Raiden Tameemon

Raiden Tameemon (Japanese雷電 爲右エ門, own TAROKICHI Seki (关 太郎 吉) * January 1767 in Oishi, Nagano Prefecture, † February 11, 1825 ) is still regarded as one of the greatest sumo wrestler of the story, although he the Grandmaster title yokozuna was never awarded.

Curriculum vitae

Raiden was born under the name TAROKICHI as the son of poor farmers in a village in the former province of Shinano. According to legend, he is said to have been proved as a child demanding physical strength by hitting wooden or home large containers with water wore. His father Hanemon, a friend of sake and sumo, allowed the only 14 -year-old (now Marukocho ) to take the mayor of the neighboring town Nagaze lessons. As a 17 -year-old he caught the attention of the equerry of Urakaze - Beya: The young farmer was 1.97 m tall and towered over most of his contemporaries by almost half a meter. Also, Raiden had huge arms and huge hands: A handprint, which is preserved in Shofukuji Temple near Okayama, measures 24 cm from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. As a wrestler Raiden developed a fighting weight of 167 kg.

In training with Urakaze Kazuuki that brought him to Edo, it was found that the young wrestler not only the qualities of his exceptional stature possessed, but also had great talent, that is, in mastery of the technique, particularly in the field of Oshi Sumo so of knocking the opponent out of the ring, and showed tremendous speed. Soon joined Raiden to Isenoumi - Beya, where Tanikaze his mentor. 1789 appeared the name Raiden ( "Thunder ", a fight conferred by the sponsor name) for the first time on a ranked list, but only in the fall tournament in 1790, he made his debut. This basho, he, as was common for beginners at that time, denied as sekiwake, he was able to win without a defeat. In March 1795 Raiden was promoted after death Tanikazes to the (Western) Ozeki and retained that rank nearly 17 years. Between November 1793 and April 1800 Raiden won all the tournaments in which he participated, without other strong fighters like Tanikaze Onogawa or even could make a title dispute him.

In the following years he was able to outclass his opponents usually downright. His superiority was so great that the organizers of the fighting prevented him kick techniques. Only the Spring Tournament in 1811, at the age of 43, Raiden did not occur and withdrew from sumo wrestling. He was named after his resignation, Chairman of the Sumōverbands the province Unshu (now part of Shimane Prefecture), the ancestral home of his sponsors. In 1816, he finally retired to Edo. During this time he also completed work on his diary called Shokoku Sumo Hikae -cho ("Report from sumo in different tracts of land " ), which he had led since 1789.

After his death he was buried in Asakusa in Edo, more graves in his hometown and in Matsue in Shimane prefecture involve each a lock of hair.

Afterlife and meaning

Already in 1796, thus still active time Raiden, stills were erected in his honor and in honor of his mother in his native village. Likewise, the parents Raiden and a stone Sakefass can still be seen there today, the Raiden himself had in 1802 to commission in memory of his father. Meanwhile, not only monuments were built for Raiden, his portrait adorned already Stamps and beer labels.

Raiden had won over the years, 28 of the 35 tournaments contested, including seven without own defeat or draw. His encounters 254 obtained were compared with only ten defeats. This corresponds to a success rate of 96.2 %. Raiden could consecutively and 44 fights in series to decide for eleven tournaments.

Although Raiden so until today can boast the most successful balance of a rikishi he was never promoted to yokozuna. This has probably sometimes is a reason that the family of Raiden's sponsor, the daimyo Matsudaira Harusato, until the Battle of Sekigahara to the enemies of the now ruling Tokugawa mattered, while the person entitled to award of the yokozuna license Yoshida family for a long time with was attached to the ruling clan. On the other hand, was the yokozuna title anyway until the end of the 19th century not as a separate rank. Despite everything, Raiden's name is perpetuated since 1900 on one of the Yokozuna Memorial Plaques in Fukagawa - Hachimangu Shrine in Tokyo.