Background
Tame-emon was born on January, 1767 in Shinano Province, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He was born to a farming family.
爲右衞門 雷電
Tame-emon was born on January, 1767 in Shinano Province, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. He was born to a farming family.
He is said to have possessed great physical strength even in childhood. His father Hanemon, who enjoyed sumo as much as sake, allowed 14-year-old Raiden to attend sumo classes at Nagaze (today called Murokocho), the neighbouring village.
When Raiden was 17, the Urakaze-beya stablemaster noticed him when he came through the area while on jungyō (regional tour) with his wrestlers. He was especially impressed with the young man's physique, which was extraordinary at the time.
When Urakaze Kazuki invited him to Edo and started training him, it turned out that Raiden possessed not only the body of a giant (by 18th-century Japanese standards), but also a talent for sumo wrestling. He was especially talented in oshi-sumo techniques and was able to move at a high speed considering his size. Soon Raiden left his stable and unofficially joined Isenoumi-beya, where yokozuna Tanikaze became his coach.
In 1789, the shikona (wrestler name) "Raiden", which means "thunder bolt", appeared in the banzuke ranking, although Raiden did not have his debut until fall 1790.
Raiden was ranked as a sekiwake, as was common practice then. He had the best record in the basho (tournament) without a defeat. After Tanikaze's death, Raiden was promoted to ōzeki in March 1795 - a rank he retained for nearly 17 years.
Between November 1793 and April 1800, Raiden finished with the best record in all tournaments he participated in, ahead of the other great fighters of his time, Tanikaze and Onogawa.
After 1800, he remained dominant, and sumo officials even disallowed him to use his favourite techniques in order to keep his matches interesting.
Finally, in spring 1811, Raiden retired from sumo at the age of 43. He became chairman of the sumo association of Izumo Province (in today's Shimane Prefecture), where his sponsor daimyō resided. In 1816, he moved to Edo and finished his diary Shokoku Sumo Hikae-cho ("journal of sumo in various regions"), which describes his time as an active wrestler since 1789.
After his death, he was buried in Akasaka in Edo. Two locks of his hair are buried in other graves which are located in his home village and in Matsue in Shimane.
Physical Characteristics: Young Raiden was 1.97 metres (6 ft 5.6 in) tall, which was three head lengths taller than most of his contemporaries. He also had matching long arms and large hands; a handprint at the Shofukuji temple near Okayama, which is said to be of Raiden's hand, measures 24 cm (9.4 in) from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger. When Raiden trained as a wrestler, he developed a weight of 169 kg (373 lb).