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To the west side of the road corresponding
to Route 287 that runs through the middle of Asadachi, and among the monuments
lining the bottom of the ancient pine trees, in a corner of the gravestones, is
a sumo monument dedicated to Kadoishi,
Shikimori Tsukimiyama. It does
not say who erected it, but it bears the date, September of the Third Year
(1846) of Koka. Although there are legends regarding Tsukimiyama spoken about
by the patriarchs of the area, and the Tsuruoka-based Takeshi Miura, also known
as Hanaikada, an authority researching the history of sumo in Yamagata
prefecture, has various theories about this, and if we make a general appraisal
of the research of Jinbei Ogata (now deceased), a local historian born in the
area, we can come to the following conclusion. Tsukimiyama was the ring name of
a man called Odozou or Odobei. Unfortunately, we know nothing about where he was
born because there is no documental evidence or entry in family death
registers. However, it is believed that he was born into the old Asadachi family
of Numazawa He most likely worked as a laborer or as hired help for river
barges because he was a large man of impressive proportion and possessed
formidable strength.
One year the fourth Yokozuna, Kajinosuke Tanikaze, from the Edo Sumo world,
was making a tour of Akita. A ritual sumo tournament was being held at
Miyoshi Shrine in Akita. Miyoshi, although he appeared to be a man of small
stature, was a sumo wrestler of unrivaled physical strength. A man accompanied
the Tanikaze party. This man was Odobei from the village of Asadachi. He
had become an apprentice of Tanikaze and bore the name of Tsukimiyama Odobei,
fighting as a member of the Edo sumo wrestling party. He fought with Miyoshi
of Akita and won. As a reward, it is said that Tanikaze’s gave him his
keshomawashi.
The fights in those
days were interesting. Tsukimiyama’s opponent, Miyoshi from Akita, was skillful
and he pushed Tsukimiyama around, making him seem clumsy. Tanikaze, who was
watching close by, cried out, “You can do it, Odo!” Although it was against the
rules for a wrestler to say something whilst fighting, Tsukimiyama pulled in
his chest and squared his shoulders and said, “Yes, here I go.” Miyoshi pushed
his fingers inside Tsukimiyama’s mawashi.
Tsukimiyama grunted and applied pressure, breathing out. Miyoshi’s fingers
broke like twigs and he lost all the strength in his hand. Apparently, this is
how Tsukimiyama won the fight.
The promoters from
Akita accused Tsukimiyama of breaking the rules, causing the Edo sumo team to panic
and chaos ensued. It is said that the Edo team left in a hurry, almost as if
they were fleeing the scene. The mawashithat
Tsukimiyama was wearing at the time was a hoop of green bamboo that looked like
the ring of a bucket. The exact truth of this is unknown, but I have seen the kesho
mawashithat Tsukimiyama received from Tanikaze and it was embroidered with a tiger or a lion’s head that
looked as if it were going to leap out at you. It was approximately thirteen *shaku and nine **sun in length and two shaku
and two sun in width. It was
elaborately decorated like a fine work of art. This
kesho mawashi continued to be worn by the sumo wrestler who walked
in front of the lion in a procession for the August holiday procession at the
Asadachi Suwa Shrine.
In April 1964, thanks to the efforts of people from Yamagata living in
Tokyo, the Japanese Sumo Association gave the keshomawashi of Yokozuna Kashiwado (also from
Yamagata) as an offering to the Shrine. Ever since then, Tanikaze’s kesho mawashi was worn the night before
the festival and Kashiwado’s kesho
mawashi was used for the daytime festival. Today, Kashiwado’s kesho mawashi is used for both day and
night festivals.There was a large
fire in the 16 th year of Meiji (1883). Entsuji Temple and old houses
caught fire with many documents lost in the fire, so unfortunately we cannot prove
the validity of this story. But one thing is for sure, the appearance of a powerful
sumo wrestler like Tsukimiyama resulted in strong mental strength in young men
of the area and encouraged them to be confident of their physical prowess.
* elaborately embroidered apron
**30.3 cm
***3.03 cm
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