Tokiwayama Stable

Tokiwayama (常盤山部屋, Tokiwayama-beya) is a stable of sumo wrestlers, as of 2018 part of the Nishonoseki ichimon or group of stables. It was set up in September 2004 by former sekiwake Masudayama, who branched off from Kasugano stable. In April 2016 the former Takamisugi took over the running of the stable when ex-Masudayama reached the mandatory retirement age of 65, and aligned the stable with the Takanohana ichimon, leaving the Dewanoumi ichimon.

As of January 2023, it has 9 active sumo wrestlers.

## **History**

Chiganoura stable was established in September 2004 by former sekiwake Masudayama, who branched off from Kasugano stable of the Dewanoumi ichimon at the unusually late age of 53, after he lost out to Tochinowaka in his bid to take over Kasugano stable. He took four wrestlers with him from Kasugano stable, the last of whom, Burinosato, retired in March 2019.

The stable produced their first sekitori in 2010 when Masunoyama was promoted to juryo. It was home to the only Hungarian in professional sumo to date, Masutoo, who was on the podium at the 2004 Junior Sumo World Championships alongside Tochinoshin, Goeido and Kaisei but was not able to progress beyond the makushita division in professional sumo.

In April 2016, the former Takamisugi took over the running of the stable when ex-Masudayama reached the mandatory retirement age of 65, and aligned the stable with the Takanohana ichimon, leaving the Dewanoumi ichimon. The former Chiganoura changed to Tokiwayama and was re-employed by the stable as a consultant for five years.

In June 2018 the Takanohana ichimon dissolved and Chiganoura joined the Ōnomatsu group, with ex-Masudayama choosing to be unaffiliated. In September, the stable joined the Nishonoseki group and on October 1st, Chiganoura adopted the wrestlers and staff from the defunct Takanohana stable following the resignation of Takanohana from the Japan Sumo Association. After absorbing Takanohana stable, Chiganoura stable received four new sekitori, Takanoiwa, Takagenji, Takanofuji, and Takakeisho. In November Takakeisho won the top division championship in his first tournament for his new stable, and in March 2019 he was promoted to ozeki.

In November 2020, as former Masudayama's retirement approached, as part of a previous agreement, former Takamisugi and former Masudayama swapped back their elder names, and former Takamisugi changed the name of the stable to his original elder name, Tokiwayama.

## **Ring Name Conventions**

Many wrestlers at this stable took ring names or *shikona* that begin with the character 舛 (read: masu), in deference to their former coach and the stable's founder, the former Masudayama. Examples include Masunoshō, Masutoo and Masutenryu. However, when Masunosho was promoted to the juryo division after the September 2017 tournament his shikona was changed to Takanosho, after the new head coach Takamisugi.

## **Owners**

* 2016–present: 15th and 17th Tokiwayama Takakatsu (iin, former komusubi Takamisugi)
* 2004-2016: 19th Chiganoura Yasuhito (former sekiwake Masudayama)

## **Notable Active Wrestlers**

* Takakeisho (best rank ozeki) - *transferred from Takanohana stable*
* Takanosho (best rank sekiwake)
* Takakento (best rank juryo) - *transferred from Takanohana stable*
* Wakanosho (best rank makushita)

## **Notable Former Wrestlers**

* Takanoiwa (former maegashira) - *transferred from Takanohana stable*
* Masunoyama (former maegashira)
* Takagenji (former maegashira) - *transferred from Takanohana stable*
* Takanofuji (former juryo) - *transferred from Takanohana stable*
* Tochinoyama (former makushita) - *transferred from Kasugano stable*
* Takunishiki (former makushita)
* Masutoo (former makushita)
* Masuhikari (former makushita)
* Burinosato (former sandanme) - *transferred from Kasugano stable*
* Masumeidai (former sandanme)

## **Referee**

* Kimura Hideaki (makushita gyoji) - *Transferred from Kasugano stable*

## **Hairdresser**

* Tokokatsu (first class tokoyama)
* Tokosen (third class tokoyama)

## **Other personnel**

* Ranbo Shosuke (sewanin, former makushita)
* Tochinoyama Hiroshi (sewanin, former makushita)

## **Website**

* Tokiwayama stable's website [1]
* Tokiwayama stable's Facebook [2]
* Tokiwayama stable's Twitter [3]