Ōuchiyama Heikichi

Ōuchiyama Heikichi
大内山 平吉
Personal information
Born	Heikichi Ōuchi (1926-06-19)June 19, 1926 Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Japan
Died	November 1, 1985(1985-11-01) (aged 59)
Height	2.02 m (6 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Weight	153 kg (337 lb)
Career
Stable	Tokitsukaze
Record	347-278-53
Debut	January 1944
Highest rank	Ōzeki (May 1955)
Retired	March 1959
Championships	1 (Makushita)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (1)
Gold Stars	2 (Chiyonoyama, Tochinishiki)
* Up to date as of October 2008.

Ōuchiyama Heikichi (born Heikichi Ōuchi, 19 June 1926 - 1 November 1985) was a sumo wrestler from Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Japan.

He joined Tokitsukaze stable in 1944 and reached the top makuuchi division in 1949. After finishing as runner-up to Chiyonoyama with a 13-2 record in March 1955 (Chiyonoyama defeated him in a playoff) he was promoted to sumo's second highest rank of ōzeki. He only managed to stay at ōzeki for eight tournaments, as injury meant he had three consecutive make-koshi or losing scores which saw him demoted from the rank. He fought in the maegashira ranks until his retirement in 1959. He became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association, working as a coach at his old stable. He was known as Shikoroyama Oyakata until 1961 and then Tatsutayama Oyakata until his death in 1985.

He was well known for his extraordinary size: at 2.02 m (6 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in) tall he was the tallest modern era ōzeki until Akebono in 1992.

Pre-modern career record

• Through most of the 1940s only two tournaments were held a year, and in 1946 only one was held. The New year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka in 1953.

Modern career record

• Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of ōzeki

References

External links

• Career record