Mitsuhiro Momota , better known as Rikidōzan (力道山), was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu, and one of the most influential persons in professional wrestling history. Initially, he had moved from his native country Korea to Japan to become a rikishi. He was credited with bringing the sport of professional wrestling to Japan at a time when the Japanese needed a local hero to emulate and was lauded as a national hero. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2017, becoming the first Korean inductee and the third puroresu star to be inducted after Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami. He was killed in a street fight with a member of the Sumiyoshi-ikka in 1963.
Rikidōzan with the Japanese Heavyweight Championship belt, 1954
Rikidōzan in 1949, in traditional sumo keshō-mawashi
Rikidōzan's expensive apartment in Japan, called "the Riki Mansion", as it existed in 2007
Rikidōzan entered Sannoh Hospital after being stabbed
A rikishi (力士), sumōtori (相撲取り) or, more colloquially, osumōsan (お相撲さん), is a sumo wrestler. Although used to define all wrestlers participating in sumo wrestling matches, the term is more commonly used to refer to professional wrestlers, employed by the Japan Sumo Association, who participate in professional sumo tournaments in Japan, the only country where sumo is practiced professionally.
Sumo wrestlers training in their stable in 2009
Haniwa of a sumo wrestler
Ōzeki Asashio Tarō I with his keshō-mawashi bearing the "Bamboo and Sparrow" crest of the Date clan, as he wrestled under the Uwajima Domain.
Low-ranking wrestlers carrying a sekitori's belongings (Ryōgoku Kokugikan entrance in 2009)