Wakashima Gonshiro, Yokozuna 21

[Naganoyama]

On the yokozuna list in Grand Sumo, Wakashima Gonshiro is listed as having his yokozuna promotion in April 1905 and having retired in January 1907. He is not listed on the banzuke (banzuke.com) between those dates. I assume that this means that he was in Osaka sumo (although Sharnoff usually marks these yokozuna with a double asterisk).

Would anyone be able to direct me to banzuke for Osaka sumo on the net?

[Jonosuke]

I don't know of any site that has Osaka Banzuke at the moment. I imagine you need to get special reference material available at a place like the Sumo Museum or a major library in Japan to get the banzuke from those days before their merger with the Tokyo.

But here are some info on Wakashima FWIW.

Born January 19, 1876, Wakashima, the 21st Yokozuna (and 4th Osaka Yokozuna) was the first of four Osaka Sumo based yokozunas granted the yokozuna license (the others are 23rd Okido, 28th Onishiki and 29th Miyagiyama).

Wakashima's real name was Kato Daigoro and was born in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. He was big as a kid and soon was taken in by then Ozeki Wakashima.

He was 178 cm tall and weighed 107 kg. He had powerful tsupparis and was known for a quick rapid sumo style.

He made his dohyo debut in 1890 and in the following year in May he made his Jonokuchi debut. He made his Makuuchi debut at the January 1896. Prior to his Juryo debut in June 1895, his shisho passed away and he moved to Tomozuna Beya. His initial shikona was Matsuwaka but he changed it to Tatekabuto after his senior heya mate Tatekabuto Kyushiro. During a Jyungyo tour in Gifu, there was a major earthquake and Tatekabuto pushed the young Matsuwaka out of the house they were in to save his life while he himself was crushed and buried under the roof and lost his life.

Wakashima was considered to be a very good looking rikishi and he became very popular quickly after he started climing up the banzuke. He adopted his old shisho's shikona Wakashima by then but he soon stopped doing any keiko and started going out and drinking too much. After he contacted a smallpox, he felt he could not continue any longer and cut his mage and run away during a jyungyo tour in Kumamoto.

But he could not stay away from sumo too long and joined the Kyoto Sumo through Oikari, a major influence there. Soon he was asked by Osaka Sumo's Nakamura Beya to join Osaka Sumo using a new shikona Hidenoumi as there was already Ozeki Wakashima Kouemon. Unlike his Tokyo Basho days, he was a changed man in Osaka, working and training hard and quickly became Komusubi in 1900 and Ozeki in May 1901. He was granted a Yokozuna license from the House of Gojyo in 1903 and in April 1905 he was granted the license from the house of Yoshida Tsukasa. From May 1899 to January 1903 he won 35 consecutive bouts.

As a yokozuna Wakashima's record was eight wins and one loss with 27 kyujo days. Including those he had before he was granted by yokozuna license by the House of Yoshida Tsukasa, he had 33 wins, 3 losses, 3 draws and 42 kyujo.

There is a reason for his kyujo. After he became yokozuna, he had a bicycle accident during a jyungyo held in Yamaguchi Prefecture. He fell and hit his head hard and he was never the same afterwards.

After his retirement in January 1908 he was granted one generation Toshiyori but soon he gave it up and left sumo to pursue stage and theater operations. But this did not last long as he went bankrupt . After failing the business venture he decided to turn to organize a variety of charity events like setting up a home for war widows and orphans. He also built a big Torie at the Yasukuni Shrine.

While on the way to Tokyo after being invited by Tatsunami oyakata, he passed away in Kobe from a stroke on October 23, 1943.

Edited January 28, 2005 by Jonosuke

[nabudetoulouse]

look my yokozuna french website

My Webpage

banzuke and 3 pictures

[Naganoyama]

I don't know of any site that has Osaka Banzuke at the moment.  I imagine you need to get special reference material available at a place like the Sumo Museum or a major library in Japan  to get the banzuke from those days before their merger with the Tokyo.

But here are some info on Wakashima FWIW.

...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you for this great information. Anytime you want to follow this up with info on the other 3 Osaka yokozuna, you will have at least one grateful reader.

:'-(

I suspected the Osaka banzuke might be a bit specialised for the web, but you never know...I guess it was worth a try.

look my yokozuna french website

My Webpage

banzuke and 3 pictures

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks also for this - With your additional notes about all the detailed shikona changes, at least I can now hook this guy into the Tokyo banzuke data that we already have. (I hadn't realised he was also Wakashima Daigoro)

BTW one of the banzuke links appears to be broken (April 1905).