Word: takanohana
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...DIED. MITSURU HANADA, 55, slight but skillful grappler hailed as the "Prince of Sumo" for his courageous style and good looks; from oral cancer; in Tokyo. A trim 100 kg, Hanada?who fought as Ozeki Takanohana I?followed his grand-champion elder brother Wakanohana I into the dohyo (ring), reaching the sport's ?lite division at age 18 and attracting a spirited fan base over his 16-year career. After retiring in 1981, Hanada became director of the Japan Sumo Association; he is the father of two grand champions of the 1990s, Wakanohana III and Takanohana...
...sumo, the term yokozuna means "grand champion," and few yokozunas were grander?inside and outside the ring?than Japan's Takanohana, who announced his retirement from sumo last week. From his start as a gangly 15-year-old phenom wrestling in his father's stable, Takanohana quickly grew to dominate sumo, winning his first championship at the record age of 19 and earning the coveted title of yokozuna at 22. When he wasn't shoving overmatched opponents around like a human bulldozer, Takanohana?together with his older brother, Wakanohana?charmed the nation with his good looks and pop-star persona...
...even 150-kilogram men aren't indestructible. In 2002, Takanohana missed seven consecutive tournaments due to a knee injury. He made an impressive comeback last September, but after losing last week to an opponent he would once have chomped like sashimi, he knew it was time to hang up the loincloth. "I have no regrets," he told the press. Maybe, but sumo's notoriously conservative overlords might, as Takanohana was the only active Japanese yokozuna. The most Japanese of sports may crown as its next champion a Mongolian named Asashoryu. Tsuneo Watanabe, the head of the Yokozuna Deliberation Council, said...
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