Onogawa Kisaburō
Onogawa Kisaburō (Japanese: 小野川喜三郎, 1758 – April 30, 1806) was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Ōmi Province. He was the sport's 5th yokozuna. Along with Tanikaze, Onogawa was the first to be given a yokozuna licence by the House of Yoshida Tsukasa and the first to perform the dohyō-iri to promote sumo tournaments. His real name was Kawamura Kisaburō (川村 喜三郎)
| Onogawa Kisaburō | |
|---|---|
| 小野川喜三郎 | |
 19th century woodblock print of Onogawa (left) | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | 川村 喜三郎 Kawamura Kisaburō 1758 Ōmi Province, Japan |
| Died | April 30, 1806 (aged 48) |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) |
| Weight | 116 kg (256 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Tamagaki |
| Record | 144-13-40 4draws-10holds-3no results (Makuuchi) |
| Debut | October, 1779 |
| Highest rank | Yokozuna (November, 1789) |
| Retired | October, 1798 |
| Championships | 7 (Makuuchi, unofficial) |
| * Up to date as of October 2007. | |
Career
Onogawa was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 1781. He defeated ōzeki Tanikaze in February 1782. The victory surprised people in Edo as it brought to an end Tanikaze's run of 63 consecutive victories. Onogawa became a rival of Tanikaze and was popular with the public, although in reality he was quite far behind his rival and won only seven tournament titles to Tanikaze's 21.[1] Onogawa was much shorter than Tanikaze at only 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in) but he had a speedy, crowd pleasing sumo style which helped him overcome his small physique.[1]
Yoshida Oikaze certified both Onogawa and Tanikaze as holders of the yokozuna rank in November 1789, in a ceremony which was also featured the introduction of the dohyō-iri display and the first appearance of the yokozuna's traditional ornaments: a thick girdle of white rope, supporting white paper gohei.[2] He won 91.7% of his bouts, winning 144 times and losing only 13 times. Onogawa retired in 1798 to become a coach in Osaka sumo, but the next yokozuna, Ōnomatsu, was not appointed for another thirty years.[3] Fortunately for sumo's popularity, during that time the immensely powerful wrestler Raiden emerged.[1]
A popular story holds that Onogawa studied jujutsu with renowned Kyūshin Ryū Sōke Inugami Gunbei after being thrown down twice in a casual match with that master outside a teahouse.[4]
Top division record
- The actual time the tournaments were held during the year in this period often varied.
| - | Spring | Winter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1781 | East Maegashira #3 5–1–3 1h |
East Jūryō #5 6–2 |
||||
| 1782 | East Jūryō #3 5–1 |
East Maegashira #4 7–1–1 1d |
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| 1783 | East Maegashira #4 5–0–3 1h 1nr |
East Maegashira #2 6–0–2 1d 1h |
||||
| 1784 | East Komusubi 6–2 2h |
East Sekiwake 9–0–1 Unofficial |
||||
| 1785 | Not held | Not held | ||||
| 1786 | Unenrolled | East Sekiwake 7–0–3 Unofficial |
||||
| 1787 | Called off due to bad harvest | East Sekiwake 7–1–2 |
||||
| 1788 | East Sekiwake 7–2–1 |
East Sekiwake 7–1–1 1h |
||||
| 1789 | East Sekiwake 10–0 Unofficial |
East Sekiwake 8–0 1d 1h Unofficial |
||||
| 1790 | East Ōzeki 8–0 1nr Unofficial |
East Ōzeki 6–1–2 1h |
||||
| 1791 | East Ōzeki 8–0–1 1nr Unofficial |
East Ōzeki 8–0–1 1h Unofficial |
||||
| 1792 | Unenrolled | Unenrolled | ||||
| 1793 | Unenrolled | East Ōzeki 8–1 1d |
||||
| 1794 | East Ōzeki 3–0–7 |
Sat out | ||||
| 1795 | East Ōzeki 4–0–1 |
Unenrolled | ||||
| 1796 | Unenrolled | East Ōzeki 7–2–1 |
||||
| 1797 | Unenrolled | East Ōzeki Retired 8–1–1 |
||||
| Record given as win-loss-absent Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Key: d=Draw(s) (引分); h=Hold(s) (預り); nr=no result recorded Yokozuna (not ranked as such on banzuke until 1890) Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira | ||||||
*Championships for the best record in a tournament were not recognized or awarded before the 1909 summer tournament, and the unofficial championships above are historically conferred. For more information, see yūshō.
See also
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Onogawa Kisaburō. |
References
- Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0283-X.
- Bolitho, Harold. "Sumō and Popular Culture", in Sport, Ed. Eric Dunning and Dominic Malcolm, Routledge, 2003, pp. 189–90. ISBN 0-415-26292-5
- Bolitho, p. 190.
- Lindsay, Rev. T. and Kano, J. "Jiujutsu – The Old Samurai Art of Fighting Without Weapons" in Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XVI, Part III, R. Meiklejohn and Co., 1889, p. 203.
- "Onogawa Saisuke Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference.
External links
- (in Japanese) Onogawa Saisuke Tournament results
| Preceded by Tanikaze Kajinosuke |
5th Yokozuna 1789–1798 |
Succeeded by Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke | ||
| Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can hold the title at once | ||||