Taihō Kōki

大鵬幸喜 Taiho Kōki
Statue of Yokozuna Taiho
Personal information
Born	Kōki Naya May 29, 1940 (1940-05-29) Hokkaido
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Weight	153 kg (340 lb; 24.1 st)
Career
Heya	Nishonoseki
Record	872-181-136
Debut	September, 1956
Highest rank	Yokozuna (September, 1961)
Retired	May, 1971
Yūshō	32 (Makuuchi) 1 (Juryo) 1 (Sandanme)
Sanshō	Fighting Spirit (2) Technique (1)
Kinboshi	1 (Asashio)
* Career information is correct as of August 2007.

Taihō Kōki (大鵬幸喜, born May 29, 1940 as Kōki Naya) is the 48th Yokozuna in the Japanese sport of sumo wrestling. He is generally regarded as the greatest sumo wrestler of the post-war period. He became a yokozuna in 1961 at the age of 21, the youngest ever at the time, and he won a record 32 tournaments between 1960 and 1971. His dominance was such that he won six tournaments in a row on two separate occasions. He is the only wrestler to win at least one championship every year of his top division career, and he has the highest career winning percentage of any wrestler in the modern era. After his retirement he was the head coach of Taihō stable.

Early career

He was born on the island of Sakhalin to a Japanese mother and an ethnic Ukrainian father who had fled the Bolshevik Revolution. However, he is regarded as having come from Teshikaga, Hokkaidō, where he moved to as a child after the Soviet Union took control of Sakhalin in 1945. While on a sumo tour to the Soviet Union in 1965 he tried to locate his father, but without success. Taihō was the first of three great yokozuna who all hailed from Hokkaidō, the most northerly of the main islands of Japan, and who among them dominated sumo during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The others were Kitanoumi and Chiyonofuji.

He entered sumo in September 1956, joining Nishonoseki stable. He initially fought under his own surname of Naya. Upon promotion to the second juryo division in May 1959 he was given the shikona (wrestler name) of "Taihō", meaning "Great peng" ("peng" is often translated to "phoenix"). Taihō rapidly rose through the ranks after his debut in the top makuuchi division in January 1960. He was a runner-up in his first top division tournament and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize. At sekiwake rank in November 1960 he won the first of his record 32 tournament championships and earned promotion to ozeki. Following two consecutive tournament victories (his second and third) he became a yokozuna in September 1961, less than two years after his top division debut.

Yokozuna

At the time of his promotion Taihō was the youngest ever wrestler to achieve sumo's highest rank of yokozuna aged 21 years and three months, a record subsequently surpassed by Kitanoumi who was one month younger. Exceptionally for a newly promoted yokozuna he also managed to win his first tournament subsequent to his promotion. He was promoted simultaneously with Kashiwado, and their rivalry created what became known as the Hakuhō era. Although Kashiwado was to win only five tournament championships, Taihō was to remark, "There was Taihō because there was Kashiwado. There was Kashiwado because there was Taihō." Outside of competition they had a genuine friendship, which continued until Kashiwado's death in 1996.

Taihō outperformed Kashiwado very quickly, and during his tenure in sumo's highest rank he was dominant, especially in the early part of his career. Until 2005—when the 68th Yokozuna Asashōryū bettered his record—he was the only post-war yokozuna to have achieved six tournament victories consecutively, a feat he managed on two separate occasions. Eight of his championships were achieved with a perfect record of 15 wins and no losses (zensho-yusho), a record. He came back from a long term injury in 1968 and embarked on a 45 bout winning streak that was broken in March 1969 only after an incorrect decision by the judges. This caused such a furor that video replays were introduced after the incident.

He was a popular grand champion, especially amongst women and children. He married in 1966 at the height of his fame, to the daughter of a ryokan proprietor. Their lavish reception at the Imperial Hotel was attended by 1000 guests and over 200 reporters. He was the first to hold a press conference afterwards, now a common occurrence with sumo marriages.

His final championship came in January 1971 after a playoff with Tamanoumi, maintaining his record of winning at least one championship every year of his top division career. He had a good score of 12-3 in the following tournament, but announced his retirement five days into the May 1971 tournament after losing to the promising young wrestler Takanohana for the second time. He had been a yokozuna for nearly ten years. His career win ratio was in excess of 80%, which is also a post-war record. He became the first former rikishi to be offered (and accept) membership of the Japan Sumo Association without having to purchase a share, in recognition of his great achievements.

After retirement

Taihō branched off from his old heya and opened Taihō stable in December 1971. In February 1977, at the age of 36, he suffered a stroke, and his subsequent health problems may have played a part in him being passed over for the chairmanship of the Sumo Association. He had extensive rehabilitation sessions to get the left side of his body moving again. In general he did not manage to replicate his own wrestling success as a trainer, but he did produce Ozutsu, a sekiwake who fought in 78 consecutive top division tournaments from 1979 to 1992. He had his kanreki dohyō-iri ceremony to mark his 60th birthday in 2000, although his restricted mobility meant he could not perform it in full. In May 2002 he recruited the Russian wrestler Rohō. His youngest daughter had married ex sekiwake Takatoriki, and he handed over control of his stable to his son-in-law in February 2003.

He reached the mandatory retirement age of 65 in May 2005 and became the curator of the Sumo Museum at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. He still maintains close contact with his old stable, inviting yokozuna Hakuhō to train there in May 2008.

In November 2009, he was one of 15 people to receive the Person of Cultural Merit award, becoming the first sumo wrestler to be so honoured.

Fighting style

Taihō was noted for his skill and power when he grabbed his opponents' mawashi or belt– techniques known as yotsu-sumo. His preferred grip was hidari-yotsu, a right hand outside, left hand inside position. His most common winning move was yori-kiri, a straightforward force out, which accounted for about 30 percent of his wins. His most frequently used throws were sukuinage (the beltless scoop throw) and uwatenage (the overarm throw).

He was particularly diligent about training, and was known to invite every new member of the top division to train with him.

Professional record

Taihō Kōki

year in sumo	January Hatsu basho, Tokyo	March Haru basho, Osaka	May Natsu basho, Tokyo	July Nagoya basho, Nagoya	September Aki basho, Tokyo	November Kyūshū basho, Fukuoka
1957	West Jonokuchi #23 7–1	East Jonidan #83 6–2	West Jonidan #29 7–1	x	West Sandanme #71 7–1	East Sandanme #37 6–2
1958	West Sandanme #20 6–2	East Sandanme #1 8–0–P Champion	West Makushita #31 7–1–P Champion	East Makushita #9 7–1	West Makushita #2 3–5	East Makushita #7 6–2
1959	East Makushita #4 6–2	East Makushita #1 6–2	West Jūryō #20 9–6	East Jūryō #16 9–6	East Jūryō #10 13–2	East Jūryō #3 13–2 Champion
1960	West Maegashira #13 12–3 F	East Maegashira #4 7–8	East Maegashira #6 11–4 F★	West Komusubi 11–4	West Sekiwake 12–3 T	East Sekiwake 13–2
1961	East Ōzeki 10–5	West Ōzeki 12–3	West Ōzeki 11–4	East Ōzeki 13–2	East Ōzeki 12–3–P	West Yokozuna 13–2
1962	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 13–2–P	East Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 13–2–P	East Yokozuna 13–2
1963	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 12–3	East Yokozuna 14–1	West Yokozuna 12–3
1964	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 10–5	East Yokozuna 1–4–10	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 14–1
1965	East Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 9–6	West Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 13–2
1966	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 13–2–P	East Yokozuna 15–0
1967	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 2–1–12	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 11–2–2
1968	East Yokozuna 1–3–11	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	West Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 15–0
1969	East Yokozuna 15–0	East Yokozuna 3–2–10	West Yokozuna 13–2	East Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 11–4	East Yokozuna 6–4–5
1970	Sat out due to injury 0–0–15	East Yokozuna 14–1	East Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 2–2–11	East Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna 14–1–P
1971	West Yokozuna 14–1–P	West Yokozuna 12–3	West Yokozuna Retired 3–3–0	x	x	x
Record given as win-loss-absent    Top Division Champion Retired Lower Divisions Sanshō key: F=Fighting spirit; O=Outstanding performance; T=Technique     Also shown: ★=Kinboshi(s) P=Playoff(s) Divisions: Makuuchi — Jūryō — Makushita — Sandanme — Jonidan — Jonokuchi Makuuchi ranks: Yokozuna — Ōzeki — Sekiwake — Komusubi — Maegashira

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of sumo tournament winners
• List of sumo tournament second division winners
• List of yokozuna

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile

previous: Kashiwado Tsuyoshi	48th Yokozuna 1961 - 1971	next: Tochinoumi Teruyoshi
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title

Preceded by Yomiuri Giants

Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize Winner 1970

Succeeded by Shigeo Nagashima