Wajima Hiroshi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wajima Hiroshi (輪島大士?) (born January 11, 1948) is a former sumo wrestler and professional wrestler from Nanao, Ishikawa, Japan. He was sumo's 54th Yokozuna.

Wajima is the only former college champion to make sumo's highest rank and also the only to be allowed to compete as a yokozuna under his family name (almost all rikishi adopt a special sumo name called a shikona). He made his professional debut in January 1970 at the age of 22, and was promoted to Yokozuna in May 1973. He won a total of fourteen tournament championships during his career and retired in March 1981.

Following his retirement Wajima took over as oyakata, or head coach, of Hanakago stable. However, he lacked leadership qualities and most unusually did not even live in the heya, preferring to commute. Hanakago declined to the point when it did not have any makuuchi or top division wrestlers left. In 1985 he was pressured by fellow oyakata to resign from the Sumo Association altogether after it emerged that he was heavily in debt and had put up his shares in the Association as collateral on a loan, a practice strictly forbidden. The stable folded completely with all its rikishi transeferring to the affiliated Hanaregoma-beya. To pay off his debts, Wajima turned to pro wrestling.


[edit] Sources

Grand Sumo:The Living Sport And Tradition by Lorna Sharnoff, Weatherhill, 1993.

In other languages