Tagonoura Stable (2013)

Tagonoura stable 2014 1 — Tagonoura stable

Tagonoura stable (田子ノ浦部屋, Tagonoura-beya), formerly Naruto stable is a stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Nishonoseki ichimon group of stables. The stable was established on February 1st, 1989, by former yokozuna Takanosato Toshihide. Naruto died suddenly on 7 November 2011. The stable's current master, former maegashira Takanotsuru, changed to the Tagonoura toshiyori in December 2013 and renamed the stable accordingly.

As of January 2023 it has 13 active sumo wrestlers.

History[]

Naruto stable was established on February 1st, 1989, by former yokozuna Takanosato. The stable produced their first sekitori when Rikio was promoted to juryo in 1993, followed by Wakanosato in 1998, Takanowaka in 1999, Takanotsuru in 2003, Kisenosato in 2004, and Takayasu and Takanoyama in 2011. It was a close-knit stable and Naruto Oyakata did not let his wrestlers go out and train at other stables (degeiko), believing that they did not need outside help.

In October 2011 the Sumo Association launched an investigation into allegations made by the news magazine Shūkan Shinchō that Naruto had beaten a former junior member of his stable with a block of wood and had injected Takanoyama with insulin so that the barely 100 kg wrestler would increase his appetite and put on weight. Both Naruto and Takanoyama were summoned for questioning by chairman Hanaregoma. Just days later, on November 7, 2011, Naruto died of respiratory failure in Fukuoka at the age of 59. At the end of the Kyushu tournament held later the same month, Kisenosato was promoted to ōzeki, something Naruto had always dreamed of seeing.

Naruto died suddenly on 7 November 2011. The stable's current master, former maegashira Takanotsuru, changed to the Tagonoura toshiyori in December 2013 and renamed the stable accordingly. Upon changing the stable name, the stable was also moved to the Ryōgoku area from Matsudo, Chiba. It has no connection to the defunct Tagonoura stable established by the late Kushimaumi.

The stable's most successful rikishi, Kisenosato, became the 72nd yokozuna in 2017. Later that year, stablemate, Takayasu earned promotion to sumo's second highest rank, ozeki.

Ring Name Conventions[]

Many wrestlers at this stable have taken ring names or shikona that end with the character 里 (read: sato), meaning village or native place, in deference to their coach and the stable's owner, the deceased former Takanosato. Some also have shikona that start with the character 隆 (read: taka), which can mean noble or prosperity, again in deference to the founder of the stable, Takanosato's first shikona kanji.

Owners[]

2011-present: 14th Naruto / 16th Tagonoura Shinichi (shunin, former maegashira Takanotsuru)
1989-2011: 13th Naruto Toshihide (the 59th yokozuna Takanosato)