Taihō Kōki
Taihō Kōki was born in Poronaysk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russia on May 29th, 1940 and is the Japanese Sumo Wrestler. At the age of 72, Taihō Kōki biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 72 years old, Taihō Kōki has this physical status:
Kōki's birth name was Ivan Boryshko. He was born on the island of Sakhalin (Karafuto Prefecture) to a Japanese mother Kiyo Naya and an ethnic Ukrainian father Markiyan Boryshko who had fled the Bolshevik Revolution. However, he is regarded as having come from Teshikaga, Hokkaidō, where he moved to as a child after the Soviet Union took control of Sakhalin in 1945. While on a sumo tour to the Soviet Union in 1965 he tried to locate his father, but without success. Taihō was the first of three great yokozuna who all hailed from Hokkaidō, the most northerly of the main islands of Japan and who among them dominated sumo during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The others were Kitanoumi and Chiyonofuji.
He entered sumo in September 1956, joining Nishonoseki stable. He initially fought under his real name of Naya Kōki. Upon promotion to the second jūryō division in May 1959 he was given the shikona (ring name) of "Taihō", meaning "Great peng" ("peng" is often translated to "phoenix"). Taihō rapidly rose through the ranks after his debut in the top makuuchi division in January 1960. He was a runner-up in his first top division tournament and was awarded the Fighting Spirit prize. At sekiwake rank in November 1960 he won the first of his former record 32 tournament championships and earned promotion to ōzeki. Following two consecutive tournament victories (his second and third) he became a yokozuna in September 1961, less than two years after his top division debut. Because the island of Sakhalin is/was claimed as a Japanese territory, Taihō is not considered the first non-Japanese yokozuna.