Kimenzan Tanigorō 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. He was the sport's 13th Yokozuna.

Career

Kimenzan was born in Yoru

Yoro, Gifu

is a town located in Yōrō District, Gifu, Japan, on the eastern side of the Yōrō Mountains.As of July 2011, the town has an estimated population of 31,058. The total area is 72.14 km²...

, Gifu Prefecture

Gifu Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Chūbu region of central Japan. Its capital is the city of Gifu.Located in the center of Japan, it has long played an important part as the crossroads of Japan, connecting the east to the west through such routes as the Nakasendō...

, 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...

 and his real name was Shin'ichi Tanaka. He entered sumo in February 1852 in the second highest juryo division 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 1857. He was employed by the Tokushima Domain

Tokushima Domain

The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period, located in Awa Province and Awaji Province in Shikoku. Ruled by the Hachisuka family, it was rated at an income of 256,000 koku...

.

He was promoted to Ozeki November 1865. However, he was unenrolled in the November 1866 banzuke

Banzuke

This article is about the banzuke document, for a list of wrestlers as ranked on an actual banzuke see List of active sumo wrestlersA , officially called is a document listing the rankings of professional sumo wrestlers published before each official tournament or honbasho. The term can also...

. It was reportedly because he had a quarrel with sumo elders

Toshiyori

A toshiyori is a sumo elder of the Japan Sumo Association. Also known as oyakata, former wrestlers who reached a sufficiently high rank are the only people eligible...

. He was promoted to Ozeki again in June 1868.

He was awarded a yokozuna license in February 1869. He became a yokozuna at the age of 43, the oldest ever.

In the top makuuchi division, he won 143 bouts and lost 24 bouts, recording a winning percentage of 85.6.

He retired from an active wrestler in November 1870, but died in the next year. His grave can be found in Sayama

Sayama, Saitama

, formerly known as Irumagawa, is a city located in Saitama, Japan. Sayama translates as "sitting on a mountain”. The city was founded on July 1, 1954....

, Saitama

Saitama Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which a large amount of residents commute each day.- History...

.

There is a monument to him in Yōrō, Gifu

Yoro, Gifu

is a town located in Yōrō District, Gifu, Japan, on the eastern side of the Yōrō Mountains.As of July 2011, the town has an estimated population of 31,058. The total area is 72.14 km²...

.

Top division record

*2 tournaments were held yearly in this period, though the actual time they were held was often erratic

*Championships from this period were unofficial

*Yokozuna were not listed as such on the ranking sheets until 1890

*There was no fusensho system until March 1927

*All top division wrestlers were usually absent on the 10th day until 1909

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 120%"
|-
!
!First
!Second
|-
|1857
|East Maegashira #7 (4-3-1)
|East Maegashira #4 (6-2-2)
|-
|1858
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Maegashira #2 (8-0-2)
|tournament called off due to fire
|-
|1859
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Komusubi (8-0-1-1hold)
|East Komusubi (6-2-2)
|-
|1860
|East Komusubi (8-1-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Komusubi (6-0-1)
|-
|1861
|East Komusubi (3-1-5-1hold)
|East Komusubi (6-1-3)
|-
|1862
|East Komusubi (6-1-2-1draw)
|East Sekiwake (6-3-1)
|-
|1863
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Sekiwake (7-0-1-1draw-1hold)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Sekiwake (7-0-2draws)
|-
|1864
|East Sekiwake (5-0-3-2draws)
|East Sekiwake (5-3-2)
|-
|1865
|East Sekiwake (5-2-2-1hold)
|East Ōzeki (4-0-1-3draws-1hold)
|-
|1866
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Ōzeki (7-0-1-1draw-1hold)
|bgcolor=gray|Unenrolled
|-
|1867
|East Komusubi (5-0-1-3draws-1hold)
|East Komusubi (4-0-5-1draw)
|-
|1868
|West Ōzeki (1-2-6-1hold)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Ōzeki (9-0-1)
|-
|1869
|West Ōzeki (7-2-1)
|West Ōzeki (6-0-2-2draws)
|-
|1870
|West Ōzeki (4-1-5)
|bgcolor=gray|retired
|-

• The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.
• A third figure in win-loss records represents matches sat-out during the tournament

{|
| Green Box=Tournament Championship
|}

External links

Kimenzan Tanigoro tournament results