Tsurugamine Akio
Encyclopedia
Tsurugamine Akio real name Akio Fukuzono, 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 Aira, Kagoshima
Kagoshima Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Kagoshima.- Geography :Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southwest tip of Kyushu and includes a chain of islands stretching further to the southwest for a few hundred kilometers...

, 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...

. His highest rank was sekiwake. After his retirement he was the head of Izutsu stable
Izutsu stable
is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tokitsukaze group of stables.The stable was established in the Meiji era by former yokozuna Nishinoumi Kajirō I, the 16th yokozuna, who became the 7th Izutsu-oyakata. He was succeeded by Nishinoumi Kajirō II, the 25th yokozuna...

 and coached two of his sons, Sakahoko and Terao, to the top division.

Career

Tsurugamine began his professional career in June 1947. He was a light but extremely skilful wrestler. His ten sanshō
Sansho (Sumo)
Sanshō are the three special prizes awarded to top division sumo wrestlers for exceptional performance during a sumo honbasho or tournament. The prizes were first awarded in November 1947.-Criteria:...

(special prizes) for Technique remain a record to this day. He also earned ten kinboshi
Kinboshi
Kinboshi is a notation used in professional sumo wrestling to record a lower-ranked wrestler's victory over a yokozuna....

(gold stars) for defeating yokozuna. He had an exceptionally long top division career, which lasted fourteen years from March 1953 to his retirement in July 1967 at the age of thirty eight. He fought in the top division for 77 consecutive tournaments and was one of the first wrestlers to win over 500 bouts there. His best result was in January 1956 when he lost only one bout and took part in a playoff for the tournament championship with yokozuna Kagamisato
Kagamisato Kiyoji
Kagamisato Kiyoji was a sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 42nd Yokozuna.-Career:...

.

Retirement from sumo

Following his retirement from active sumo Tsurugamine became an elder of the Sumo Association under the toshiyori
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...

name of Kimigahama, and set up his own Kimigahama stable. However, he really coveted the stock of his old Izutsu stable
Izutsu stable
is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tokitsukaze group of stables.The stable was established in the Meiji era by former yokozuna Nishinoumi Kajirō I, the 16th yokozuna, who became the 7th Izutsu-oyakata. He was succeeded by Nishinoumi Kajirō II, the 25th yokozuna...

, but was unable to come to agreement with the widow of the previous holder. In 1977 he was able to purchase the stock from ex-yokozuna Kitanofuji and became head coach of the renamed Izutsu stable. His wife was the adopted daughter of the adopted daughter of the 25th Yokozuna Nishinoumi II, and ll three of his sons joined the stable as new recruits. Two of them, Sakahoko and Terao, emulated their father by having successful top division careers. He also oversaw the promotion of Kirishima
Kirishima Kazuhiro
Kirishima Kazuhiro is a former sumo wrestler from Makizono, Kagoshima, Japan, who held the second highest rank of ōzeki from 1990 to 1992 and won one top division tournament championship...

 to ozeki in 1990. In 1994 he reached the mandatory retirement age and passed on ownership of the stable to Sakahoko. He died of blood poisoning in May 2006 at the age of seventy seven.

Top division record


























































































































  • "P" designates a win or loss of additional playoff bout(s) for the championship because two or more wrestlers finished with identical records

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
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