Matsuda Sorakichi (1859 – August 16, 1891) was a Japanese professional wrestler of the 19th century. He became a feature attraction in America, competing in a distinctly

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sport, long before it was adopted in Japan.

Background

Sorakichi was born Koujiro Matsuda (

Kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subse ...

: 松田幸次郎,

Hiragana is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" ori ...

: まつだこうじろう) in Japan. He trained and competed in

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a '' rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring ('' dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by ...

, under the sumo name Torakichi (荒竹光二郎). These names were later corrupted by American promoters and the sporting press into "Matsada Korgaree Sorakichi," as he would be known in America for the rest of his life. To colleagues he was known as "Mat" or "The Jap."

Career

Matsuda came to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

in 1883 and had his first match in

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on January 14, 1884. He lost to the

Englishman The English people are an ethnic group and nation native to England, who speak the English language, a West Germanic language, and share a common history and culture. The English identity is of Anglo-Saxon origin, when they were known in ...

Edwin Bibby Edwin Bibby (15 November 1848 – 5 May 1905) was an English wrestling champion during the 1870s and 1880s. He was a popular catch-as-catch-can style wrestler in his generation. He became the first American Heavyweight Champion in 1881 with ...

. In March, 1884, Matsuda beat Bibby and then James Daley in

. Over the next few months he went on the road and wrestled in

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, Buffalo,

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Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and Peoria. His opponents included

Duncan C. Ross Duncan C. Ross (March 12, 1856 – September 8, 1919) was a wrestler in the 1880s. He lost to Catch as Can Style Wrestling Champion Edwin Bibby in 1881 for the American Heavyweight Championship. He was a famous Scotch athlete who was the Cornis ...

, Jack Gallagher, Benny Jones, Joe Acton, Carlos Martino, Andre Christol and Ted George.

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Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, ...

William Muldoon William A. Muldoon (May 25, 1845 – June 3, 1933) was the Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion, a physical culturist and the first chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission. He once wrestled a match that lasted over seven hours. Nicknamed "The ...

was Matsuda's most famous opponent. Muldoon beat Matsuda in

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on July 18, 1884. Matsuda returned to

in August, 1884, where he lived until June, 1885. While in

he beat James Quigley and Jack Herd, drew with

Karl Abs Carl Johann Theodor Abs, generally referred to as Carl Abs (September 12, 1851, Groß Godems, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin – February 18, 1895, Hamburg), also known as "The German Oak", was one of Germany's most well known professional w ...

and William Muldoon, and lost twice to Abs. In June 1885 he wrestled in

and

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in December. On May 5, 1885 William Muldoon challenged Sorakichi to a handicap match, wagering $100 that he could pin the Japanese wrestler five times in one hour. Muldoon failed in his endeavor. During a February 15, 1886 match with Evan "Strangler" Lewis Sorakichi reportedly had his leg broken in a leg lock but was back in action one month later. In March, 1886, Matsuda lost to the British World Heavyweight Champion Tom Cannon in

and drew with the German World Heavyweight Champion Ernest Roeber in

. The match against Roeber took place at the Germania Assembly Roon, in the Bowery. Matsuda was on the road the rest of 1886, wrestling in

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and St. Louis. opponents included Duncan Ross, Joe Acton, Jack Carkeek, James Doner, James Faulkner and Bernarr MacFadden. During 1887, he wrestled in Buffalo,

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and

. In 1888 he toured

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

(

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and

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming Vall ...

) and also visited

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. His opponents included Jesse Clark, Joe Acton, Jack Hart, Jim Connors, H.M. Dufur, Harvey Parker,

, and John McMahon. In January and February, 1889 he wrestled August La Grange,

and Ted George in

. His last match was on May 13, 1891 against

Martin "Farmer" Burns Martin Burns (February 15, 1861 – January 8, 1937), nicknamed Farmer Burns, was an American catch wrestler, wrestling coach, and teacher. Born in Cedar County, Iowa, he started wrestling as a teenager and made money traveling around the Mid ...

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. Matsuda tried, unsuccessfully, to bring American wrestling to Japan. On August 16, 1891, he died destitute in

at age 32. He is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in The

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, New York City. In February, 1902, eleven years after his death, Jack Carkeek told the British sporting paper Mirror of Life that he held "a high opinion of Sorakichi, the Jap, whom he considers to probably be the cleverest man in the world at his weight. The plucky little Jap has suffered numerous defeats simply because he has tackled all the best men of the day, no matter what their size or weight might be, and the good little ones must ever go down to big ones".

References

External links

Japanese Professional Wrestling Pioneer: Sorakichi Matsuda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matsuda, Sorakichi 1859 births 1891 deaths 19th-century professional wrestlers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Japanese male professional wrestlers Japanese sumo wrestlers Burials at Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York)