Akebono, Hawaii-born Japanese sumo champion, dies at 54

Taro Akebono, a Hawaiian-born sumo wrestler who became the sport’s first foreign major champion and helped fuel the sport’s resurgence in popularity in the 1990s, has died in Tokyo. He was 54 years old.

He died of heart failure in early April while receiving care at a Tokyo hospital, according to a statement from his family distributed by the U.S. military in Japan on Thursday.

When he became Japan’s 64th yokozuna, or sumo wrestling grand champion, in 1993, he was the first foreign-born sumo wrestler to achieve the sport’s highest title in its 300-year modern history. He went on to win a total of 11 major championships.

Akebono, who stood 6 feet 8 inches and weighed 466 pounds when he was first named yokozuna at age 23, towered over his opponents. He was known for using his height and arm reach to his advantage, keeping his opponents at a distance and pushing them out of the ring.

Akebono’s rivalry with the Japanese brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana, both major champions, was a major driver of sumo’s resurgence in popularity in the 1990s.

Taro Akebono was born Chad George Ha’aheo Rowan in Waimanalo, Hawaii, in 1969. He moved to Japan in 1988 at the invitation of a fellow Hawaiian wrestler.

In 1992, a year before he became grand champion, the council that decides which wrestlers are worthy of the honor denied it to another Hawaiian, saying that no foreigner could possess the dignity of the title.

Akebono later said in interviews that he rarely considered his nationality in the ring, thinking of himself first and foremost as a sumo wrestler. He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 1996.

“I wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m an American, I’m going to go out and plant my flag in the middle of the ring and take on the Japanese,'” he told The New York Times in 2013.

He gained acceptance and popularity in the sumo world in part because people in Japan appreciated his devotion to the sport.

“It makes me forget that he is a foreigner because of his serious attitude toward sumo,” said Yoshihisa Shimoie, editor of Sumo magazine, in 1993.

Akebono is survived by his wife Christine Rowan, daughter Caitlyn, 25, and sons Cody, 23, and Connor, 20, according to the family.

In 2001, he retired from the sport at age 31, citing chronic knee problems. He continued to train younger fighters and also competed in kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts.

“I retire with a feeling of great gratitude for having been given the opportunity to become a yokozuna and experience something open only to very few people,” he said at the time of his retirement.

Motoko rich contributed reports.