Takanohana Kenshi

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Takanohana Kenshi 貴ノ花健士 (born Hanada Mitsuru; February 19, 1950 - May 30, 2005) was a Japanese sumo wrestler. His highest rank was Ozeki.

As an active rikishi he was extremely popular and was nicknamed the "prince of sumo". He won the top division tournament (or honbasho) championship on two occasions and also holds the record for the most tournaments ranked as Ozeki, at 50, corresponding to over eight years in the rank.

He was the father of Yokozuna Wakanohana Masaru and Takanohana Koji.

After retiring from wrestling, he took the name Fujishima (currently owned by former Ozeki Musoyama) and led the Fujishima stable, for many years in which it grew to be one of the most powerful in terms of top makuuchi ranked wrestlers. When his elder brother, former yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji I, retired as a stablemaster he inherited his brother's name Futagoyama and led the merged Futagoyama stable, which had one quarter of all the top ranked rikishi in it at one point, including two Yokozuna, an Ozeki and many others regularly in the junior sanyaku ranks. During this period it was undoubtedly the most powerful stable the sumo world has seen in the postwar period.

In February of 2005, his son, Takanohana II, publicly announced that his father was struggling with cancer. He underwent extensive treatment, but no recovery was possible, and on 30 May 2005, he succumbed to the disease at the age of 55.

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