Chiyonofuji Mitsugu

Chiyonofuji Mitsugu was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler and the 58th yokozuna of the sport. He was considered one of the greatest yokozuna of recent times, winning 31 yusho or tournament championships, second at the time only to Taiho. 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. Promoted at the age of 26 after winning his second championship, his performance improved with age, winning more tournaments in his thirties than any other wrestler and dominating the sport in the second half of the 1980s. He finally retired in May 1991, just short of his 36th birthday. During his 21-year professional career, Chiyonofuji set records for most career victories (1045) and most wins in the top makuuchi division (807), earning an entry in the Guinness World Records. Both of these records were later broken by Kaio. He won the Kyushu tournament, one of the six annual honbasho, a record eight consecutive years from 1981 until 1988, and also set the record for the longest postwar run of consecutive wins (53 bouts in 1988). That record stood for 22 years until Hakuho 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 (260 lb). He relied on superior technique and muscle to defeat opponents. He was the lightest yokozuna since Tochinoumi in the 1960s. Upon his retirement he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and became the Kokonoe-oyakata the following year. He was the stable master of Kokonoe stable until the time of his death. He died of pancreatic cancer on July 31, 2016, at the age of 61.