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       Akebono, First Foreign-Born Sumo Grand Champion, Dies at 54

       Born in Hawaii, he moved to Japan in 1988 and won 11 grand championships. His success drove a resurgence in the sport’s popularity.

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       The sumo wrestler Akebono at a ceremony in Japan in 1998.Credit...Kazuhiro Nogi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

       By Victoria Kim, Hisako Ueno and Yan Zhuang

       Published April 10, 2024Updated April 11, 2024, 9:39 a.m. ET

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

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

       When he became Japan’s 64th yokozuna, or grand champion sumo wrestler, in 1993, he was the first foreign-born wrestler to achieve the sport’s highest title in its 300-year modern history. He went on to win a total of 11 grand championships, and his success set the stage for an era during which foreign-born wrestlers dominated the top levels of Japan’s national sport.

       Akebono, who was 6-foot-8 and 466 pounds when he was first named yokozuna at 23, towered over his Japanese opponents. Painfully shy outside the dohyo, as the sumo ring is known, he was known for using his height and reach to keep opponents at a distance.

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       Akebono’s rivalry with the Japanese brothers Takanohana and Wakanohana, both grand champions, was a major driver of sumo’s renewed popularity in the 1990s. During the opening ceremony for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, Akebono demonstrated the sumo ring entrance ritual for an international audience, commanding the arena with his hulking physique and captivating stare.

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       Taro Akebono was born Chad George Ha’aheo Rowan in Waimanalo, Hawaii, in 1969. He played basketball in high school and briefly at Hawaii Pacific University before moving to Japan in 1988 at the invitation of a fellow Hawaiian wrestler who had become a trainer.

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       Victoria Kim is a reporter based in Seoul and focuses on breaking news coverage across the world. More about Victoria Kim

       Hisako Ueno has been reporting on Japanese politics, business, gender, labor and culture for The Times since 2012. She previously worked for the Tokyo bureau of The Los Angeles Times from 1999 to 2009. More about Hisako Ueno

       Yan Zhuang is a Times reporter in Seoul who covers breaking news. More about Yan Zhuang

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