Taihō was the first sumo wrestler to win six consecutive top-division championships.
Taihō achieved the feat across the 1966 and 1967 tournament seasons. His run was a major milestone in modern professional sumo and demonstrated the sustained dominance expected of a yokozuna.
Taihō was born Ivan Boryshko in 1940 in what is now Ukraine and became one of Japan’s most celebrated wrestlers. He won 32 top-division championships during his career, a record that stood until it was surpassed decades later.
The six-consecutive figure is different from the record for most championships overall and from the record for consecutive victories in individual bouts. Those categories measure different kinds of achievement and are often confused in summaries of sumo records.