Onogawa Kisaburō

Onogawa Kisaburō (小野川喜三郎, 1758 – April 30, 1806) was a sumo wrestler from Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 5th yokozuna. Along with Tanikaze he was the first to be given a yokozuna licence by the House of Yoshida Tsukasa and the first to perform the dohyō-iri to promote sumo tournaments.

Career

Onogawa was promoted to the top makuuchi division in March 1781. He defeated ōzeki Tanikaze Kajinosuke in February 1782. The victory surprised people in Edo as it brought to an end Tanikaze's run of 63 consecutive victories. Onogawa became a rival of Tanikaze and was popular with the public, although in reality he was quite far behind his rival and won only seven tournament titles to Tanikaze's 21. Onogawa was much shorter than Tanikaze at only 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄₂ in) but he had a speedy, crowd pleasing sumo style which helped him overcome his small physique.

Yoshida Oikaze certified both Onogawa and Tanikaze Kajinosuke as holders of the yokozuna rank in November 1789, in a ceremony which was also featured the introduction of the dohyō-iri display and the first appearance of the yokozuna's traditional ornaments: a thick girdle of white rope, supporting white paper gohei. He won 91.7% of his bouts, winning 144 times and losing only 13 times. Onogawa retired in 1798 to become a coach in Osaka sumo, but the next yokozuna, Ōnomatsu Midorinosuke, was not appointed for another thirty years. Fortunately for sumo's popularity, during that time the immensely powerful wrestler Raiden emerged.

A popular story holds that Onogawa studied jujutsu with renowned Kyūshin Ryū Sōke Inugami Gunbei after being thrown down twice in a casual match with that master outside a teahouse.

Top division record

• The actual time the tournaments were held during the year in this period often varied.

*Championships for the best record in a tournament were not recognized or awarded before the 1909 summer tournament, and the unofficial championships above are historically conferred. For more information, see yūshō.