Background
Shikimori Inosuke IX was born in 1854 in Tochigi, Japan. He was the second son of Shinemon, a farmer in Tsuga district in Tochigi Prefecture.
Shikimori Inosuke IX was born in 1854 in Tochigi, Japan. He was the second son of Shinemon, a farmer in Tsuga district in Tochigi Prefecture.
Shikimori went to Tokyo at the age of 13 to become a professional wrestler. Because his health was too delicate for a wrestler's career, he decided to become a referee and became a disciple of Inosuke Shikimori VI, the chief referee, and became Inosuke Shikimori IX in 1897. The rank of a referee bearing the name of Inosuke was second only to that of Shonosuke Kimura.
