Chiyonoyama Masanobu

Chiyonoyama Masanobu
千代の山 雅信
Personal information
Born	Masaharu Sugimura (1926-06-02)June 2, 1926 Fukushima, Hokkaidō, Japan
Died	October 29, 1977(1977-10-29) (aged 51) Sapporo, Japan
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	122 kg (269 lb)
Career
Stable	Dewanoumi
Record	403-158-147 (2 draws)
Debut	January 1942
Highest rank	Yokozuna (May 1951)
Retired	January 1959
Championships	6 (Makuuchi) 2 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (1) Fighting Spirit (1)
Gold Stars	3 Haguroyama Terukuni Maedayama
* Up to date as of July 2007.

Chiyonoyama Masanobu (千代の山 雅信, June 2, 1926 – October 29, 1977) was a sumo wrestler from Fukushima, Hokkaidō, Japan. He was the sport's 41st yokozuna. He was also the founder of Kokonoe stable.

Career

The son of a fisherman, he joined Dewanoumi stable in January 1942. He injured his knee in his first tournament, an injury that was to trouble him for the rest of his career.^[1] He reached the second highest jūryō division in November 1944 and made his debut in the top makuuchi division in November 1945. In his first tournament he won all ten of his bouts but was denied the championship as in the absence of any playoff system in the event of a tie, it was simply awarded to the wrestler higher in rank (in this case, yokozuna Haguroyama).^[2] In May 1949 he defeated three yokozuna, finishing with a 12-3 record, and was promoted to ōzeki. He won two consecutive championships in October 1949 and January 1950 but was denied promotion to yokozuna as the Sumo Association felt he was rather young at twenty three and with his second championship being "only" a 12-3 they wanted to wait until they were sure he was ready.^[1] He was eventually promoted in May 1951 after winning his third championship with a 14-1 record. He is the first yokozuna to be promoted without being awarded a licence by the house of Yoshida Tsukasa. During his yokozuna career he missed many bouts through injury and in 1953 even asked to be demoted back to ōzeki so he could start over again. The Sumo Association refused this unprecedented request.^[2] Chiyonoyama finally took his first championship as a yokozuna in January 1955 and won two more thereafter, in March 1955 and January 1957. He announced his retirement in January 1959.

Statue of Chiyonoyama in his Fukushima birthplace

Retirement from sumo

Chiyonoyama had expected to take over as head coach of Dewanoumi stable after the death of the former boss Tsunenohana in 1960, but he lost a succession battle to former maegashira Dewanohana. After yokozuna Sadanoyama married Dewanohana's daughter, Chiyonoyama realised he had no chance to take over and so asked to leave and set up his own stable. This was allowed on the condition that he also leave the Dewanoumi ichimon (group of stables).^[2] In March 1967 he set up Kokonoe stable, taking ōzeki (later yokozuna) Kitanofuji and nine other recruits with him. In 1970 future yokozuna Chiyonofuji, also from Fukushima, Hokkaidō, joined the stable. Chiyonoyama died of liver cancer aged fifty one in 1977.

Pre-modern top division record

• Through most of the 1940s, only two tournaments were held a year, and only one was held in 1946. The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka in 1953.

Modern top division record

• Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament top division champions
• List of yokozuna

References

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile