Taro Akebono, a Hawaii-born sumo wrestler who became the sport’s to start with overseas grand winner and served to push a resurgence in the sport’s reputation in the 1990s, has died in Tokyo. He was 54.
He died of heart failure in early April when getting care at a Tokyo healthcare facility, according to a assertion from his family members that was distributed by the United States armed service in Japan on Thursday.
When he turned Japan’s 64th yokozuna, or grand champion sumo wrestler, in 1993, he was the first overseas-born sumo wrestler to achieve the sport’s maximum title in its 300-year modern day history. He went on to win a total of 11 grand championships.
Akebono, who was 6-foot-8 and 466 pounds when he was initial named yokozuna at 23, towered more than his opponents. He was regarded for utilizing his height and the arrive at of his arms to his advantage, trying to keep his opponents at a distance and shoving them out of the ring.
Akebono’s rivalry with the Japanese brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana, the two grand champions, was a major driver of sumo’s resurgent reputation in the 1990s.
Taro Akebono was born Chad George Ha’aheo Rowan in Waimanalo, Hawaii, in 1969. He moved to Japan in 1988 at the invitation of a fellow Hawaiian wrestler.
In 1992, a yr before he turned grand champion, the council that decides which wrestlers are worthy for that honor had denied it to a further Hawaiian, declaring no foreigner could have the dignity befitting the title.
Akebono afterwards reported in interviews that he not often regarded as his nationality in the ring, pondering of himself as a sumo wrestler first and foremost. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1996.
“I was not pondering, ‘I’m an American, I’m likely to go out there, plant my flag in the middle of the ring and get on the Japanese,’” he informed The New York Times in 2013.
He attained acceptance and popularity in the sumo world in aspect mainly because people in Japan appreciated his devotion to the sport.
“He will make me forget he is a foreigner due to the fact of his earnest attitude towards sumo,” Yoshihisa Shimoie, editor of Sumo magazine, stated in 1993.
Akebono is survived by his spouse Christine Rowan, daughter Caitlyn, 25, and sons, Cody, 23, and Connor, 20, in accordance to the relatives.
In 2001, he retired from the sport at 31, citing serious knee complications. He went on to coach youthful wrestlers, and also competed in kickboxing, professional wrestling and combined martial arts.
“I am retiring with a sensation of fantastic gratitude for becoming given the likelihood to turn out to be a yokozuna and expertise some thing open up to only very handful of people today,” he claimed at the time of his retirement.
Motoko Prosperous contributed reporting.
