Nishonoseki stable (2014)


Nishonoseki stable, formerly known as Matsugane stable, is a stable of sumo wrestlers. It was founded in 1990 by Wakashimazu of the Futagoyama stable. Wakashimazu, now known as Nishonoseki-oyakata, is also the chairman of the Nishonoseki group of stables or ichimon. It has produced three top makuuchi division wrestlers in that time; , Wakatsutomu, Harunoyama, and Shōhōzan. After the retirement of Harunoyama in November 2006 the stable had no sekitori until Shōhōzan reached the jūryō division in March 2010. As of January 2020 it had 11 wrestlers.
In late 2014, the general consensus among those with connections to the Nishonoseki ichimon was that an ichimon so named without a Nishonoseki stable as its head was a misnomer. In accordance with this general opinion, the oyakata of Matsugane stable, which had absorbed support personnel from the defunct Nishonoseki when it closed, decided to revive the name. He switched his Matsugane elder name with the former Tamarikidō's Nishonoseki elder name, thus allowing him to rename the stable. The former Tamarikidō, now known as Matsugane-oyakata, also joined the newly renamed stable.

Ring name conventions

Some wrestlers at this stable take ring names or shikona that begin with the character 若, meaning young, in deference to their coach and the stable's owner, the former Wakashimazu.

Owner

Chiba prefecture, Funabashi City, Kosaku 4-13-1
10 minute walk from Funabashihōten Station on Musashino Line