Kagamisato Kiyoji was a sumo wrestler from Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
Background
He was born Kiyoji Okuyama in a small fishing village in Sannohe District. He came from a poor family as his father had died when he was very young, and he had to support his mother when his older siblings left the house. More interested in basketball, and with his mother also reluctant, the young Okuyama initially refused, but after his family was provided with financial assistance he eventually travelled to Tokyo to repay Kagamiiwa"s kindness.
Career
He was the sport"s 42nd yokozuna. He was already large as a teenager and soon spotted by a wrestler named Kagamiiwa and invited to join sumo. In the summer of 1940, he joined the now retired Kagamiiwa"s Kumegawa stable.
He made his professional debut in January 1941 and was given the shikona or sumo name of Kagamisato.
When the great yokozuna Futabayama Sadaji established his own stable, Kagamisato followed his stablemaster there, and it was later renamed Tokitsukaze stable. He was promoted to the top makuuchi division in June 1947.
He was promoted from the maegashira ranks to sekiwake, third from the top. He reached the second highest ōzeki rank just four tournaments after that.
There had been four yokozuna competing in that tournament, but all had performed badly, with Terukuni announcing his retirement.
Keen to have a strong yokozuna, the Japan Sumo Association overrode the initial objections of the Yokozuna Deliberation Committee and promoted him. A somewhat reserved figure, he was perhaps less popular with the public than some of his higher profile yokozuna rivals such as Tochinishiki and Wakanohana I. He also had a difficult relationship with the press In the January 1958 tournament, his rival Yoshibayama Junnosuke retired from being an active sumo wrestler.
He finished 9–6 and kept his word by announcing his retirement on the final day.
He had had a chronic knee problem for many years and felt he had reached his physical limit. After his retirement he remained with the Sumo Association as an elder.
He briefly became head of Tokitsukaze stable after the death of Futabayama but was forced out as Futabayama"s widow wanted Yutakayama to take over. As a result, he switched to the Tatsutagawa elder name and opened up his own Tatsutagawa stable in 1971.
He reached the mandatory retirement age in April 1988 and stood down, passing the stable over to former sekiwake Aonosato.
He had not managed to produce any top division wrestlers in that time. He remained a heavy man, weighing around 110 kg in his later years, but he still lived until the age of 80, making him one of the longest lived yokozuna of all time. Only two tournaments were held a year through much of the 1940s.
The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka tournament in 1953.
Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.