Tsunenohana Kan'ichi 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 Okayama, 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 31st Yokozuna.

Career

He made his professional debut in January 1910 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 May 1917. He won his first top division championship in May 1921 from the rank of ozeki, with a perfect record of ten wins and no losses. After his second championship in May 1923 and a runner-up spot in January 1924, he was promoted to yokozuna. He was to win eight more championships during his yokozuna career, including three in a row in 1927. He was much stronger than his competition and had no serious rivals. As result, turnout at tournaments was quite poor. His last title came in March 1930. He fought his last bouts in May of that year and officially retired in October. His retirement came very suddenly, as he was at the height of his powers, and it left Miyagiyama as the only yokozuna.

Retirement

After retiring from active competition he was the seventh head of the Dewanoumi stable

Dewanoumi stable

is a stable of sumo wrestlers. It has a long, prestigious history. Its current head coach is former sekiwake Washuyama. As of November 2007 it had 21 wrestlers....

 and from 1944 to 1957 was also the head of the Sumo Association. However, he was blamed for Sumo Association's problems and attempted to commit suicide by a sword and gas in May 1957. He was fortunately rescued but he retired from the head of the Sumo Association.

Top division record

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%"
|-
!
!January
!March
!May
!October
|-
|1917
!x
|no tournament held
|West Maegashira #12 (6-3-1-hold)
|no tournament held
|-
|1918
|East Maegashira #4 (5-4-1)
|no tournament held
|East Maegashira #1 (8-1-1)
|no tournament held
|-
|1919
|East Sekiwake (6-3-1)
|no tournament held
|East Sekiwake (7-2-1hold)
|no tournament held
|-
|1920
|East Sekiwake (6-1-1draw-1hold)
|no tournament held
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|no tournament held
|-
|1921
|West Ōzeki (9-1)
|no tournament held
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Ōzeki (10-0)
|no tournament held
|-
|1922
|East Ōzeki (7-2-1hold)
|no tournament held
|West Ōzeki (5-4-1draw)
|no tournament held
|-
|1923
|East Ōzeki (4-4-2draws)
|no tournament held
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Ōzeki (9-0-1draw-1hold)
|no tournament held
|-
|1924
|West Ōzeki (8-2)
|no tournament held
|East Yokozuna (5-2-1-2draws-1hold)
|no tournament held
|-
|1925
|East Yokozuna (0-2-9)
|no tournament held
|West Yokozuna (3-1-6-1draw)
|no tournament held
|-
|1926
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (11-0)
|no tournament held
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|no tournament held
|-
|1927
|West Yokozuna (7-4)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (10-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-1)
|-
|1928
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|West Yokozuna (10-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|West Yokozuna (11-0)
|West Yokozuna (9-2)
|-
|1929
|East Yokozuna (4-4-3)
|bgcolor=gray|Sat out due to injury
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-1)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (8-3)*
|-
|1930
|East Yokozuna (8-3)
|bgcolor=#66FF00|East Yokozuna (10-1)
|East Yokozuna (5-4)
|bgcolor=gray|Retired
|-
*tournament actually held one month earlier

• 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 (usually due to injury)
• an X signifies the wrestler had yet to reach the top division at that point in his career

{|
| Green Box=Tournament Championship
|}

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