Tanikaze Kajinosuke

Katsukawa Shunshō • 1780

Tanikaze Kajinosuke, 1780

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Tanikaze Kajinosuke (1750–1795) was an extraordinary champion sumo wrestler who hailed from what is now Sendai, a city in northern Japan. Even at his death from influenza at age 44, he was dominating the ring and was one of the first to be given sumo’s highest rank, yokozuna (横綱), during his lifetime. In this print, Katsukawa Shunshō showed him as he may have appeared strolling the avenue, spied by his fans.