Kitanoumi Toshimitsu

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Kitanoumi Toshimitsu (北の湖敏満 May 16, 1953 -, as Kobata Toshimitsu, Japanese:小畑 敏満) was the dominant Yokozuna in Sumo during the 1970s. He was promoted to Yokozuna at 21 years old, becoming the youngest ever to achieve sumo's top rank -- beating the previous record held by Taihō by one month. He won 24 tournament championships during his career and was one of a series of truly great yokozuna who came from Hokkaidō, the most northerly of the four main islands of Japan.

Kitanoumi began his professional career in January 1967 at the age of just 13, after leaving middle school a year early. He was promoted to sumo's second highest juryo division in May 1971 and the top makuuchi divsion a year later. He won his first tournament championship in January 1974 and was promoted to ozeki immediately afterwards. He secured promotion to yokozuna just three tournaments after that. Kitanoumi was the most successful wrestler in sumo for the rest of the 1970s. His best year was 1978, in which he won five of the six tournaments and won 82 out of a possible 90 bouts, a record that stood until 2005. His chief rival during these years was Wajima Hiroshi, but Kitanoumi was much more consistent. He was heavy at 169kg, was extremely strong and had excellent balance. He was also remarkably injury free and never seemed to miss a tournament. Indeed, from July 1973 until September 1981 he chalked up fifty consecutive kachikoshi, or tournament records of at least 8 wins out of 15, which is a record for the top division.

However, by the beginning of the 1980s he had a new rival, Chiyonofuji, and in November 1981 he missed his first tournament. After that his record was patchy, with many absences. His final title came in May 1984, and he announced his retirement in January 1985.

Kitanoumi was honoured for his great achievements (24 tournament championships, 951 career wins, 804 top division wins) by being allowed to keep his sumo name after retirement. He opened up his own training stable, Kitanoumi-beya, which was moderately successful, producing a handful of top division wrestlers. Currently he is the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association.