Japanese citizens mourned the death of former sumo grand champion Taiho.
According to the Mainichi Shimbun, Taiho died of a heart disease at a hospital in Tokyo on Jan. 19. He was 72.
His 32 championships are the most in the history of Japan‘s ancient sport.
Taiho was born between an Ukrainian father and a Japanese mother on the Japanese-occupied island of Sakhalin off the Russian Far Fast.
He became the youngest grand sumo champion (yokozuna) at the age of 21. He retired in 1971.
After his retirement, he served as a director of the Japan Sumo Association, superintendent of sumo schools and curator of a sumo museum.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com