Asashio Tarō III

was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Tokunoshima in the Amami Islands. He was the sport's 46th yokozuna. He was also a sumo coach and head of Takasago stable.

Career He was born on Tokunoshima in the Amami Islands. Due to the Amami Islands being occupied by the United States, in 1948 he stowed away on a cargo ship and was supported by a relative in Hyogo Prefecture. Making his professional debut in October 1948, he at first fought under his real name. He was billed in sumo as being from Kobe in Hyogo until the United States returned the Amami Islands to Japan in 1953, and was thereafter billed as being from Kagoshima Prefecture.

In September 1950 he reached the second highest jūryō division and won the championship with a 14–1 record. This earned him immediate promotion to the top makuuchi division in January 1951. He adopted the shikona or ring name of Asashio Tarō in 1952. In his early career he earned seven kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna, three of them coming in one tournament in January 1955 when he beat Yoshibayama on Day 5 and then Chiyonoyama and Tochinishiki on Days 8 and 9. In January 1956 he changed the spelling of his ring name to , but changed it back in July 1960.

Asashio won five top division tournament championships, all but one of them in Osaka. He won this tournament three years in a row from 1956 to 1958. His first title was won at sekiwake rank in a three-way playoff, the first of its kind in makuuchi, defeating ōzeki Wakanohana Kanji I and maegashira Wakahaguro in succession. In 1959, he appeared on the cover of the first issue of Weekly Shōnen Magazine and in Hiroshi Inagaki's film The Three Treasures. He also recruited the Samoan wrestler Nankairyū but after a heated argument with Takasago, Nankairyū ran away from the stable in September 1988. Takasago died of a stroke a few weeks later.

Pre-modern top division record The New Year tournament began and the Spring tournament returned to Osaka in 1953.

Modern top division record Since the addition of the Kyushu tournament in 1957 and the Nagoya tournament in 1958, the yearly schedule has remained unchanged.