Asashio Tarō III

Asashio Tarō III
朝潮 太郎
Personal information
Born	Fumitoshi Yonekawa (1929-11-13)November 13, 1929 Hyōgo, Japan
Died	October 23, 1988(1988-10-23) (aged 58)
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	135 kg (298 lb)
Career
Stable	Takasago
Record	497-269-101
Debut	October, 1948
Highest rank	Yokozuna (March, 1959)
Retired	January, 1962
Championships	5 (Makuuchi) 1 (Jūryō)
Special Prizes	Outstanding Performance (4)
Gold Stars	7 Chiyonoyama (3) Haguroyama Yoshibayama Tochinishiki Kagamisato
* Up to date as of Sep. 2012.

Asashio Tarō III (朝潮 太郎, November 13, 1929 – October 23, 1988) was a sumo wrestler from Kobe, Hyogo, Japan (born on Tokushima in the Amami Islands). He was the sport's 46th yokozuna. He was also a sumo coach and head of Takasago stable.

Career

Making his professional debut in October 1948, he at first fought under his own surname of Yonekawa. In September 1950 he reached the second highest jūryō division and won the championship at his first attempt with a 14-1 record. This earned him immediate promotion to the top makuuchi division in January 1951. He adopted the shikona or ring name of Asashio ("morning tide") in 1952. In his early career he earned seven kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna, three of them coming in one tournament in January 1955 when he beat Yoshibayama on Day 5 and then Chiyonoyama and Tochinishiki on Days 8 and 9.^[1]

Asashio won five top division tournament championships, all but one of them in Osaka.^[2] He won this tournament three years in a row from 1956 to 1958. His first title was won at sekiwake rank in a three way playoff that also involved future yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji I and maegashira Wakahaguro.^[2] He earned promotion to ōzeki a year later after winning his second championship. In November 1958 he won the tournament in Kyūshū with a 14-1 record. After runner-up honours in the next two tournaments he was finally promoted to yokozuna at nearly 30 years of age. His time at sumo's highest rank was difficult as he missed many bouts through injury. He had to sit out the three tournaments following his yokozuna debut and was only able to win one further tournament, in March 1961. He did not take part in the January 1962 tournament and announced his retirement at the age of 32.

Retirement from sumo

Asashio remained in the sumo world as an elder under the name of Furiwake, and became head coach of Takasago stable in 1971 after the death of the previous stablemaster, former yokozuna Maedayama. As Takasago-oyakata he coached Asashio Tarō IV and Konishiki to the rank of ōzeki. He predicted that Konishiki would reach the rank of yokozuna before his 25th birthday, but it did not happen.^[3] He also recruited the Samoan wrestler Nankairyū but after a heated argument with Takasago, Nankairyū ran away from the stable in September 1988.^[4] Takasago died of a stroke a few weeks later.

Pre-modern top division record

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

Modern top division record

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

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Asashio Tarō III.

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

References

External links

• Japan Sumo Association profile