was a

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 th ...

wrestler from

Yame, Fukuoka 270px, Yame City Hall 270px, Iwatoyama Kofun is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,782 in 16050 households, and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . ...

, Japan. His highest rank was

komusubi , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

. He earned four gold stars for defeating

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers ('' rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the o ...

. After his retirement from active competition in 1961 he became an elder of the

Japan Sumo Association The , officially the ; sometimes abbreviated JSA or NSK, and more usually called Sumo Kyōkai, is the governing body that operates and controls Professional sports, professional sumo wrestling, called , in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Min ...

under the name Shikoroyama.

Career

Wakabayama was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, China, and was separated from his parents while still a child. He attempted to locate his parents who he believed might have returned to Japan by joining a sumo touring party. Upon joining professional sumo he took the Japanese surname of Iwahira. He was recruited by the active ''yokozuna''

Futabayama was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Oita Prefecture. Entering sumo in 1927, he was the sport's 35th ''Yokozuna (sumo), yokozuna'' from 1937 until his retirement in 1945. He won twelve ''yūshō'' or top division championships and had ...

and joined his Futabayama stable (later

Tokitsukaze stable The is a stable of sumo wrestlers in Japan, one of the Tokitsukaze group of stables. It was founded in 1769 and was dominant during the Taishō period. In its modern form it dates from 1941 when it was established by Futabayama, who was still a ...

) in January 1942. He used Iwahira as his fighting name until one tournament after he was promoted to the top ''

makuuchi , or , is the top division of Professional sumo divisions, the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous ...

'' division, when he adopted the ''

shikona A is a sumo wrestler's ring name. The tradition of ring names in sumo dates back to the Muromachi period and established itself during the Edo period, where they were used as a means to hide the identities of the . Given by the master to his di ...

'' of Wakabayama, taking two characters from his head coach Futabayama. His birthplace was recorded on the

banzuke A , officially called is a document listing the rankings of professional sumo wrestlers published before each official tournament ('' honbasho''). The term can also refer to the rankings themselves. The document is normally released about two ...

, although he later changed his surname to Aoyama (his wife's) and his birthplace to Omiya, Saitama. His promotion followed his '' yusho'' or tournament championship in the '' juryo'' division in November 1946, the only tournament held that year. Following his strong performance in the May 1951 tournament, where he defeated two ''yokozuna'' and won the Outstanding Performance Prize, he was promoted to ''

'' in September 1951, which was to be his highest rank. He fought in the top division for 49 tournaments with a win/loss record of 326/383. He was demoted from ''makuuchi'' in November 1959 after recording only one win against 14 losses. He competed in the ''juryo'' division until announcing his retirement after the January 1961 tournament.

Retirement from sumo

Following his retirement Wakabayama remained with the

as an elder under the name Shikoroyama Oyakata, and worked as a coach at Tokitsukaze stable until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 in November 1987.

Death

Wakabayama died of a

cerebral thrombosis A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

on January 17, 2001, in Fukushima. He was 78.

Family

Wakabayama's son-in-law Masashi Onami was a sumo wrestler in the Tatsutagawa stable, fighting as Wakashinobu and reaching a highest rank of makushita 51. Three of his grandsons also became sumo wrestlers, all fighting out of the

Arashio stable is a Heya (sumo), stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tokitsukaze ''Glossary of sumo terms#ichimon, ichimon'' or group of stables. It was set up in June 2002 by former ''komusubi'' Ōyutaka Masachika, Ōyutaka, who branched off from Tokitsuk ...

. The first was Onami (now Wakatakamoto) in 2009, followed by Goshi (now Wakamotoharu) in 2011. Wakatakakage, an amateur champion at

Toyo University is a private university with the main Hakusan Station (Tokyo), Hakusan campus in Bunkyō, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The university operates multiple satellite campuses in the Kanto region, including. Asaka, Saitama, Asaka, Kawagoe, Saitama, Kawagoe, ...

, joined as a '' sandanme tsukedashi'' entrant in March 2017, reached the ''makuuchi'' division in November 2019 and won the 2022 Osaka tournament.Unknown

Fighting style

Wakabayama was small for a sumo wrestler at and , but he was a noted technician. His favourite techniques included ''ashitori'' (leg grab) and ''shitatehineri'' (twisting underarm throw).

Pre-modern top division record

*''The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka in 1953.''

Modern top division tournament record

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakabayama, Sadao 1922 births 2001 deaths Japanese sumo wrestlers Komusubi People from Yame, Fukuoka Sumo people from Fukuoka Prefecture