Yoshibayama Junnosuke

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吉葉山潤之輔
Yoshibayama Junnosuke
Personal information
Birth name	Junnosuke Ikeda
Date of birth	April 3, 1920(1920-04-03)
Place of birth	Hokkaidō, Japan
Date of death	November 26, 1977 (aged 57)
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+¹⁄₂ in)
Weight	143 kg (320 lb)
Career*
Heya	Takashima
Record	357-171-85-1hold
Debut	May, 1938
Highest rank	Yokozuna (March, 1954)
Retired	January, 1958
Yusho	1 (Makuuchi) 1 (Makushita)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (3)
Gold stars	2 (Terukuni)
* Career information is correct as of September 2007.

Yoshibayama Junnosuke (吉葉山潤之輔, April 3, 1920 - November 26, 1977) was a sumo wrestler from Atsuta, Hokkaidō, Japan. He was the sport's 43rd Yokozuna.

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

[edit] Career

He made his professional debut in May 1938. However, he took part in the World War II and then he was seriously wounded during gunfights. His death was reported for a while, and he was surprisingly thin when he returned to Japan. If he hadn't been conscripted, he could have become more strong.

In spite of his damage, he was promoted to the top makuuchi division in November 1947. He was promoted to ozeki in May 1951. He recorded one azukari, or hold, on the 12th day of September 1951 tournament. The reason is that his opponent, Azumafuji, couldn't stand up any more. He was promoted to yokozuna after winning his first championship with a perfect 15-0 record in January 1954.

Although he was promoted to yokozuna, a bullet remained in his ankle, so his style of fight was mess. Besides, his good technique was ketaguri.^[1] It was considered not to be acceptable at his top yokozuna rank, but he had no time to understand sumo's techniques due to the war. He wasn't able to win any championships in his yokozuna career.

After his retirement, he became the 8th head coach of Miyagino stable. His previous head coach Ōtori Tanigorō insisted that his successor had to be only yokozuna. After Otori's death, Miyagino stable was closed once due to his that intention. Yoshibayama opened his stable and it became modern Miyagino stable.

He performed Dohyo-iri (ring entering ceremony) in the shiranui style. Later yokozuna Hakuho Sho, who belongs to Miyagino stable, succeeded to his style. On June 1 2007, Hakuho performed Dohyo-iri wearing Yoshibayama's kesho-mawashi at Meji Jingu.

[edit] Top division record

Note: Two tournaments a year were held in 1947 and 1948, three in 1949-52, four in 1953-56, five in 1957 and six in 1958.

Yoshibayama Junnosuke^[2]
	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1947	x	x	x	x	East Maegashira #13 8–3	x
1948	x	x	East Maegashira #7 8–3	x	East Maegashira #2 5–6 ★	x
1949	East Maegashira #3 7–6	x	East Maegashira #3 2–13	x	East Maegashira #10 10–5	x
1950	East Maegashira #3 10–5 O★	x	East Maegashira #1 10–5 O	x	East Sekiwake 13–2 O	x
1951	East Sekiwake 13–2	x	West Ōzeki 10–5	x	East Ōzeki 9–5–1hold	x
1952	West Ōzeki 12–3	x	East Ōzeki 10–5	x	West Ōzeki 12–3	x
1953	West Ōzeki 6–3–6	West Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 14–1	x	East Ōzeki 11–4	x
1954	East Ōzeki 15–0	Sat out due to injury	West Yokozuna 0–1–14	x	West Yokozuna 11–4	x
1955	West Yokozuna 5–2–8	East Yokozuna 3–2–10	West Yokozuna 0–2–13	x	West Yokozuna 9–6	x
1956	East Yokozuna 9–6	West Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 8–7	x	East Yokozuna 12–3	x
1957	West Yokozuna 10–5	East Yokozuna 3–3–9	West Yokozuna 5–6–4	x	East Yokozuna 9–6	West Yokozuna 11–4
1958	West Yokozuna 3–6–retired	x	x	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