Thursday, January 12, 2006

Tochinoumi, Inakadate's Celebrity ・ 栃の海、田舎館の名人

Recently someone asked me if there are any famous people from Inakadate. Looking around, it seems that the most famous person from Inakadate is a sumo wrestler named Tochinoumi. He is quite a celebrated individual person in this village.
この前、「田舎館には有名な人がいますか」と聞かれました。よく見てみたら、村のもっとも有名人は栃の海という相撲力士だろうと思われる。この村では、かなり著名人として取り上げられています。

Tochinoumi was a sumo wrestler in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was very successful, won two tournaments and rose to the highest rank of yokozuna. Actually, Aomori is particularly famous for good sumo. Even today, there are more wrestlers from Aomori in the highest levels of sumo than from any other prefecture in Japan. There are many sumo rings to be found in Aomori and schools with sumo clubs are not uncommon.
栃の海は1960年代の後半と70年代の前半で活躍した力士です。強くて、成績がよくて、場所を2つも優勝しました。それで横綱まで昇進しました。多分これが青森の環境のおかげだかも知れません。日本の中でも青森県が強い力士を作るところとして有名です。今でも、他の県と比べると青森出身の力士が圧倒的に多いです。この辺の学園とかを見れば土俵がよくあり、田舎館小学校みたいに相撲クラブがある学校が少なくありません。

People in Inakadate are very proud of Tochinoumi's accomplishments. In the Community Center there is a huge painting of him. There is also one in the village hall. You can also find a stone memorial commemorating his accomplishments near the village gymnasium or come to town and attend the Tochinoumi Cup, a children's sumo tournament held each year in August.
田舎館の村民は栃の海の出来事を誇りに思っている感じです。村の公民館には彼の絵が大きく飾ってあります。村役場にも絵があります。村の体育館の近くにも彼の大成を記念する石碑があります。そして、8月頃に来て、栃の海杯という子供の相撲大会を見ることができます。

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