Nishonoseki stable (1911–2013)

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Nishonoseki stable (二所ノ関部屋, Nishonoseki-beya) was a sumo stable that existed from 1911 to 2013 and was part of the Nishonoseki ichimon, a group of stables named after it. The modern stable traces back to the late 1700s, but it was re-founded in 1935 by the 32nd yokozuna Tamanishiki while he was still competing.

The stable produced its greatest wrestler in Taihō, who won 32 tournament championships between 1961 and 1971, a record of the time. The last head coach was Kongō, a former sekiwake, who took charge in 1976 after being adopted by the widow of the previous head. He also served on the board of the Japan Sumo Association.

Afterward, the stable’s fortunes declined. It had no sekitori (top-division wrestlers) after Daizen retired in 2003, and at the end it had only three active wrestlers, all in the sandanme or lower divisions. One of them, Kasachikara, was 41 years old, making him the second oldest active wrestler in sumo. A Chinese-born rikishi, Ryūtei, joined as a naturalized foreigner, and a Mongolian wrestler, Kengo, joined in March 2010 but retired in May 2011 after suffering a traumatic brain injury that caused several missed tournaments.

In February 2010, the stable’s general affairs manager Yoshiyuki Inoguchi, a former wrestler known as Nijodake, was found dead in what appeared to be a suicide. The stable closed after the January 2013 tournament because the stablemaster was ill and there was no suitable successor. All three wrestlers retired, and the rest of the staff mostly moved to Matsugane stable, with Fujigane-oyakata staying.

The building bore the stable’s name in very large characters on the front and was later demolished to make way for apartments. The Nishonoseki name was revived in 2021, with Nishonoseki stable reformed in a new location after eight years of dormancy.