Isegahama stable (2007)


Isegahama stable, formerly known as Ajigawa stable from 1979 to 2007, is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Isegahama ichimon or group of stables. Its current head coach is former yokozuna Asahifuji. As of January 2020 it had 18 wrestlers.

History

The original Ajigawa stable was established in April 1979 by former sekiwake Mutsuarashi. He had originally hoped to become head of Miyagino stable and had married the daughter of the incumbent stablemaster there, but the marriage ended in divorce. He moved to Tomozuna stable upon his retirement in 1977 before opening up his new stable two years later. Ajigawa stable absorbed Kasugayama stable in 1990 on the retirement of its head coach. In April 1993 Asahifuji acceded to the Ajigawa name and took over the stable, due to the poor health of the incumbent. In late 2007 Asahifuji switched to the prestigious Isegahama elder name which had become available upon the retirement of its previous holder, former maegashira Katsuhikari, thereby also changing the name of his stable. Asahifuji's decision to switch to the Isegahama name can be seen as an attempt to restore his ichimon's reputation. He also moved the stable to new premises.
In September 2012, its wrestler Harumafuji won his second consecutive tournament and was promoted Yokozuna for the next basho. In March 2013, the stable absorbed the coach and wrestlers of Magaki stable. Magaki was shut down due to the poor health of Magaki-oyakata. Isegahama stable had four of its wrestlers ranked in the makuuchi and jūryō divisions in 2017, although Harumafuji retired in November 2017 and former ōzeki Terunofuji fell to jūryō through injury in 2018.

Ring name conventions

During its time as Ajigawa stable, most of the wrestlers' ring names started with the kanji 安. Since the name change to Isegahama, a new pattern has taken hold, with many wrestlers having ring names ending with the characters 富士, in deference to their coach and the stable's owner, the former Asahifuji, although other stables use this suffix too. The 照 prefix is also common; examples are Terunofuji, Terutsuyoshi, Terumichi and Teruju.

Owners

Mōri 1-7-4, Kōtō-ku, Tokyo 135-0001
Near Sumiyoshi station on the Toei Shinjuku Line and the Hanzōmon Line