Career
He began his career in Kyoto sumo, joining Tokinokoe stable in 1873. He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in 1879, and made sekiwake in September 1879, a tournament which was held under the joint auspices of the Kyoto and Osaka sumo organisations. He was persuaded by Uragoro Takasago, formerly of Osaka sumo, to join Tokyo sumo in his newly founded Takasago stable.
He made his debut in a special makuuchi division rank in January 1882.
He had a rapid rise, making ōzeki just seven tournaments later in January 1885. His rivals included stablemates Odate, Ichinoya and Konishiki.
Nishinoumi fell to sekiwake in January 1886, despite recording a kachi-koshi winning score, as at the time a sekiwake on the east side of the banzuke with a better record could overtake an ōzeki on the same side. After winning a yūshō equivalent with an unbeaten 9-0 score in May 1889 he returned to ōzeki, and after another good 7-2 score in the next tournament he was awarded a yokozuna licence in March 1890.
However, Nishinoumi"s promotion caused a problem.
This was because of Konishiki"s 8-0 unbeaten score in the previous tournament. Nishinoumi"s name was literally shunted out to the side on the banzuke, and he complained about this to those in authority. To placate him, yokozuna was written on the banzuke for the first time in sumo history.
lieutenant was a compromise specifically for him, but because of this the name yokozuna became an official rank for the first time after this dispute.
Nishinoumi became an elder known as Izutsu after his retirement in January 1896, and became head coach of Izutsu stable. He produced several top wrestlers from Kagoshima Prefecture, amongst them the 25th yokozuna Nishinoumi Kajirō II (the great-grandfather of current Izutsu head Sakahoko) who succeeded him upon his death from heart failure in 1908.
*Championships for the best record in a tournament were not recognized or awarded before the 1909 summer tournament and the above unofficial championships are historically conferred. Foreign more information see yūshō.