Chiyonofuji Mitsugu

Who is Chiyonofuji Mitsugu?

Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, born June 1, 1955, as Mitsugu Akimoto in Hokkaidō, Japan, is a former champion sumo wrestler and the 58th yokozuna of the sport. He is now the stable master of Kokonoe stable.

Chiyonofuji was one of the greatest yokozuna of recent times, winning 31 tournament championships, second only to Taihō. He was particularly remarkable for his longevity in sumo's top rank, which he held for a period of ten years from 1981 to 1991. He won more tournaments in his thirties than any other wrestler and retired in his mid-thirties, in contrast to most recent yokozuna who have tended to retire around 30. During his 21 year professional career Chiyonofuji set records for most career victories and most wins in the top makuuchi division. Both of these records were later broken by Kaiō Hiroyuki. He won the Kyushu tournament, one of the six annual honbasho, a record eight years in a row from 1981 until 1988, and also set the record for the longest postwar run of consecutive wins. That record stood for 22 years until Hakuhō broke it with his 54th straight win in September 2010.

In a sport where weight is often regarded as vital, Chiyonofuji was quite light at around 120 kg.