[Sumo History] 20 Years Ago Today - the 1981 Hatsu basho

["G. Jay Walker" <walker@nhrc.navy.mil>]

(At the possible risk of boring a few of our old-timers, I thought it might be interesting to briefly look at the 20th anniversary of each of the bashos as they come along this year.)

Hatsu Basho, 1981

Banzuke

Wajima		Yokozuna	Wakanohana II
Kitanoumi	Yokozuna
Takanohana I	Ozeki		Masuiyama

This 1981 era has sometimes been portrayed as one of generational change, with the old guard giving way to a new generation of "young turks".  Reality is a little more blurred, as 80's star Chiyonofuji was only two years younger than yokozunas Kitanoumi and Wakanohana II, while Takanosato, often thought of as part of the Chiyonofuji generation, was in fact older than the two yokozunas.  Nevertheless, this basho was the turning point that would see almost a complete makeover of the top-rankers over the next 3 years.

Kitanoumi and Wajima dominated sumo in the mid and late 70's, and closed out the decade with 17 and 13 yushos respectively.  Wakanohana II (unrelated to the Hanadas) had won 3 yushos in the late 70's.  Their domination continued in 1980, with Kitanoumi winning 3 yushos and Wakanohana winning the Aki basho and Wajima the Kyushu basho.  But a new, late-blooming and somewhat unexpected star was on the rise^Å 
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Yokozuna Kitanoumi and Sekiwake Chiyonofuji both went undefeated through Day 9 with Fujizakura (M-6W) a win off the pace. But the big first week news was the retirement of long-time ozeki Takanohana I (father of the latter-day Wakanohana and Takanohana) on Day 7.  

Kitanoumi was upset by Asashio (M-3E) on Day 10, allowing Chiyonofuji to seize sole possession of the lead, and by Day 12, Chiyonofuji was still undefeated while Kitanoumi stood at 11-1.  Chiyonofuji had a relative easy time of it on Days 13 and 14, defeating mid-maegashiras Hokutenyu (M-8E) and Fujizakura, while Kitanoumi had to defeat fellow yokozunas Wakanohana and Wajima to retain his final-day yusho chances.  

Kitanoumi was able to defeat Chiyonofuji in the climatic match on Day 15 to set up a playoff.  However, Chiyonofuji came back to win the playoff over Kitanoumi by uwatenage.  It was Chiyonofuji's first yusho, and he was promoted to ozeki following the tournament.

Yusho: Chiyonofuji  14-1 (won playoff)     Runner-up: Kitanoumi 14-1     
Other rikishi with more than 10 wins:  None 

-G. Jay Walker