Ōzutsu Man'emon

大砲 万右衛門 Ōzutsu Man'emon
Personal information
Born	Manji Kakubari December 30, 1869(1869-12-30) Miyagi, Japan
Died	May 27, 1918(1918-05-27) (aged 48)
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Weight	131 kg (290 lb)
Career
Heya	Oguruma
Record	98-29-138-51draws-4holds (Makuuchi)
Debut	January, 1885
Highest rank	Yokozuna (April, 1901)
Retired	January, 1908
Yūshō	2 (Makuuchi, unofficial)
Kinboshi	2
* Career information is correct as of October 2007.

Ōzutsu Man'emon (大砲 万右衛門, December 30, 1869 – May 27, 1918) was a sumo wrestler from Shiroishi, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He was the sport's 18th Yokozuna.

Career

Ōzutsu was a taller sumo wrestler compared with other wrestlers at that time. Although he was not very strong at first, he was rapidly promoted and reached Sekiwake only three tournament after entering the top makuuchi division. He became strong and was promoted to Ozeki in May 1899.

He had never lost any bouts as ozeki and was awarded a yokozuna licence by the house of Yoshida Tsukasa in April 1901. He won the tournament with no defeat in May 1902. However, his strength rapidly declined after taking part in the Russo-Japanese War. He was absent from three tournaments due to the war. However, former yokozuna Umegatani Tōtarō I had taught him that yokozuna must not be defeated, so he recorded many draws late in his career. In the May 1907 tournament, he drew in all of nine bouts.^[1] He retired on the next tournament. In the top makuuchi division, he won 98 bouts and lost 29 bouts, recording a winning percentage of 77.2. He also recorded 51 draws.

Ōzutsu (大砲) means "cannon" in Japanese but its reading is usually Taihō, and the name of yokozuna Taihō (大鵬) means "big phoenix".

Top division record

*Championships from this period were unofficial
*There was no fusensho system until March 1927
*All top division wrestlers were usually absent on the 10th day until 1909

	January	May
1892	x	West Maegashira #6 (3-6-1)
1893	Sat out due to injury	West Maegashira #2 (5-4-1)
1894	West Sekiwake (2-2-6)	West Maegashira #1 (4-2-2-2draws)
1895	West Komusubi (2-1-7)	West Komusubi (7-0-2-1draw)
1896	West Sekiwake (3-1-5-1draw)	Sat out due to injury
1897	West Maegashira #1 (6-2-1-1draw)	West Komusubi (4-3-1-2draws)
1898	West Komusubi (4-0-2-4draws)	West Sekiwake (6-0-2-2draws)
1899	West Sekiwake (4-1-1-4draws)	West Ōzeki (6-0-1-2draws-1hold)
1900	Sat out due to injury	West Ōzeki (6-0-1-2draws-1hold)
1901	West Ōzeki (7-0-2-1draw)	East Yokozuna (6-1-1-1draw-1hold)
1902	East Yokozuna (6-2-1-1draw)	East Yokozuna (8-0-1-1draw)
1903	East Yokozuna (7-1-1-1draw)	Sat out due to war
1904	Sat out due to war	Sat out due to war
1905	East Yokozuna (3-1-5-1hold)	East Yokozuna (2-1-1-6draws)
1906	East Yokozuna (1-0-1-8draws)	Sat out due to injury
1907	East Yokozuna (1-1-6-2draws)	East Yokozuna (0-0-1-9draws)
1908	Retired	x

• The wrestler's East/West designation, rank, and win/loss record are listed for each tournament.^[2]
• A third figure in win-loss records represents matches sat-out during the tournament (usually due to injury)
• an X signifies the wrestler had yet to reach the top division at that point in his career or a tournament after he retired

Green Box=Tournament Championship

References

1. ^ "「横綱は決して負けてはいけないと聞かされていたもので…」（第18代横綱・大砲）" (in Japanese). Japan Sumo Association. http://sumo.goo.ne.jp/ozumo_joho_kyoku/yomu/003/022.html. Retrieved 2008-06-22. 
2. ^ "Ozutsu Manemon Rikishi Information". Sumo Reference. http://sumodb.sumogames.com/Rikishi.aspx?r=3516. Retrieved 2007-10-03. 

See also

• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• List of yokozuna

previous: Konishiki Yasokichi I	18th Yokozuna 1901 - 1908	next: Hitachiyama Taniemon
Yokozuna is not a successive rank, and more than one wrestler can share the title

Persondata
Name	Ozutsu Man'emon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 30, 1869
Place of birth	Miyagi, Japan
Date of death	May 27, 1918
Place of death