Former ozeki Asahikuni, also a trailblazing stablemaster, dies at age 77

The sumo world lost a major figure this week with the death of a man who completely changed the course of Japan’s national sport.

Former ozeki Asahikuni died at age 77 in Tokyo on Tuesday, after a long struggle with diabetes and related complications.

As a wrestler, Asahikuni displayed a fearless doggedness that earned him both the nickname “Piranha” and a series of special prizes in the mid 1970s.

Despite being on the smaller side (he failed to meet minimum standards for new entrants several times and was even mistaken for an aspiring referee) and never weighing above 120 kilograms at any point in his career, Asahikuni eventually managed to reach sumo’s second-highest rank of ozeki.

The Hokkaido native was only prevented from greater glory by an inability to overcome his era’s legendary trio of superstars, Kitanoumi, Wajima and Takanohana.

Post-retirement, however, was when Asahikuni, then known as Oshima stablemaster, had his biggest impact on sumo.

In 1992, Oshima recruited six young Mongolian men into his stable, creating a connection between sumo and the central Asian nation that would eventually result in the utter domination of his home country’s sport by wrestlers hailing from the Land of the Eternal Blue Sky.

Starting with Asashoryu’s November 2002 triumph — which gave Mongolia its first-ever Emperor’s Cup winner — 71 of 77 top-division meets, over a span of 14 years, were won by the fiery yokozuna and his countrymen.

In fact, so dominant were Mongolian wrestlers in the early part of the 21st century that, following Tochiazuma’s January 2006 victory, it would be a full decade before another native-born Japanese rikishi tasted success at the highest level.

While the balance has been restored to a degree in recent years, five of the last six yokozuna were born in Mongolia, and that country’s Emperor’s Cup total, which has been added to by Terunofuji, Ichinojo, Tamawashi, Hoshoryu and others, now stands at 102 and counting.

That’s almost four times as many titles as Takamiyama, Konishiki, Akebono and Musashimaru managed in the pre-Mongolian era, when Americans were the preeminent foreign power in sumo.

But even as Mongolian born rikishi began to take over the sport in the early to mid 2000s, Oshima’s recruits, much like their stablemaster, found themselves overshadowed by bigger names.

While Kyokushuzan and Kyokutenho reached the ranks of komusubi and sekiwake, respectively, neither man came close to matching the exploits of Hakuho, Asashoryu or Harumafuji.

Even more heartbreaking, just months after Oshima reached the Japan Sumo Association’s retirement age of 65 and the stable he had founded was shuttered — with its rikishi absorbed into Tomozuna beya — 37-year-old Kyokutenho became the oldest first time Emperor’s Cup winner ever.

After creating the Mongolian pipeline and spending two decades coaching Kyokutenho, Oshima missed out on having his history-making protege claim glory under his stable’s name by a matter of months.

Asahikuni during a match in Tokyo in January 1979 | Jiji

In a measure of consolation, the former Oshima was pictured sitting next to the Emperor’s Cup holding Kyokutenho doing the banzai cheer in the dressing room, immediately after that triumph.

Of course, bringing Mongolian rikishi into о̄zumо̄ wasn’t the former ozeki’s only achievement, and under his stewardship Oshima stable earned four Emperor’s Cups through Asahifuji (who would rise to yokozuna) and saw men such as Kyokudozan and Asahiyutaka reach the sanyaku ranks.

Asahifuji went on to be a highly successful stablemaster in his own right and is probably better known to modern fans as the man who developed Harumafuji, and was responsible for kick-starting Terunofuji’s incredible comeback after refusing to accept his request to retire after his fall to the lower divisions.

Asahiyutaka and Kyokutenho are also current stablemasters, while Kyokudozan took an unusual route after leaving Oshima stable and became a politician, earning election to the House of Representatives in 1996 in a political career that lasted until 2000.

That Oshima should raise so many important and influential men is a testament to his relentless drive – something which was evident from early on in his active career.

In addition to refusing to accept several rejections at the start of his sumo journey, Asahikuni also had to overcome chronic pancreatic issues throughout his time in о̄zumо̄.

On one occasion, after being told by doctors as he left hospital that he was putting his life at risk by returning to sumo so soon, Asahifuji replied that it was the dream of a rikishi to die in the ring.

Reckless disregard for one’s own well-being was a common feature of sumo in decades past. In addition to training and competing through the pain, many men also burned the candle at both ends, with heavy alcohol consumption being a feature of everyday life in the sport.

Given how much Asahikuni put his small frame through, both within and without the ring, reaching the age of 77, even in a country famed for longevity, was an achievement.

The former ozeki died just a few months after contemporary Oshio, who died at age 76 in May. Oshio’s 1,891 career bouts remain the most all-time, with Kyokutenho not far behind at 1,870.

Asahikuni may not be the most decorated rikishi of all time, but his resilience and perseverance in the face of hardship made him a wrestler admired and respected by many.

His exploits inside the ring, though, don’t come close to the impact that a decision he made in 1992 had on the sport. Mongolian domination of sumo may have already fallen off from its peak of 15 years ago, but Oshima’s move completely changed sumo and figures to reverberate into the future for years, if not decades to come.