Background
Kiyotaka Tochinishiki was born on February 20, 1925 in Tokyo, Japan.
Tochinishiki's handprint displayed on a monument in Ryōgoku, Tokyo
Tochinishiki performing the dohyō-iri
清隆 栃錦
Kiyotaka Tochinishiki was born on February 20, 1925 in Tokyo, Japan.
Kiyotaka Tochinishiki entered the Kasugano (former Grand Champion Tochigiyama) Sumo Training School (1938). He was a fine all round athlete at elementary school, and although he had no family connections to sumo, he was introduced by a shop owner to Kasugano Oyakata, the former yokozuna Tochigiyama.
Tochinishiki made his professional debut in January 1939. He was of such a small size that he had to drink copious amounts of water to meet the weight requirement at his physical. However, his stablemaster, to whom Tochinishiki served as an attendant or tsukebito and was a great influence on him in his early days, expected him to become strong.
Kiyotaka Tochinishiki reached the top makuuchi division in June 1947. He made up for his lack of size by showing superb technique. He won no fewer than nine special prizes for Technique, and it was even suggested that the prize had been created especially for him. Tochinishiki was known as the Mamushi (Viper) due to his tenacity once he grabbed hold of his opponent's mawashi.
In January 1951, he lost 7 consecutive bouts, but he bounced back to win eight in a row and clinched his majority of wins or kachi-koshi on the final day, despite the bout being interrupted by a drunken spectator. After this performance, Tochinishiki began to raise his rank on the banzuke rapidly, taking his first top division championship in September 1952 and earning promotion to ōzeki. He finally reached yokozuna in October 1954 after winning two successive championships. Between March 1959 and March 1960, he won 95 bouts and lost only 10 bouts. He had a great rivalry with yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji I, who reached the top rank in January 1958. They were of a similar build, and they each won ten top division tournament championships in their careers, with Tochinishiki coming out slightly ahead in their personal meetings with 19 wins out of 35 bouts. In July 1959 he defeated Wakanohana on the final day and won the championship with a perfect 15-0 score.
In addition to his position as stable boss he was also the chairman (rijichō) of the Japan Sumo Association from 1974 to 1988, making him the longest serving chairman to date. Under his direction the new Ryōgoku Kokugikan was built in 1985.
Suffering from diabetes, he stood down voluntarily, allowing his old rival Wakanohana to ascend to the position. During his tenure as head of the Association, in 1985, he performed his kanreki dohyō-iri or '60th year ring entrance ceremony' to commemorate his years as yokozuna. He died in January 1990, following a stroke.
Physical Characteristics: Height 1.77 m, weight 132 kg.