Unryū Kyūkichi

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雲龍久吉
Unryū Kyūkichi
Personal information

Birth name	Kyūkichi Shiozuka
Date of birth	1822
Place of birth	Yanagawa, Fukuoka, Japan
Date of death	June 15, 1890 (aged 68)
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	135 kg (300 lb)
Career*
Heya	Oitekaze
Record	127-32-55 15draws-5holds(Makuuchi)
Debut	November, 1847
Highest rank	Yokozuna (September 1861)
Retired	February, 1865
Yusho	7 (Makuuchi, unofficial)
* Career information is correct as of October 2007.

Unryū Kyūkichi (雲龍久吉, 1822 - June 15, 1890; aka Unryū Hisakichi) was a sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 10th Yokozuna.

1 Career
2 Top division record
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Career

Unryu was a strong wrestler at the beginning of his career. He won four consecutive championships upon entering the top makuuchi division in February 1852. He was awarded a yokozuna licence in September 1861, but by that time he had already passed his peak and was unable to win many more bouts. After his retirement in February 1865, he remained in the sumo world and he was a strong authority, but he also acquired credit for his honesty.

The name of one style of Yokozuna Dohyo-iri (the yokozuna ring entering ceremony) came from him. His ritual dance was said to be beautiful but it isn't proved that he performed the ritual dance in the Unryū style. His style is said to have been imitated by Tachiyama Mineemon,^[1] but Tachiyama's style is called shiranui style now.

[edit] Top division record

*1-2 tournaments were held yearly in this period, though the actual time they were held was often erratic
*Championships from this period were unofficial
*Yokozuna were not listed as such on the ranking sheets until 1890
*There was no fusensho system until May 1927
*All top division wrestlers were usually absent on the 10th day until 1909

	First	Second
1852	East Maegashira #7 (8-0-1-1draw)	East Maegashira #3 (7-1-1-1draw)
1853	East Maegashira #2 (6-0-2-1draw-1hold)	East Maegashira #1 (8-0-2)
1854	East Komusubi (3-3-1-3draws)	East Komusubi (5-1-1-2draws-1hold)
1855	tournament called off due to fire	no tournament held
1856	East Komusubi (4-1-4-1hold)	East Sekiwake (9-0-1)
1857	East Sekiwake (7-1)	East Sekiwake (7-1-1-1hold)
1858	East Ōzeki (5-2-3)	tournament called off due to fire
1859	East Ōzeki (5-2-3)	East Ōzeki (3-1-4-1draw-1hold)
1860	East Ōzeki (5-2-1-2draws)	East Ōzeki (5-1-1)
1861	East Ōzeki (3-1-6)	East Ōzeki (7-2-1)
1862	East Ōzeki (6-2-2)	East Ōzeki (6-1-2-1draw)
1863	East Ōzeki (4-3-3)	East Ōzeki (5-1-1-2draws)
1864	East Ōzeki (5-3-1-1draw)	East Ōzeki (4-3-3)
1865	retired	x

The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.^[2]^[3]
A third figure in win-loss records represents matches sat-out during the tournament
an X signifies the wrestler had yet to reach the top division at that point in his career or a tournament after he retired

Green Box=Tournament Championship