Kokonoe stable

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Kokonoe stable (九重部屋, Kokonoe beya) is a stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Takasago group of stables. It was formed in 1967 and is located in Ishiwara, Sumida, Tokyo. As of January 2012 it had 15 sumo wrestlers.

History

Former yokozuna Chiyonoyama Masanobu of Dewanoumi stable had wanted to succeed to the Dewanoumi name, but the then Dewanoumi-oyakata (former wrestler Dewanohana) had already decided to pass the name to former yokozuna Sadanoyama Shinmatsu. Accordingly, in January 1967, he set up his own stable, taking with him, amongst others, then ōzeki Kitanofuji Katsuaki and attaching the new stable to the Takasago group of stables.

After Chiyonoyama died in 1977, Kitanofuji, who had already revived Izutsu stable, became the 11th Kokonoe-oyakata. He raised Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, then a makuuchi wrestler, to the great yokozuna he became. Later he also saw Hokutoumi become a yokozuna. Takanofuji and Fujinoshin also reached the top division.

In 1992, the year after Chiyonofuji retired from the ring, Kitanofuji handed over the stable to him. Chiyonofuji and Kitanofuji swapped names, Chiyonofuji becoming Kokonoe-oyakata and gaining control of the stable, whilst Kitanofuji became Jinmaku-oyakata, attached to Hakkaku stable, set up by the former Hokutoumi in 1993. In the early 1990s Kokonoe stable was one of the largest in sumo but had only one sekitori, Tomoefuji. Kokonoe eventually produced Chiyotenzan, briefly a komusubi in 1999, and long serving ōzeki Chiyotaikai (1999–2009). Following the retirements of Chiyotaikai in January 2010 and Chiyohakuho in April 2011, the stable had no sekitori for a short time, but Chiyonokuni reached jūryō in July 2011 and the top division in January 2012. Chiyotairyū followed afterwards and reached makuuchi in May 2012. By March 2014, Kokonoe stable was one of the most successful stables in sumo, with three men (Chiyotairyū, Chiyoōtori and Chiyomaru) in the top division and two (Chiyonokuni and Chiyo-o) in jūryō.

Since the current oyakata inherited Kokonoe stable every wrestler with a formal shikona has been given the prefix "Chiyo".

Ring name conventions

Many wrestlers at this stable, often on reaching the sandanme division, take ring names or shikona that begin with the characters 千代 (read: chiyo), meaning "a thousand generations", in deference to the founder, Chiyonoyama and also his later successor Chiyonofuji.

Owners

• 1992-present: 13th Kokonoe (iin, former Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, the 58th yokozuna)
• 1977-1992: 12th Kokonoe (former Kitanofuji Katsuaki, the 52nd yokozuna)
• 1967-1977: 11th Kokonoe (former Chiyonoyama Masanobu, the 41st yokozuna)

Notable active wrestlers

See also: sekitori

• Chiyomaru (best rank maegashira)
• Chiyonokuni (best rank maegashira)
• Chiyoō [[{{{1}}}]] (best rank jūryō)
• Chiyoōtori (best rank komusubi)
• Chiyotairyū (best rank komusubi)

Coach

• Sanoyama Ryūji (iin, former ōzeki Chiyotaikai)

Notable former members

• Chiyotenzan (former komusubi)
• Takanofuji (former komusubi)

Referees

• Kimura Keinosuke (san'yaku gyōji, real name Yūji Horasawa)
• Kimura Kōnosuke (makuuchi gyōji, real name Toshiaki Kojima)

Ushers

• Shigeo (san'yaku yobidashi, real name Takumi Taniguchi)
• Shigetarō (makushita yobidashi, real name Katsunori Hattori)
• Kaito (jonidan yobidashi, real name Keisuke Miyagi)

Hairdressers

• Tokotake (1st class tokoyama)
• Tokokyū (2nd class tokoyama)

See also

• Kokonoe-oyakata
• List of active sumo wrestlers
• List of past sumo wrestlers
• Glossary of sumo terms
• List of sumo stables

External links

• Official site (Japanese)
• Japan Sumo Association profile
• Article on Kokonoe stable