Tochigiyama Moriya

栃木山守也
Tochigiyama Moriya

Tochigiyama Moriya
Personal information
Birth name	横田 (中田) 守也 Yokoda (Nakata) Moriya
Date of birth	February 2 1892(1892--)
Place of birth	Tochigi, Japan
Date of death	October 3 1959 (aged 67)
Height	m ({{FORMATNUM:5 ft 7+1⁄2 in}})
Weight	104 kg (229 lb)
Career*
Heya	Dewanoumi
Record	197-26-24 7draws-5holds (Total) 166-23-24 7draws-4holds (Makuuchi)
Debut	February, 1911
Highest rank	Yokozuna (February, 1918)
Retired	May, 1925
Yusho	9 (Makuuchi) 1 (Makushita)
Gold stars	2
* Career information is correct as of September 2007.

Tochigiyama Moriya (栃木山 守也, February 2 1892 - October 3 1959) was the 27th Yokozuna in sumo wrestling from 1918 till 1925. Generally he is considered one of the pioneers of modern sumo. He is the lightest yokozuna with a weight of 104 kg.^[1] He is known as one of Herculean wrestlers.

Career

Tochigiyama entered sumo in February 1911 but his coach Hitachiyama Taniemon didn't expect him to be strong owing to his light weight. However, he lost only 3 bouts on his way to the top makuuchi division, achieving promotion in January 1915. Tochigiyama defeated Tachiyama Mineemon, ending his series of 56 victories, on the 8th day of May 1916 tournament.

Tochigiyama was promoted to ozeki in May 1917. He won all championships on his two tournaments as ozeki. He was promoted to yokozuna in February 1918 after winning two consecutive championships. He won his third championship at his first tournament as yokozuna. He finally won 5 consecutive championships between May 1917 and May 1919.

Tochigiyama defeated other wrestlers with his strong oshi, or pushing techniques. He compensated for his lack of weight by training extremely hard. He was nicknamed the "little giant yokozuna". Like Hitachiyama before him, he trained many wrestlers, such as later yokozuna Tamanishiki San'emon, even though they were not members of the Dewanoumi stable.

In May 1925, he suddenly retired after winning three consecutive championships between January 1924 and January 1925. Tochigiyama only lost 23 times while an active sumo wrestler in the top makuuchi division, and only eight times during his seven years in the yokozuna rank. About his retirement, he answered that he wanted to retire while strong.

After Retirement

After his retirement, he was permitted to leave Dewanoumi stable and become the eighth head coach of Kasugano stable. He was the adopted son of the previous head coach, referee Kimura Soshiro. Tochigiyama produced yokozuna Tochinishiki Kiyotaka.

In June 1931, Tochigiyama took part in the first Dai-Nippon Rikishi Senshiken (大日本力士選士権, the tournament of all Japanese professional sumo wrestlers). To their surprise, he defeated Tamanishiki and won the championship. Retired wrestlers can't take part in sumo tournaments now.

His strength hardly declined. It is reported that Tochigiyama in his sixties easily carried a big hibachi which wasn't moved by his pupils' might.

He died suddenly in 1959 whilst still in charge of Kasugano stable. Tochinishiki, who Tochigiyama had in turn adopted as his son, was his successor.

Top Division Record

Reference

1. ^ Complete List of Yokozuna (English). Sumo Colosseum. Retrieved on 2007-09-17.
2. ^ Tochigiyama Moriya (English). Sumo Reference. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.

Related articles

• List of yokozuna
• Kanreki dohyō-iri
• List of active sumo wrestlers

External links

• (Japanese)Tochigiyama Moriya

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