Kokonoe stable is a stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Takasago group of stables. It was formed in 1967 and is located in Ishiwara, Sumida, Tokyo. As of January 2020 it had 22 sumo wrestlers, five of whom were of sekitori rank. It is the most successful stable in terms of total yūshō won by its wrestlers, with 52.
History
Former yokozunaChiyonoyama of Dewanoumi stable had wanted to succeed to the Dewanoumi name, but the then Dewanoumi stablemaster had already decided to pass the name to former yokozuna Sadanoyama. Accordingly, in January 1967, he set up his own stable, taking with him, amongst others, then ōzekiKitanofuji and attaching the new stable to the Takasago group of stables. After Chiyonoyama died in 1977, Kitanofuji, who had already revived Izutsu stable, became the 11th Kokonoe-oyakata. He raised Chiyonofuji, then a makuuchi wrestler, to the great yokozuna he became. Later he also saw Hokutoumi become a yokozuna. Takanofuji and Fujinoshin also reached the top division. In 1992, the year after Chiyonofuji retired from the ring, Kitanofuji handed over the stable to him. Chiyonofuji and Kitanofuji swapped names, Chiyonofuji becoming Kokonoe-oyakata and gaining control of the stable, whilst Kitanofuji became Jinmaku-oyakata, attached to Hakkaku stable, set up by the former Hokutoumi in 1993. In the early 1990s Kokonoe stable was one of the largest in sumo but had only one sekitori, Tomoefuji. Kokonoe eventually produced Chiyotenzan, briefly a komusubiin 1999, and long serving ōzekiChiyotaikai, his most successful wrestler. Following the retirements of Chiyotaikai in January 2010 and Chiyohakuhō in April 2011, the stable had no sekitori for a short time, but Chiyonokuni reached jūryō in July 2011 and the top division in January 2012. Chiyotairyū followed afterwards and reached makuuchi in May 2012. By March 2014, Kokonoe stable was one of the most successful stables in sumo, with three men in the top division and two in jūryō. In January 2016 the stable moved up to six sekitori with the promotion of Chiyoshōma, the most of any stable. As of May 2019 it has five, third behind the Oitekaze and Kise. Chiyonofuji died in July 2016. Sanoyama-oyakata succeeded him as the Kokonoe stablemaster.
Traditionally many wrestlers at this stable, often on reaching the sandanme division, take ring names or shikona that begin with the characters 千代, meaning "a thousand generations", in deference to the founder, Chiyonoyama and also his later successor Chiyonofuji. As of March 2018, all wrestlers at the stable, including those in the bottom two divisions, have this prefix.
