Sumo in Hawaii has been around since 1885 with the Japanese immigrants and brought 43 Sumotori from Tokyo in 1914. Edozakura who was one of the Sumotori from Tokyo decided to stay in Hawaii and start his own stable to mentor Local many of which were Hawaiian Sumotori, however many of the sumo clubs at the time would comprise of Japanese men and overtime slowly accommodate all the mixture of races in Hawaii who aspired to be sumotori. This would lead to events like the Goodwill Tournament with names like: Sunayama, Hirosegawa, Matsunobori where many Japanese who came to see the event from Japan would come across many very strong non-Japanese sumotori who convinced a few that it had become not only a Japanese thing, but also a Hawaii one.
Kitsuo Takizawa was an advisor to the Japan Sumo Association and took photos of Hawaiian Portuguese sumo wrestler Jesse Kuhaulua as a scout of sumo and the consensus in Japan was “I doubt foreigners can make it…”, even if Isamu Ogasawara showed him the art of sumo and Katsugo Miho of the 442nd would bring sumo wrestlers over with the Maui Sumo Association where people would donate prizes for the tournaments to motivate people into the sport. In Hawaii there were make-shift sumo pants that were worn under the Sumo belt “Mawashi”, but it wasn’t Japan traditional, but more local sort of thing until formal Japanese Sumo Matches were underway. Jesse Kuhaulua (aka. Takamiyama Daigori) was three-quarters Kanaka and a quarter Portuguese and grew up from Wailuku (Happy Valley) on Maui paved the way for foreign sumo wrestlers and of course help plant the seeds of some of Hawaii’s greatest sumotori. His first public match was in 1964 where he won, in 1967 he reached the rank of “Sekitori”, and in July 1972 he was the champion at the Nagoya Tournament and be the first non-Japanese to win the championship and was congratulated by President Richard Nixon. He would start his own sumo stable in Japan and as tradition goes have to take on a new Japanese name to signify the beginnings of a sumo stable, which would be the name “Azumazeki”. The Azumazeki stable (Azumazeki-beya) was founded in 1986, it was nicknamed by some on Maui as the Hawaiian Kahaulua Stable. Its notable former members include: Akebono, Takamisakari, Ushiomaru, Takamishu, Daiki, and Hidenokuni. In Hawaii, there would be people of all backgrounds who would wait for Jesse’s matches to come on television on the Japanese channels. When the camera would show the sumo on the floot they would look so intimidating and large with focus that could accomplish anything. There would be whacking of huge pillars, flying sweat from the wring, and clashes of body strength in the ring, but at the end when the local boys threw up their Shakkah sign in the back the local vibes would go from Japan to Hawaii. The sumos from Hawaii became Hawaii Legends and made Hawaiians proud and their families proud, especially since it was watched before television existed by the Royal highness Queen Kapi’olani who would be entertained by such battles. Many have fond memories of those days of Sumo in Hawaii and one of the songs that really captures that is Israel Kamakawiwo’olo who wrote “Sumotori”. He made a song about some of the most famous champion sumos that made Hawaii proud, but somehow left out Jesse, but many oral stories would be passed on to preserve the Kuhaulua Ohana’s legacy. Elders would recount the early days A Kupuna who missed those days of sumo said “As a Hawaiian I felt this show of strength of the warrior come from these big bodied men. When my grandpa lived with us, we would look for the station way late in the evening, we’d as a family stay up late to watch sumo and cheer for the warriors and cheer for the people of Hawaii. It may have been a tradition to Japan, but Hawaii made it its own tradition, with its own sumo, with its own rings, and its own stories. When they came back people knew, they had conquered those overseas and had become special to the people and the families as it was something they did with people like my grandpa. Today, the fascination of watching every tournament on NHK, me and my hubby wonder the future of Hawaii Sumotori who were… once… heroes in Hawaii and Foreign land of Japan.” -Anonymous
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