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千代の富士 貢
Chiyonofuji Mitsugu

Personal information
Birth name	Mitsugu Akimoto
Date of birth	June 1, 1955 (1955-06-01) (age 54)
Place of birth	Fukushima, Hokkaido
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Weight	127 kg (280 lb; 20.0 st)
Career*
Heya	Kokonoe
Record	1045-437-159
Debut	September, 1970
Highest rank	Yokozuna (September, 1981)
Retired	May, 1991
Yūshō	31 (Makuuchi) 1 (Makushita)
Sanshō	Outstanding Performance (1) Fighting Spirit (1) Technique (5)
Kinboshi	3 (Mienoumi (2), Wakanohana II)
* Career information is correct as of July 2007.

Chiyonofuji Mitsugu (千代の富士 貢^?), born June 1, 1955, as Mitsugu Akimoto (秋元 貢, Akimoto Mitsugu^?) in Hokkaidō, Japan, is a former champion sumo wrestler and the 58th yokozuna of the sport. He is now the head coach of Kokonoe stable.

Chiyonofuji was one of the greatest yokozuna of recent times, winning 31 tournament championships, second only to Taihō. He was particularly remarkable for his longevity in sumo's top rank, which he held for a period of ten years from 1981 to 1991. He won more tournaments in his thirties than any other wrestler and retired in his mid-thirties, in contrast to most recent yokozuna who have tended to retire around 30. Chiyonofuji scored 1,045 wins during his professional career, which is still unbeaten as of 2009.^[1] His record of 807 wins in the top Makuuchi division was held for about 19 years, until Kaiō bettered it in January 2010.^[2]

In a sport where weight is often regarded as vital, Chiyonofuji was quite light at around 120 kg. He relied on a superior technique and muscle to defeat opponents. He was the lightest yokozuna since Tochinoumi in the 1960s.

Early life

He was born in Fukushima, a town in the Matsumae District of Hokkaidō, northern Japan. He was a son of a fisherman. At school he excelled in athletics events, particularly running.^[3] He was scouted at the age of 15 by the Kokonoe stable's head Chiyonoyama, who had served as the 41st yokozuna and was from the same Fukushima town. Chiyonoyama promised him a trip to Tokyo in an airplane, which excited the young Akimoto as he had never flown before.^[4] At the time of his debut he weighed just 71 kg (160 lb). In 1977, Chiyonoyama died, and Kitanofuji, the 52nd yokozuna also from Hokkaidō, took over the stable.

Becoming Chiyonofuji

His shikona (ring name) 千代の富士 (Chiyonofuji) was formed from those of the two previous yokozuna from his stable, Chiyonoyama and Kitanofuji. 千代 (Chiyo, thousand years) is a word used to mean forever. 富士 (Fuji) is the same as that in 富士山 (Mount Fuji). As a young wrestler, Chiyonofuji was plagued by shoulder injuries. He was remarkable in his willingness to go the extra mile and train relentlessly beyond the level of his peers. His nickname was "The Wolf", due to the piercing stare he gave his opponents in the pre-bout rituals. This nickname also seems to capture his character in his day-to-day life as many have spoken of him as a man most comfortable in times of solitude.

Early career

Chiyonofuji began his career in September 1970. He reached the second highest jūryō division in November 1974, and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in September 1975. However, he lasted for only one tournament term before being demoted again, and subsequent injuries led to him falling back to the unsalaried ranks. He finally won promotion back to the top division in January 1978. After he got a fighting spirit prize (Kantō-shō) in May, he reached komusubi (the fourth-highest rank) for the first time. During his early top division career he was often compared with another lightweight wrestler Takanohana, Sr.^[5], who had entered the sumo world five years earlier and was popular with sumo fans. Takanohana had first come across Chiyonofuji whilst on a regional tour and encouraged him to give sumo a try. Later, he also advised Chiyonofuji to give up smoking, which helped him put on some extra weight.^[6]

In 1979, due to his shoulder trouble, Chiyonofuji briefly fell to the second division, but he soon came back to the top division. Encouraged by his stablemaster, he began to rely not only on throwing techniques, which increased the risk of reinjuring his shoulders, but also on gaining ground quickly and forcing out his opponents.^[7] Showing much more consistency, he earned three kinboshi (i.e. defeated yokozuna in three regular matches) in total in March and July 1980 tournaments, where he also got technique prizes (Ginō-shō). He fought again as a komusubi in May and September tournaments, in the latter of which he won 10 matches in the top division for the first time. He reached sekiwake (the third-highest rank), and stayed at this rank for only two tournament terms. As a sekiwake, he scored 11-4 in November; in January 1981 he scored 14-1, losing one regular match to a dominating yokozuna Kitanoumi, and in a playoff he defeated this yokozuna to win a top makuuchi division title for the first time. Then he was promoted to ōzeki (the second-highest rank). While making these speedy rises, he also got technique prizes in three tournaments in a row to that in January, where he also got an outstanding performance prize (Shukun-shō). Also as an ōzeki he scored well in the following three tournaments to that in July 1981, where he again defeated Kitanoumi and won a title. After this victory, he was promoted to yokozuna.

Yokozuna

Chiyonofuji had to pull out of his first tournament as a Yokozuna with an injury, but he returned to win the championship in November, defeating Asashio in a playoff. He later said that this victory was the foundation upon which he built his subsequent success as a yokozuna.^[7] He was to win the Kyushu tournament eight years in a row from 1981 to 1988, a record dominance of any of the six honbasho.

As his rival Kitanoumi went into a long slump, Chiyonofuji dominated sumo in 1982, winning four of the six tournaments. However, over the next two years, another Yokozuna Takanosato, emerged to challenge him, and he also suffered a number of injury problems. He was restricted to just one championship in the nine tournaments held from May 1983 to September 1984. But Kitanoumi retired in January 1985, with the aging Takanosato following a year later, and Chiyonofuji resumed his dominance. In 1986 he won five out of the six tournaments held, the first time this had been done since Kitanoumi in 1978. Despite being older and lighter than nearly all his opponents, his strength, skill, and phenomenal will to win made him almost unbeatable.

In 1988 he went on a winning streak of 53 bouts, second in sumo history only to Futabayama's 69. The sequence began on the 7th day of the May 1988 tournament and continued through the July and September 1988 tournaments, ending only on the final day of the November 1988 tournament when he was defeated by Onokuni. Had he won that bout, he would have been the first wrestler ever to win three consecutive tournaments with 15-0 records. Nonetheless, his winning run was the best ever in the postwar period, surpassing the 45 bouts won by Taiho in 1968 and 1969. In July 1989 he took his 28th championship in a playoff from his stablemate Hokutoumi, marking the first time ever that two yokozuna from the same stable had met in competition.^[8] Shortly before the tournament began he had lost his youngest daughter to sudden infant death syndrome.^[9] In September 1989 Chiyonofuji surpassed Oshio's record of 964 career wins and in March 1990 won his 1000th match. His final goal was Taiho's record of 32 tournament titles, but his 31st championship in November of that year proved to be his last.

In the opening tournament of 1991, Chiyonofuji surpassed Kitanoumi's record of 804 top division wins but injured himself on the second day and had to withdraw. He returned in May, but he lost on the opening day of the tournament to the 18-year-old rising star Takahanada (later Yokozuna Takanohana II). It was estimated that half of the Japanese population watched the match on TV.^[7] Ironically Takahanada's father Takanohana I had retired in 1981 shortly after losing to Chiyonofuji. After losing another match with Takatoriki two days later Chiyonofuji announced his own retirement, a few weeks short of his 36th birthday.^[10]

Retirement from the ring

In September 1989^{[citation needed]} while Chiyonofuji was still active, the Japan Sumo Association decided to profer the special status of ichidai-toshiyori (one-generation sumo-elder using his ring name as his elder name) to him,^[11][12] but he declined it because he intended to inherit another elder name. Following his retirement from the ring in May 1991, Chiyonofuji inherited the elder name "Jinmaku"; then in 1992 he and his stablemaster Kokonoe (the 52nd Yokozuna Kitanofuji) exchanged their elder names ("Jinmaku" and "Kokonoe") and he took over Kokonoe stable.^[13][14] Under him, his stable has produced several wrestlers including Chiyotaikai (ret.; former Ozeki), Chiyotenzan (ret.; Komusubi) and jūryō Chiyohakuho (active as of 2009). He also served for some years as a competition judge. In February 2008 he joined the board of directors of the Japan Sumo Association.

Fighting style

Throughout his career, Chiyonofuji's trademark kimarite or technique was uwatenage, or overarm throw. He preferred a migi-yotsu, or left hand outside, right hand inside grip on his opponent's mawashi. His left hand outer grip was so effective that some commentators referred to it as his "death grip." Uwatenage was his second most common winning technique at sekitori level after yorikiri, or force out.^[15] He was also well known for tsuridashi, or lift out. He had knowledge of a wide range of other techniques as well, employing 41 different kimarite in his career.^[15] In January 1987 he won with the very rare amichi, or fisherman's net casting throw, and joked to the press afterwards that it was appropriate for him as he was the son of a fisherman.^[16]

Top division record

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo records
• List of sumo tournament winners
• List of yokozuna

References

External links

• Japan Sumo Association Biography