Original subtitles

While mankind fell into despair at the overwhelmingly desperate situation,

Tameemon Raiden and the sumo wrestlers he once faced saw things differently.

Look at that, Tanikaze!

Raiden's smiling in the sumo ring.

This is a cause for celebration!

Right, Onogawa?

The time has finally come, Tarokichi.

The time when you can wrestle with your true might!

RESONANCE

For as much as Tameemon Raiden loved sumo,

sumo did not love him back.

Keep it up!

Go get him! That's the way!

TAROKICHI AGE FIVE

Yes! That's seven wins in a row!

Next!

No way!

It's impossible to defeat you, Toraji.

What's with you guys? You all wimping out?

Tarokichi, why don't you spar with me?

You're all better now, right?

Yeah!

Ready!

Tarokichi's body is fragile.

-I'd better hold back-- -Fight!

Even with his muscles restrained by the Hundred Seals…

the boy was a beast.

Yes! I won!

You okay?

What's with you?

You're a monster!

An… An ogre!

You're an ogre!

You're an ogre!

Tarokichi, aren't you going to play with the others?

Mom, why aren't I like

the other kids?

Why?

Why did the gods give me a body like this?

I praise the gods for it.

Before you were able to stand,

I went to the shrine again and again and prayed to the gods.

I prayed, "Please help my son to stand."

"Please make my son strong and healthy."

And now, just look how big you are.

Tarokichi, you're loved by the gods.

Your strength is a gift from the gods.

I'm so proud of you!

So you must find some way to use your strength

to help the weak and those without your strength.

Help… the weak.

After that,

just as his mother wished,

Tarokichi grew up to be a kind boy.

He should have spent his life in Shinano, loved by all the residents.

ERUPTION OF MT. ASAMA 3RD YEAR OF TENMEI (1783)

However, a great catastrophe altered his future.

The shower of volcanic ash destroyed all the crops.

An epidemic broke out

and all of Shinano was thrust into famine.

For the next several years, many people died of starvation.

It became known as the Tenmei famine.

I must use my strength for the weak!

TAROKICHI AGE 17

Tarokichi left Shinano

and ran and ran.

The path the 17-year-old Tarokichi chose was…

EDO

…to become a sumo wrestler

and earn lots of money to send back to his hometown.

What's the matter?

Come at me again!

STABLEMASTER URAKAZE EDO SUMO TRAINER

Dang! Look at all that rice!

I wish I could send all that rice to Shinano.

Tarokichi! You're next!

Wrestle with all your might!

Huh?

Uh, actually…

I'd better not.

What?

If I used all my might, I'd hurt the other wrestlers.

Very funny!

Wrestle me!

-Ozeki! -Ozeki!

You can't complain then, right?

Well, actually…

Tarokichi,

if you don't defeat me, you'll have to go back home.

N-No! Anything but that!

Don't blame me if I hurt you.

Bring it on.

What's wrong? You're done already?

Then pack your bags and get back home!

They're all starving, waiting for me.

I can't go back!

I'm not going back!

Then…

what'll you do?

Dammit!

Who'd you say you would hurt?

Say it again!

I'm not done yet!

What do you think now, kid?

This is what sumo is.

Tough, isn't it?

Sumo… I love it!

URAKAZE STABLE

Leg lifts.

Shuffles.

Open-palm thrusts.

The boy devoted himself to learning

every fundamental of sumo without tiring of it.

I'm not done yet!

Again!

To Tarokichi, sumo became

the first thing in his life he could attack with all his might.

2ND YEAR OF KANSEI (1790)

Then…

Ready yourselves.

Mom…

Here I go!

Tameemon Raiden fought his first bout for the Matsue fief.

Wh-Who is this guy?

He's so skinny, but I can't move him!

Sheesh, I think…

I just might have trained an awful beast.

Raiden became a living legend.

He would topple his opponents with a single blow.

After a string of overpowering victories,

the boy who was once called "ogre" became a light that shone on Edo…

and his hometown.

In fact,

his glory was a light

that shone on all of Japan as it suffered through famine.

However, his heyday did not last for long.

Yeah!

What's with you?

Ogre!

An ogre!

He's an ogre!

Raiden!

Why the heck did you lose today's bout on purpose?

Listen!

What you did is like spitting in the face of the gods of sumo!

Master…

Since I was little,

I was raised by my mother to use my strength to help the weak.

But…

now I've begun to bully the weak again.

Raiden…

But this is all I've got.

This is the only way I can feed the people back home.

All I've got is sumo!

After that, to keep from injuring opponents,

and to keep from harming the weak,

Raiden ceased using the techniques he was best at.

These made up Raiden's four forbidden moves.

OPEN-PALM THRUST, OPEN-PALM SLAP, DOUBLE-ARM LOCK, FORWARD FORCE-DOWN

Even so, Raiden continued to be victorious

and sent the money he won to his hometown.

What a pain.

His highest rank was Ozeki.

In his 21-year career,

out of 285 bouts, he won 254 and lost 10,

with 14 undecided, 2 ties, and 5 no-contests.

His winning percentage was 96,2%.

His ten losses and two ties were all against lower ranked wrestlers.

In other words, he had reasons for not fighting those opponents.

He was effectively undefeated.

Thus people called him…

UNRIVALED RIKISHI

But who would have known…

TAMEEMON RAIDEN

…that the Unrivaled Rikishi, Tameemon Raiden,

retired from the sumo ring

without ever once wrestling

with his full might?

I'm so sorry, Tarokichi.

We were never able to handle your full power after we trained you.

Right.

Show us the real sumo you wanted to wrestle,

the sumo of Tameemon Raiden, the Unrivaled Rikishi!

It's been a long time since I've wrestled to my heart's content.

Well, look at you.

So you can make a happy face, huh?

He would set himself… No, he would set sumo free!

When he decided that,

his body naturally went into action.

Is that…

Yeah. Raiden's entrance ritual.

Your ace in the hole, huh?

Nice!

Give me all you've got!

The time had come!

Though anything was allowed,

the sumo technique

that the sumo wrestler Tameemon Raiden selected…

was the basic yet most profound

open-palm thrust!

Assuming an unusual stance,

the thrust Tameemon Raiden released,

thanks to the muscle control afforded by the Völundr,

was transformed into an unconventional variant!

Then, by quickly migrating his muscles, all his force was transferred to his hand!

Blow him away!

It was a devastating strike!

The ultimate open-palm thrust,

known as the Yatagarasu!

YATAGARASU

T-Tameemon Raiden's astonishing strike

has destroyed the God of Destruction, Shiva!

Y-Yes! He did it, Brünnhilde!

Wh-What the heck was that move?

It blew Shiva's arms right off!

Yes.

If Shiva hadn't put up his guard,

his skull would have been crushed for sure.

You see, his blow

had such an intense shock wave…

it broke the sound barrier.

C-Can a human even perform a move like that?

You could certainly say it would have killed anyone but Shiva.

But the damage he has suffered is quite severe.

Man, I'm teetering on my feet.

S-Something's wrong with Raiden!

That's the recoil.

Recoil?

That technique, which requires the quick migration of his muscles,

puts an unimaginable strain on his body.

His body is unable to handle it,

so it has begun to rip his body apart.

Thrúd's Supramuscular Exoskeletal Sumo Belt

is barely holding him together.

It's surprising that Raiden is even able to stand.

Y-You're kidding!

A-Are you all right?

Yep… Sumo is the best.

You…

Thrúd,

I need you… to move my muscles even faster.

I know you can do it.

Are you insane?

If I keep this up, your flesh and organs

and your whole body will be torn to pieces!

I know that, Thrúd.

But… it's not enough.

I need more… More!

At long last…

I get to put my full might into my dear sumo

which has betrayed me my whole life.

Please! I want to lay my body…

No… I want to lay my whole life on the line for this bout!

You see, I'm a sumo wrestler.

You fool.

You really are a fool.

But…

that's the man I fell in love with!

We're going full-throttle now!

Thank you!

-Thank you! -Thank you!

That's some nice support you've got.

Rudra…

He came?

You and I are the same.

Though I'm foolish and rash, there are 1,116 gods who believe in me,

and it's for their sake that I can't lose.

That's because…

I'm the chief of the Indian pantheon!

It's time to take you past your limits.

Who knows what'll happen?

This is the first time I've used this too!

Would you look at Shiva?

What is he doing?

He's stimulating his heart directly and forcing it to beat faster!

According to legend,

when the time comes,

Shiva will dance the Tandava and destroy the world.

But there is more to the legend.

Shiva will then burn his own flesh

and with his ashes,

he will rebuild the world.

Sh-Shiva…

IT IS CALLED…

Tandava Karma!

Let's dance until we burn out.

A guy like you really is…

a pain!

The greatest sumo wrestler in history, Tameemon Raiden.

The mightiest god in the Indian Pantheon, Shiva.

Oddly enough, at this time,

this human and this god who both once ruled their realms,

attained the deepest mysteries of their martial arts simultaneously.

Raiden and Shiva are very similar.

They're similar?

Yes. For both of them…

I will…

FOR THE WEAK, MY HOMETOWN, AND SUMO

I will…

FOR MY BEST FRIEND, COMRADES, AND INDIA

-…win! -…win!

The more hopes and dreams of others they carry,

the stronger they become.

Subtitle translation by: Brian Athey