Takanohana stable (貴乃花部屋 Takanohana-beya) is a stable of sumo wrestlers, formerly one of the Nishonoseki group of stables. It was known as Futagoyama stable until 2004.
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Futagoyama stable was established in 1962 by former Yokozuna Wakanohana Kanji I, who branched off from Hanakago stable and converted his home near the Minami Asagaya station into the stable headquarters.[1]Its first sekitori was komusubi Futagodake. It was very strong in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it produced two yokozuna and two ozeki, one of whom, Takanohana Kenshi, was the stable master's younger brother. From the promotion of Takanohana Kenshi to komusubi in May 1972 until the retirement of Wakashimazu in July 1987 the stable always had at least one wrestler in the titled sanyaku ranks.[1]
Takanohana Kenshi established Fujishima stable upon his retirement as an active wrestler in 1982, and when his elder brother reached the mandatory oyakata retirement age of 65 in February 1993, Fujishima and Futagoyama stable were merged and continued under the Futagoyama name. At its peak in the mid 1990s the merged stable had a yokozuna, two ozeki, and several other sanyaku regulars. During this period it had 50 wrestlers in total,[2] and ten in the top division: Takanohana, Wakanohana, Takanonami, Akinoshima, Takatoriki and Toyonoumi (from Fujishima) and Takamisugi, Misugisato, Naminohana and Wakashoyo (from Futagoyama). This unprecedented dominance led to suggestions that the Japan Sumo Association should not have approved the merger, as it gave these wrestlers an unfair advantage over their opponents as they never had to face each other in tournament competition.[3] Takanohana's yokozuna rival Akebono by contrast, had to fight everyone as there were no other wrestlers from his stable in the top two divisions.
By the early 2000s the stable had begun to decline, and in 2004 Takanohana Kenshi retired due to ill health. His son Takanohana Kōji took over, renaming the stable Takanohana beya. The heya's last sekitori, Takanonami, retired shortly afterwards. Under Takanohana Koji's stewardship the heya initially failed to attract many recruits, and retirements reduced the number of active wrestlers to as low as seven in 2007. Recruitment has since picked up, with seven new wrestlers joining between the March 2008 and May 2009 tournaments. As of July 2009 the stable has twelve wrestlers, among them a foreign wrestler, Mongolian Takanoiwa, who was recruited in November 2008. In November 2009 Takanoiwa took the championship in the sandanme division, the first yusho for the stable since it was renamed.
In January 2010 the Takanohana stable, along with the Onomatsu, Otake and Magaki stable, was forced to leave the Nishonoseki ichimon after Takanohana declared his intention to run as an unofficial candidate in the elections to the Sumo Association's board of directors.[4]