Takamiyama Daigorō

At 80 years old, Takamiyama Daigorō has this physical status:

Takamiyama made his professional debut in March 1964. He achieved sekitori status in March 1967 when he won promotion to the second highest jūryō division. He reached the top makuuchi division five tournaments later. He had an exceptionally long top division career that spanned from January 1968 to January 1984. For many years he held the record for having competed in the most tournaments as a top division wrestler, at 97 (these were also consecutive tournaments). In November 2009 this record was broken by the veteran ōzeki Kaiō, and Kaiō has also surpassed his long-standing record of 1430 top division bouts. However, Takamiyama still holds the record for the most consecutive bouts in the top division (1231), as he did not miss a match from his debut until he was forced to withdraw from the September 1981 tournament because of a training injury.

He won a total of twelve kinboshi (gold stars awarded for maegashira wins against a yokozuna), a record which stood until Akinoshima surpassed it in the 1990s. His first kinboshi came in only his second top division tournament against Sadanoyama, who had won the previous two tournaments but suddenly retired just two days after losing to him. His final gold star came ten years later at the age of 35, against Kitanoumi in September 1978 – only the third time the yokozuna had been beaten that year. Takamiyama also won eleven special prizes, or sanshō for his performances in tournaments.

The highlight of his career came in July 1972 when he won the tournament championship with a 13–2 record – the first foreigner ever to do so. Ranked at maegashira 4, he lost only to Kotozakura and Takanohana and defeated Asahikuni on the final day to finish one win ahead of Takanohana. A congratulatory letter from US President Richard Nixon was read out by the US Ambassador to Japan at the presentation ceremony, marking the first time English had been officially spoken on the dohyō.

Following this victory he was promoted to sumo's third highest rank of sekiwake. He was to hold this rank a further seven times, but he was ultimately unable to score ten wins or more in consecutive tournaments and so was never able to reach the rank of ōzeki. Nevertheless, he paved the way for other Hawaii wrestlers such as Konishiki and Akebono. His final appearance in the san'yaku ranks was at komusubi in September 1982 at age 38, making him the second oldest postwar san'yaku wrestler after former ōzeki Nayoroiwa.

Due to his exceptionally large size – he weighed over 200 kg as his peak – and trademark sideburns and bright orange mawashi, Takamiyama was an instantly recognisable figure to the Japanese public, even amongst those who did not regularly follow sumo. He appeared in several television commercials before the practice was banned by the Sumo Association. His great fighting spirit, and his determination to never miss a bout no matter what injuries he might be carrying – a Japanese character trait known as gaman – were much admired.

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