Onogawa Kisaburō

In this Japanese name, the family name is Onogawa.
Onogawa Kisaburō
小野川喜三郎
Personal information
Born 川村 喜三郎
Kawamura Kisaburō
1758
Shiga, Japan
Died April 30, 1806(1806-04-30) (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.

Onogawa Kisaburō (小野川喜三郎, 1758 – April 30, 1806) was a sumo wrestler from Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 5th yokozuna. Along with Tanikaze he 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.

Career

Onogawa was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 1781. He defeated ōzeki Tanikaze Kajinosuke 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 12 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 Kajinosuke 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 Midorinosuke, 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

Onogawa[5]
- Spring Winter
1781 East Maegashira #3
513
1h

 
East Jūryō #5
62
 
1782 East Jūryō #3
51
 
East Maegashira #4
711
1d

 
1783 East Maegashira #4
503
1h 1nr

 
East Maegashira #2
602
1d 1h

 
1784 East Komusubi
62
2h

 
East Sekiwake
901
Unofficial

 
1785 Not held Not held
1786 Unenrolled East Sekiwake
703
Unofficial

 
1787 Called off due to bad harvest East Sekiwake
712
 
1788 East Sekiwake
721
 
East Sekiwake
711
1h

 
1789 East Sekiwake
100
Unofficial

 
East Sekiwake
80
1d 1h
Unofficial

 
1790 East Ōzeki
80
1nr
Unofficial

 
East Ōzeki
612
1h

 
1791 East Ōzeki
801
1nr
Unofficial

 
East Ōzeki
801
1h
Unofficial

 
1792 Unenrolled Unenrolled
1793 Unenrolled East Ōzeki
81
1d

 
1794 East Ōzeki
307
 
Sat out
1795 East Ōzeki
401
 
Unenrolled
1796 Unenrolled East Ōzeki
721
 
1797 Unenrolled East Ōzeki
Retired
811
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
Divisions: Makuuchi Jūryō Makushita Sandanme Jonidan Jonokuchi

Makuuchi ranks: 
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

  1. 1 2 3 Sharnoff, Lora (1993). Grand Sumo. Weatherhill. ISBN 0-8348-0283-X.
  2. Bolitho, Harold. "Sumō and Popular Culture", in Sport, Ed. Eric Dunning and Dominic Malcolm, Routledge, 2003, pp. 189-90. ISBN 0-415-26292-5
  3. Bolitho, p. 190.
  4. 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.
  5. "Onogawa Saisuke Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference.
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Tanikaze Kajinosuke
5th Yokozuna
1789 - 1798
Next:
Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title
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