Featured Club / Dojo - Tachikawa Renseikan Sumo Dojo

[mikawa 1,794]

A House for Training

Location - Suwa Shrine, Tachikawa, Tokyo
Keiko - Tuesdays (6pm - 9pm), Saturdays (6pm - 9pm)

Situated within the grounds of Susa Shrine (諏訪神社) in Tachikawa City, Western Tokyo, Tachikawa Renseikan Sumo Dojo (立川練成館相撲道場) is one of the oldest sumo clubs in Japan, having been founded all the way back in 1952. They are one of the few clubs in Japan to have 2 dohyos instead of the usual 1 (one for middle school students, the other for primary school students).

The annual National Club Championships (全国少年相撲選手権大会) was formerly known as the National Junior Sumo Tachikawa Championships, which attracted more than 800 junior rikishi from across the country at one point. In fact, such is Renseikan's establishness, that there are even road signs in Tachikawa pointing to their location:

 

Like Komatsuryu Dojo, Tachikawa Renseikan have also been featured in many TV programs and documentaries, the most notable of which is probably "Chikara - The Sumo Wrestler's Son", as the protagonist in the video, Sasaki Chikara (佐々木 主税), was a member of Renseikan at the time. The training opponent that he couldn't beat in the video is the club's ace in recent years, Yoshida Yuriki (吉田 優力).

 

There is also this TV program about sumo by German series Galileo, which follows a kid called Moro Yamato (毛呂 倭) as he learns sumo for the first time with Tachikawa Renseikan:

 

Tachikawa Renseikan have a number of coaches, most of whom are established members of the amateur sumo scene. For example, their Vice-Chairman Gohara Yoshitada (郷原 義忠) was the head shimpan at the 31st Wanpaku Tournament. Below is a list of the club's current coaches, all of whom are alumni of College and/or High School Sumo Clubs:

Hamada Kazuro (浜田 和郎) - Nippon Sport Science University

Gohara Yoshitada (郷原 義忠) - Komazawa University

Sagawa Toshihiko (佐川 聡彦) - Meiji University, Nakano High School

Gohara Takatoshi (郷原 貴利) - Nippon Sport Science University

Kono Shunji (河野 俊志) - Tokyo University of Agriculture

Shirakura Sho (白倉 昇) - Meiji University, Nakano High School

Goto Kenji (後藤 健志) - Senshu University

 

Under such tutelage, Tachikawa Renseikan have produced many prominent rikishi during their long history, including:

Saito Kazuo (斉藤 一雄) - Amateur Yokozuna, High School Yokozuna

Kato Koichi (加藤 耕市) - Amateur Yokozuna, High School Yokozuna, Middle School Yokozuna

Tanaka Yasuhiro (田中 康弘) - Wanpaku Yokozuna

Nishimura Yoshikane (西村 嘉兼) - Wanpaku Yokozuna

Ishida Tetsuya (石田 哲也) - Middle School Yokozuna

Tateno Suguru (立野 卓) - High School Sumo Kanazawa Championships

Shinzato Masaya (新里 昌也) - Wanpaku Yokozuna、Primary School Yokozuna

Nakamura Daiki (中村 大輝), aka Hokutofuji - Student Yokozuna、High School Yokozuna、Middle School Yokozuna

Sawada Hideo (沢田 日出夫) - Wanpaku Yokozuna, Primary School Yokozuna

 

Like Mitaka Sumo Club, Tachikawa Renseikan also maintain a blog each week. They have their keiko on Tuedays and Saturdays, from 6pm to 9pm. The walls of their training ground is lined with various trophies, certificates, newspaper articles and event information. They even have wood blocks with their members' names on the wall (a very nice touch):

 

Team Purple:

Edited October 5, 2019 by mikawa

[mikawa 1,794]

Spoke with Sasaki Chikara's dad today, who revealed that Chikara is currently a member of his high school's sumo club, and will be going on to college. As for joining Ozumo? That's no longer going to happen. (However, someone else from Tachikawa Renseikan is planning to turn pro this coming basho)

Edited August 5, 2017 by mikawa