Akebono (Chad Rowan)

Chad Rowan was born in Waimanalo, Oahu, Hawaii in May 1969. In the late 1980’s, Rowan was discovered

by a friend of Jesse Kuhaulua. He was initially thought to be too tall and lanky to make a good sumotori,

but in 1988, at the age of eighteen, Kuhaulua brought Rowan to Tokyo to begin training. Rowan made his

sumo debut under the name Akebono in March 1988. Within two years, Akebono had reached the top makuuchi

division. In May 1992, Akebono won his first tournament and was promoted to ozeki – equaling Konishiki

as the highest ranked foreign sumotori in history. Akebono went on to win four of the six 1992 bashos

(tournaments) as well as the first basho of the following year. As a result, In

January 1993, after a mere 30 matches, Akebono attained sumo’s highest rank of Yokozuna and became

the first foreigner and only the sixty-fourth sumotori in history to achieve the status of grand champion.

Akebono went on to win a total of 11 tournaments in his 13 year career, ranking 7th on the all-time list,

and compiling a record of 566-198. Akebono retired from Sumo in 2001. At the time of his retirement,

Akebono stood 6’8” tall and weighed 514 pounds.noes