Taro Akebono, a Hawaii-born sumo wrestler who turned the game’s first overseas grand champion and helped to drive a resurgence within the sport’s reputation within the Nineties, has died in Tokyo. He was 54.
He died of coronary heart failure in early April whereas receiving care at a Tokyo hospital, in keeping with an announcement from his household that was distributed by the USA army in Japan on Thursday.
When he turned Japan’s sixty fourth yokozuna, or grand champion sumo wrestler, in 1993, he was the primary foreign-born sumo wrestler to attain the game’s highest title in its 300-year fashionable historical past. He went on to win a complete of 11 grand championships.
Akebono, who was 6-foot-8 and 466 kilos when he was first named yokozuna at 23, towered over his opponents. He was recognized for utilizing his peak and the attain of his arms to his benefit, conserving his opponents at a distance and shoving them out of the ring.
Akebono’s rivalry with the Japanese brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana, each grand champions, was a serious driver of sumo’s resurgent reputation within the Nineties.
Taro Akebono was born Chad George Ha’aheo Rowan in Waimanalo, Hawaii, in 1969. He moved to Japan in 1988 on the invitation of a fellow Hawaiian wrestler.
In 1992, a yr earlier than he turned grand champion, the council that decides which wrestlers are worthy for that honor had denied it to a different Hawaiian, saying no foreigner might possess the dignity befitting the title.
Akebono later stated in interviews that he hardly ever thought of his nationality within the ring, pondering of himself as a sumo wrestler at the start. He turned a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1996.
“I wasn’t pondering, ‘I’m an American, I’m going to go on the market, plant my flag in the midst of the ring and tackle the Japanese,’” he informed The New York Occasions in 2013.
He gained acceptance and recognition within the sumo world partially as a result of folks in Japan appreciated his devotion to the game.
“He makes me overlook he’s a foreigner due to his earnest angle towards sumo,” Yoshihisa Shimoie, editor of Sumo journal, stated in 1993.
Akebono is survived by his spouse Christine Rowan, daughter Caitlyn, 25, and sons, Cody, 23, and Connor, 20, in keeping with the household.
In 2001, he retired from the game at 31, citing persistent knee issues. He went on to coach youthful wrestlers, and likewise competed in kickboxing, skilled wrestling and blended martial arts.
“I’m retiring with a sense of nice gratitude for being given the prospect to turn out to be a yokozuna and expertise one thing open to solely only a few folks,” he stated on the time of his retirement.
Motoko Wealthy contributed reporting.
