Kitanoumi Toshimitsu

Kitanoumi Toshimitsu (北の湖敏満, born May 16, 1953 as Obata Toshimitsu, Japanese:小畑 敏満) is a former sumo wrestler. He was the dominant yokozuna in sumo during the 1970s. Toshimitsu was promoted to yokozuna at age 21, becoming the youngest ever to achieve sumo's top rank, and he remained a yokozuna for a record 63 tournaments. He won 24 tournament championships during his career and was one of a series of truly great yokozuna who came from Hokkaidō, the most northerly of the four main islands of Japan. Following his retirement in 1985 he established Kitanoumi stable. Chairman of the Japan Sumo Association from 2002 until 2008, he returned to the post in 2012, the first man to do so.