Wakanohana Kanji I

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若乃花幹士
Wakanohana Kanji
Personal information

Birth name	Katsuji Hanada
Date of birth	March 16, 1928 (1928-03-16) (age 80)
Place of birth	Aomori, Japan
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	105 kg (230 lb)
Career*
Heya	Nishonoseki,Shibatayama Hanakago
Current rank	Yokozuna
Record	593-253-70-4 draws
Debut	November, 1946
Highest rank	Yokozuna (January, 1958)
Retired	May, 1962
Yusho	10 (Makuuchi) 1 (Sandanme) 1 (Jonidan)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (2) Fighting Spirit (2) Technique (1)
Gold stars	6
* Career information is correct as of Octobet 2007.

Wakanohana Kanji I (若乃花幹士, born March 16, 1928) is a former sumo wrestler. He is the sport's 45th Yokozuna.

Wakanohana's younger brother (by twenty-two years) was the late Takanohana Kenshi and he is uncle to the former ozeki's two sons, yokozuna Takanohana Koji and Wakanohana Masaru. He won ten tournament championships during his career and at a fighting weight of around 100kg was one of the lightest yokozuna ever.

1 Career
2 Retirement from sumo
3 Top division record
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Career

He was born in Aomori and moved to Hokkaidō as a child. After working as a stevedore, he was scouted by the maegashira Onoumi,^[1] joining Nishonoseki stable in November 1946. He was trained harshly by Rikidozan in Nishonoseki stable, but he reportedly bit Rikidozan's leg in retaliation for his training.^[2] Onoumi became head coach of Shibatayama stable after his retirement in May 1952, and Wakanohana followed him to the new stable. It was renamed Hanakago stable in September 1953.

He reached the top division in 1950. During his career he was nicknamed the Dohyo no Oni, or Devil of the Dohyo due to his great fighting spirit and endurance. In September 1955 he fought a bout against yokozuna Chiyonoyama that lasted for over 17 minutes before being declared a draw.^[1] (Most sumo matches are over in a few seconds). He was promoted to ozeki after that tournament. He won his first top division championship in May 1956. Shortly before the following tournament his four year old son was scalded to death when a boiling hot pot of chankonabe fell on him.^[3] Despite being devastated by the tragedy,^[4] Wakanohana chose to compete in the tournament but ended up dropping out with a fever.^[3] He had to wait until January 1958 for promotion to yokozuna, which was confirmed shortly after he took his second tournament championship. He was the first yokozuna produced by the Nishonoseki ichimon or group of stables in over 20 years and consequently he had to borrow the kesho mawashi of the former Futabayama to perform his first dohyo-iri or yokozuna ring entering ceremony.^[4]

Wakanohana's great rival as yokozuna was Tochinishiki. They were very evenly matched, being of similar height and weight, and both ended up with ten top division titles each. In March 1960, they faced each other undefeated on the final day-- the first time ever that two yokozuna had met like this.^[3] Wakanohana won the match and Tochinishiki retired after the next tournament. Wakanohana kept going until the new era of yokozuna Taiho and Kashiwado, retiring in May 1962.

Wakanohana was such a popular wrestler that he even starred in a feature film about his life, made by the Nikkatsu movie studio and released across Japan around the 1958 New Year holiday season.^[4]

[edit] Retirement from sumo

After retirement he set up his own training stable, Futagoyama, which produced a string of top wrestlers, including ozeki Takanohana (his brother) and Wakashimazu, and yokozuna Wakanohana II and Takanosato. He was also head of the Japan Sumo Association from 1988 to 1992.

[edit] Top division record

Note: The Osaka tournament resumed in 1953. The Kyushu tournament was first held in 1957, and the Nagoya tournament in 1958.

Wakanohana Kanji I^[5]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1950	West Maegashira #18 11–4 F	x	East Maegashira #9 10–5	x	East Maegashira #4 4–11	x
1951	East Maegashira #7 11–4 F	x	East Maegashira #1 8–7 ★	x	East Komusubi 7–8	x
1952	West Komusubi 5–10	x	West Maegashira #4 5–10	x	West Maegashira #9 10–5	x
1953	West Maegashira #3 8–7 ★★★	East Maegashira #1 8–7 ★	East Maegashira #1 8–7 ★	x	West Komusubi 8–7	x
1954	West Sekiwake 8–7 O	East Sekiwake 9–6	East Sekiwake 9–6	x	West Sekiwake 11–4 O	x
1955	East Sekiwake 7–7–1draw	West Sekiwake 10–4–1draw	West Sekiwake 8–7	x	West Sekiwake 10–4–1draw T	x
1956	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 12–3	East Ōzeki 12–3	x	East Ōzeki 12–2–1	x
1957	East Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 10–5	East Ōzeki 11–4	x	East Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 12–3
1958	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 12–2–1draw
1959	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 12–3	East Yokozuna 14–1	West Yokozuna 11–4	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 11–4
1960	West Yokozuna 0–3–12	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 5–4–6
1961	West Yokozuna 12–3	Sat out due to injury	West Yokozuna 10–5	East Yokozuna 3–4–8	West Yokozuna 10–5	East Yokozuna 11–4
1962	East Yokozuna 11–4	West Yokozuna 0–2–13	East Yokozuna Retired 0–0–15	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent Championship Retired Demoted from makuuchi Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique Also shown: ★=Kinboshi Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Lewin, Brian (August 2005). What will become of the dynasty?. Sumo Fan Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.
^ Kobayashi, Toshiharu. 若乃花幹士 (Japanese). Retrieved on 2008-05-01.
^ ^a ^b ^c Sharnoff, Lorna (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0283-x.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kuroda, Joe (April 2008). The 45th Yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji. Sumo Fan Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ Wakanohana Kanji Rikishi Information (English). Sumo Reference. Retrieved on 2007-07-26.