Raiden Tameemon
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Raiden Tameemon (雷電爲右衞門), born Seki Tarokichi (January 1767 - February 11, 1825) is considered one of the greatest sumo wrestlers in history, although he was never formally promoted to Yokozuna.
[edit] Biography
Raiden was born to a farming family in a village in rural Shinano province. He is said to have possessed great physical strength even in childhood. His father Hanemon, who enjoyed sumo as much as sake, allowed 14 year old Raiden to attend sumo classes at Nagaze (today called Murokocho), the neighbouring village. When Raiden was 17, the Urakaze-beya stablemaster noticed him when he came through the area while on jungyo with his wrestlers. He was especially impressed with the young man's physique, which was extraordinary at the time. Young Raiden was 1.97 metres tall, which was three headlengths taller than most of his contemporaries. He also had matching long arms and large hands; a handprint at the Shofukuji temple near Okayama, which is said to be of Raiden's hand, measures 24 cm (9.5") from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. When Raiden trained as a wrestler, he developed a weight of 167 kg.
When Urakaze Kazuki invited him to Edo and started training him, it turned out that Raiden possessed not only the body of a giant (by 18th century Japanese standards), but also a talent for sumo wrestling. He was especially talented in oshi-sumo techniques and was able to move at a high speed considering his size. Soon Raiden left his stable and joined Isenoumi-beya, where Tanikaze became his coach. In 1789, the shikona (wrestler name) "Raiden", which means "Thunder", appeared in a banzuke ranking, although Raiden did not have his debut until fall 1790. Raiden was ranked as a Sekiwake, as was common practice then. He won the basho (tournament) without a defeat. After Tanikaze's death, Raiden was promoted to Ozeki in March 1795 - a rank he retained for nearly 17 years. Between November 1793 and April 1800, Raiden won all tournaments he participated in, without leaving even one title to the other great fighters of his time, Tanikaze and Onogawa. After 1800, he remained dominant, and sumo officials even disallowed him to use his favourite techniques in order to keep his matches interesting.
Finally, in spring 1811, Raiden retired from sumo at the age of 43. He became chairman of the sumo association of Izumo province (located in today's Shimane prefecture), where his sponsor daimyo resided. In 1816, he moved to Edo and finished his diary Shokoku Sumo Hikae-cho ("journal of sumo in various regions"), which describes his time as an active wrestler since 1789.
After his death, he was buried in Asakusa in Edo. Two locks of his hair are buried in other graves which are located in his home village and in Matsue in Shimane.
[edit] Raiden's afterlife and role in sumo history
When Raiden was still an active wrestler, his home village's residents built monuments honoring his parents. Raiden himself contributed a sake barrel made of stone in memory of his father. Since his death, Raiden appeared not only as subject of a number of statues, but also on postage stamps and beer labels.
Of 35 tournaments he fought in during his career - there were only two basho a year at the time - Raiden was victorious in no fewer than 28. In seven of those, he won without suffering a single defeat or draw. In total, he achieved 254 victories and only ten defeats, a winning percentage of 96.2. His longest winning streaks were eleven consecutive tournaments or 44 bouts.
Even though this means Raiden is the most successful wrestler to date, he never was promoted to Yokozuna, the highest title in sumo. It has been suggested that the reason for this can be found in the family history of his sponsor, Daimyo Matsudaira Harusato, whose clan belonged to the Tokugawa clan's enemies before the Tokugawa won the rule over Japan in the battle of Sekigahara. The Yoshida family, who held the privilege of awarding the Yokozuna license, had a history of supporting the Tokugawa clan long before Sekigahara. But after all, the Yokozuna rank did not count as an official rank on the banzuke until the beginning of the 20th century. In spite of his never having been officially promoted, Raiden's name has been added to the yokozuna memorial monument at the Fukagawa-Hachimangu shrine, Tokyo, in 1900.
