(Voice actor) Mr.Chris Koprowski

In the 1780s to 1790s, there was a sumo wrestler called Tanikaze. He remained at the top of the sumo world as the 4th Yokozuna. In modern-day grand sumo, Futabayama’s record of 69 consecutive wins is still unbroken, but Tanikaze held the record at 63 until Futabayama passed him. Furthermore, this record was only for sumo tournament matches held in Edo. Back then, the regular sumo tournament was held in Kyoto and Osaka as well and Edo’s sumo wrestlers were free to participate in the tournaments in Kyoto and Osaka. Therefore, while Tanikaze was winning 63 consecutive matches in Edo, he was also active in Kyoto and Osaka, so taking those into account, his record was an incredible 98 consecutive wins. Also, in 1791, a sumo tournament was held in front of the 11th shogun Ienari Tokugawa. Tanikaze was no less talented at the time and won the match against the 5th Yokozuna Onogawa. Ienari was thrilled by this exciting match and gave Tanikaze a bow. Tanikaze danced on the sumo the ring with the bow in his hands. This anecdote is said to be the origin of the bow twirling ceremony performed at the end of matches in modern-day grand sumo. Tanikaze’s greatness came from his great personality. In sumo, it has always been expected that the Yokozuna must have an honorable character in addition to being powerful, and this expectation remains in modern-day sumo as well. Tanikaze was the Yokozuna of Yokozuna in terms of character as well. When sumo wasn’t as popular yet, Tanikaze was a caring person who trained younger sumo wrestlers with no regards to the different sumo stables and bought them meals with his own money. So many sumo wrestlers looked up to him. Meanwhile, there was a sumo wrestler called Sanogawa. Sanogawa was famous as a good son. He lost his mother to illness and his father fell to disease as well. Since he couldn’t fully train because he was taking care of his father, he couldn’t win matches and his rankings fell. Finally, he was cornered into having to quit sumo if he lost. Those who can remain in the sumo world after quitting as a wrestler are scarce. There was no retirement money for retired sumo wrestlers. One day, Tanikaze happened to face Sanogawa. One was a Yokozuna, one was facing retirement. Everyone thought Tanikaze would certainly win. For Tanikaze, a cash reward was set for every match. This reward would be given to the winner of the match, but it was obvious that that it was a reward for the favorite, Tanikaze. But Tanikaze secretly approached the match with an idea in mind. What was his secret idea?