third) he became a yokozuna in September 1961, less than two years after his top division debut. Because the island of Sakhalin is/was claimed as a Japanese territory, Taihō is not considered the first non-Japanese yokozuna. Yokozuna At the time of his promotion Taihō was the youngest wrestler ever to have achieved sumo's highest rank of yokozuna aged 21 years and three months, a record subsequently surpassed by Kitanoumi who was one month younger. In a fashion which is considered to be exceptional for a newly promoted yokozuna he also managed to win his first tournament subsequent to his promotion. He was promoted simultaneously with Kashiwado, and their rivalry created what became known as the Hakuhō era. Although Kashiwado was to win only five tournament championships, Taihō was to remark, "There was Taihō because there was Kashiwado. There was Kashiwado because there was Taihō." Outside of competition they had a genuine friendship, which continued until Kashiwado's death in 1996. Taihō outperformed Kashiwado very quickly, and during his tenure in sumo's highest rank he was dominant, especially in the early part of his career. Until 2005—when the 68th yokozuna Asashōryū bettered his record—he was the only post-war yokozuna to have achieved six tournament victories consecutively, a feat he managed on two separate occasions. Eight of Taihō's championships were achieved with a perfect record of 15 wins and no losses (zenshō-yūshō), a record that stood until 2013 when it was broken by Hakuhō. He came back from withdrawing from or missing five straight tournaments to win the championship in September 1968 with a 14–1 record and embarked on a 45 bout winning streak. It was broken in March 1969 only after an incorrect decision by the judges, which caused such a furor that video replays were introduced after the incident. His final championship came in January 1971 after a playoff with Tamanoumi, maintaining his record of winning at least one championship every year of his top division career. He had a good score of 12–3 in the following tournament, but announced his retirement five days into the May 1971 tournament after losing to the promising young wrestler Takanohana for the second time. He had been a yokozuna for nearly ten years. His career win ratio was in excess of 80%, which is also a post-war record. He became the first former rikishi to be offered (and accept) membership of the Japan Sumo