RIP, Terao

And a question: do sumo wrestlers die younger than other Japanese men?

Former sekiwake Terao died today.

NHK: Former Sekiwake Terao dies

In sumo, NHK has learned that former Sekiwake Terao died on Sunday. Sources say he died at a hospital in Tokyo. He was 60. He was known for his relentless tsuppari thrusts.

Terao made his debut in 1979 and gained popularity for his fierce thrusts from his slim body. He was promoted to the third-highest rank of Sekiwake in 1989.

He had many accomplishments during his career spanning more than 23 years. These include the fourth-highest number of career bouts at 1,795 and the fourth-highest number of bouts without an absence in the top Makuuchi division at 1,063. He was also in the Makuuchi division for 93 tournaments, the sixth-highest.

He took the name Shikoroyama after retirement and became a stable master.

Kimarite Profile of Terao

Interestingly, Terao’s top winning kimarite had been hatakikomi, slap-down.

Sometimes, that’s a top result when a wrestler uses a henka, or an avoidance of a direct tachiai (collision at the beginning of the match.) A henka is not an official kimarite, so something else has to be recorded…that is, if it’s successful. Henkas often fail.

Terao was tall enough — at 185 cm, that’s over 6 feet tall, so that’s a decent height among sumo wrestlers.

Terao wasn’t that heavy — only 116 kg according to the sumo database. That’s about 255 pounds, and at about 6’1” tall, that’s skinny for a sumo wrestler.

However, I have been looking at the old videos - Terao was not a henka guy. Check this out, Terao against The Wolf, Chiyonofuji:

That’s not a hatakikomi, but I did find a few from the same YouTube channel. Here’s one:

A question I will surely return to: rikishi mortality

It will be a little crossing of the streams. For those who don’t know who I am/what I do outside of this substack, I’m a life actuary, which means:

In more professional terms, one of the big things I do is keep track of mortality trends. I write about that in my other substack, especially in Mortality with Meep.

Terao was only 60 when he died.

I mentioned Chiyonofuji, a legendary Yokozuna. He died in 2016 from pancreatic cancer.

Japan is the longest-lived country - it’s something I have to often graph for my professional purposes.

That said, it is not unusual for sumo wrestlers to die at relatively young ages.

To be sure in the U.S., many male professional athletes die young, especially in sports with a lot of collisions, like football and boxing.

The issue with trying to figure out if pro sumo wrestlers tend to die young is that there are so few of them to begin with - there are far fewer than football players.

It’s similar to trying to figure out if U.S. Presidents are long-lived or short-lived compared to regular Americans.