. He was subsequently raised by his many other siblings and he went on to attend Hirosaki Vocational High School. In 1955 he travelled to Owani, Aomori, to watch sumo during the jungyo tour. He then recruited into sumo by wakaimonogashira Tsugaruumi who belonged to Kasugano stable.
Career[]
Early Career[]
He made his professional debut in September 1955 and initially wrestled under his surname Hanada Shigehiro, changing the Shigehiro spelling multiple times. He was promoted to sandanme in September 1956 and makushita in May 1957. In July 1958, he won the makushita yusho with a perfect 8-0 record and followed with two more winning records to earn promotion to the juryo division for the January 1959 tournament.
Juryo Career[]
In his first tournament as a sekitori, Hanada finished with a solid 9-6 record. Hanada produced consistent, but unspectacular results with his best record being a 10-5. After seven consecutive winning records, he was promoted to makuuchi in March 1960. At the time of his top division debut, he had only posted one losing record so far.
Makuuchi Career[]
After two make-koshi or losing scores he was demoted to juryo but immediately won the second division championship with a 14–1 record and was promoted back. He then adopted the shikona Tochinoumi Teruyoshi in September 1960.
Tochinoumi celebrates his first championship (c. 1962)
In November 1960, Tochinoumi finished with a strong 11-4 record and was awarded his first of many Technique prizes. In May 1961 he defeated Yokozuna Asashio to earn his first and only kinboshi. In addition, he finished with a 10-5 record and was awarded his second Technique prize as well as promoted to komusubi for the following July 1961 tournament. He posted an 11-4 record in his san'yaku debut and was awarded his third Technique prize and was promoted to the rank of sekiwake for September 1961. In November 1961 and January 1962 he earned his fourth and fifth Technique prizes. He captured his first top division tournament championship in May 1962 with a superb 14-1 record and was promoted to ozeki, alongside his stablemate Tochihikari. Even though he had only accumulated 32 wins in the past three tournaments, the 33 win benchmark had not yet been established and his promotion to ozeki was confirmed due to his consistency in the previous tournaments.
Ozeki Career[]
Tochinoumi performs the yokozuna dohyo-iri (c. 1965)
Tochinoumi had an average start to his ozeki career. Although he was never kadoban (in danger of demotion), he was never in serious contention for the yusho. However, he won his second championship in November 1963 with a 14-1 record and followed up with a 13–2 record in January 1964. Although he only took third place in this tournament, behind Taiho on 15–0 and maegashira Kiyokuni on 14–1, he was promoted to sumo's highest rank of yokozuna, despite some doubts about his lack of weight.
Yokozuna Career[]
He was only able to win one further championship, in May 1964, and being severely restricted by a herniated disc in his lower back, posted a succession of bare majority 8–7 records in 1965. He recovered somewhat to post a 10–5 in September 1965, but then suffered a serious injury to a muscle in his right arm. He had expressed hope that he could fight until the age of 30, but after an injury-plagued 1966 he retired at the end of the year at the age of 28 years eight months, making him the youngest retired yokozuna ever. He often seemed to feel under pressure as a yokozuna, suffering from weight loss and lack of sleep. His winning percentage at the rank was just .596 (the worst ever after Maedayama and Mienoumi) with 102 wins and 69 losses (plus 84 absences). He gave away 33 kinboshi, 36 percent of all his yokozuna matches against maegashira. His overall makuuchi record was .635, with 310 wins, 184 losses and 104 absences.
Retirement from Sumo[]
Kasugano Oyakata
Tochinoumi stayed in the sumo world as an elder of the Sumo Association, under the name Nakadachi. Somewhat unusually for a former yokozuna, he did not immediately take charge of a stable, instead working as an assistant coach. However, in January 1990 he did become head coach of Kasugano stable after the death of the previous stablemaster, the former Tochinishiki. Among the sekitori he produced were Tochinonada, Tochinohana, Tochisakae, and Kasuganishiki. He later expressed satisfaction that he had managed to maintain the tradition of an unbroken string of sekitori at Kasugano stable dating back to before the second World War. He stood down in 2003 upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65, handing control of the stable over to former sekiwake Tochinowaka.
He was one month younger than Sadanoyama, who was promoted to yokozuna a year after him. Following the death of Sadanoyama in April 2017, he was the oldest living yokozuna, but he remained active by playing golf. In 2018 he visited Kasugano stable and participated in the ceremony to mark Tochinoshin's promotion to ozeki. In 2019 he organized the Tochinoumi Cup, a sumo tournament for children, in his home village of Inakadate, Aomori.
Death[]
He died in January 2021 of aspiration pneumonia at the age of 82. He was the second longest living yokozuna of all-time, after Umegatani I.
Personal Life[]
His first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife was, like his first, from the world of show business as she was a former member of the Takarazuka Revuetroupe. His son Yasuyuki, born in 1970, also became a sumo wrestler at Kasugano stable, joining in March 1986 but retiring in 1991 having failed to progress further than the jonidan division.
Fighting Style[]
Tochinoumi defeats Wakahaguro by kirikaeshi (twisting backwards knee trip)
Tochinoumi was noted for his technical skill, and six of his seven special prizes were for Technique. His most common winning kimarite were yorikiri (force out) and yoritaoshi (force out and down), but he also had more unusual techniques in his repertoire, such as kirikaeshi (twisting backward knee trip) and sotogake (outer leg trip).
Record[]
Division Results[]
- Total: 478-261-104/733 (64 basho)
- Makuuchi: 315-181-104/490 (40 basho)
- Juryo: 77-43/120 (8 basho)
- Makushita: 48-24/72 (9 basho)
- Sandanme: 19-5/24 (3 basho)
- Jonidan: 16-8/24 (3 basho)
- Shinjo: 3-0/3 (1 basho)
Championships[]
- 3 Makuuchi Championships
- 1st (May 1962)
- 2nd (November 1963)
- 3rd (May 1964)
- 1 Juryo Championship (July 1960)
- 1 Makushita Championship (July 1958)
Achievements[]
- Special Prizes: Technique Prize (7), Fighting Spirit Prize (1)
- Kinboshi: (1) Asashio
Shikona History[]
- Hanada Shigehiro (1955.09 - 1960.07)
- Tochinoumi Teruyoshi (1960.09 - 1966.11)
Gallery[]
