Inazuma Raigorō


Inazuma Raigorō was a Japanese sumo wrestler from Awazaki, Hitachi Province. He was the sport's 7th yokozuna.

Career

Born Nemoto Saisuke, his birth date is ambiguous. According to a strong theory, he was born in 1802. Another claimed that he was born in 1795. If the former is correct, he was the youngest yokozuna until the promotion of Umegatani Tōtarō II in 1903. If the latter is correct, he died at the age of 82.
He was worked under Matsudaira clan in Izumo, where legendary sumo wrestler Raiden worked. Inazuma entered Edo sumo in February 1821 and was promoted to the top makuuchi division in October 1824. He reached the highest rank of ōzeki on ability alone, after only 6 tournaments. Ōnomatsu was his rival. They differed in that Inazuma hated false starts at the tachi-ai, or the initial phase of sumo bouts.
As an Osaka based wrestler, Inazuma was awarded a yokozuna licence by the Gojo family in July 1828. This licence was disputed, but, in September 1830, he was also awarded a yokozuna licence by the house of Yoshida Tsukasa in Edo, and thus has been accepted as an official yokozuna.
In the top makuuchi division, he won 130 bouts and lost only 13 bouts, achieving a winning percentage of 90.9. After his retirement, he moved to Matsue but he returned to Tokyo in the Meiji period.

Top division record

































































*Championships for the best record in a tournament were not recognized or awarded before the 1909 summer tournament and the above unofficial championships are historically conferred. For more information see yūshō.