Fujinokawa
| Fujinokawa Takeo | |
|---|---|
| 藤ノ川 武雄 | |
| Personal information | |
| Born | Takeo Morita September 26, 1946 Otofuke, Hokkaidō, Japan |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 108 kg (238 lb) |
| Career | |
| Stable | Isenoumi |
| Record | 403-378-31 |
| Debut | May, 1961 |
| Highest rank | Sekiwake (May 1967) |
| Retired | November, 1972 |
| Championships | 1 (Makushita) |
| Special Prizes | Fighting spirit (2) Outstanding performance (1) Technique (4) |
| Gold Stars | 4 Sadanoyama Taihō Kitanofuji Tamanoumi |
| * Up to date as of July 2008. | |
Fujinokawa Takeo (born 26 September 1946 as Takeo Morita) is a former sumo wrestler from Otofuke, Hokkaido, Japan. He made his professional debut in May 1961 and reached a highest rank of sekiwake in May 1967. He was a runner-up in two top division (makuuchi) tournaments, finishing three wins behind Tamanoshima in May 1968 and losing a playoff to ozeki Kiyokuni in July 1969. He earned four kinboshi for defeating yokozuna and won seven special prizes. After his retirement in 1972 at the age of 26 he became an elder of the Japan Sumo Association and took over as head coach of Isenoumi stable in 1982. He left the Sumo Association in 2011 upon reaching 65 years of age.
He joined professional sumo upon graduating from Takushoku University Daiichi High School in 1961. He initially wrestled under his own surname, Morita. He won the makushita division championship or yusho in November 1965 with a perfect 7–0 record. He reached the juryo division in January 1966 and the top makuuchi division in November 1966, one of the first wrestlers born after World War II to achieve this. One of his stablemates at Isenoumi stable was yokozuna Kashiwado Tsuyoshi. In just his third top division tournament March 1967 he defeated a yokozuna, earning his first kinboshi, won two special prizes for Outstanding Performance and Technique, and scored 12 wins against three losses. He was rewarded with promotion to the sanyaku ranks for the first time, at sekiwake. He was demoted after one tournament after scoring only 7–8 and only made the rank one more time in 1970, although he was ranked at komusubi on several other occasions. He was runner-up in two tournaments, in May 1968 (although he only scored 10–5) and July 1969 (after losing a play-off to Kiyokuni after both had finished on 12–3).
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