Akinoumi Setsuo was a sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

 wrestler from Hiroshima

Hiroshima

is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. He was the sport's 37th Yokozuna.

Career

Akinoumi made his professional debut in February 1932 and reached the top makuuchi

Makuuchi

or is the top division of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers , ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments....

division in January 1938. He was the man who ended Futabayama's record 69 bout winning streak in January 1939. As he was only ranked as a maegashira at the time, it was regarded as an enormous upset. He defeated the yokozuna by sotogake, an outer leg trip. His only top division championship came in May 1941 when he was ranked as a sekiwake. He earned promotion to yokozuna in May 1942 after two runner-up performances. Akinoumi was not a particularly successful yokozuna, lasting only eight tournaments at the rank and not managing to win any further championships. He is arguably better remembered for his victory over Futabayama than his exploits as a grand champion.

He married the daughter of Dewanoumi Oyakata, the former yokozuna Tsunenohana, but was unfaithful to her, his geisha

Geisha

, Geiko or Geigi are traditional, female Japanese entertainers whose skills include performing various Japanese arts such as classical music and dance.-Terms:...

 mistress giving birth the same day that his wife did. They were later divorced.

Retirement from sumo

Akinoumi retired in November 1946, and became an elder of the Sumo Association with the name of Fujishima, but left the sumo world in January 1955. He later remarried.

Top division record

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 120%"
|-
!
!New Year
!Summer
!Autumn
|-
|1938
|West Maegashira #16 (8-5)
|West Maegashira #10 (9-4)
|no tournament held
|-
|1939
| West Maegashira #3 (6-7) ☆
| East Maegashira #4 (10-5)
| no tournament held
|-
|1940
|West Sekiwake (10-5)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Sekiwake (14-1)
| no tournament held
|-
|1941
|East Ōzeki (12-3)
|East Ōzeki (9-6)
| no tournament held
|-
|1942
|West Ozeki (13-2)
|West Ozeki (13-2)
| no tournament held
|-
|1943
|East Yokozuna (12-3)
|West Yokozuna (11-4)
|no tournament held
|-
|1944
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out
|West Yokozuna (5-5)
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out
|-
|1945
|no tournament held
|East Yokozuna (6-1)
|East Yokozuna (4-6)
|-
|1946
|no tournament held
|no tournament held
|bgcolor=gray|Retired
The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.


{|
| Green Box=Tournament Championship
| ☆= Number of Kinboshi

Kinboshi

Kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo wrestling to record a lower-ranked wrestler's victory over a yokozuna....

.
|}

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
  Glossary of sumo terms
  The following words are terms used in sumo wrestling in Japan. azukari : Hold. A kind of draw. After a mono-ii, the gyōji or the shimpan "holds" the result if it was too close to call...
  
  
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament winners
• List of Yokozuna

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile