The transfer of the Miyagino stable to the Isekehama stable has raised fears of “mass retirement” of rikishi.

Miyagino Oyakata, shown with a luxury brand bag in hand during the March tournament

The Japan Sumo Association announced that Miyagino Oyakata (former yokozuna Hakuho), his stable, and all related wrestlers will transfer to the Isekehama stable. The Miyagino stable has been virtually “closed,” although some have suggested that the stable be “shut down” due to its responsibility for the long neglect of the assault by Hokushoho. The period of time has not yet been decided. From now on, the general manager of the stable, Isekehama Oyakata (former yokozuna Asahifuji), will report on the “rehabilitation” of Miyagino Oyakata to the executive board of the AJSA after each tournament. The transfer of Miyagino will re-stage the “forbidden battle” between the two. No one in the sumo world is unaware of the “dog-and-monkey” relationship between Miyagino and his stablemate Terunofuji. The relationship is dangerous and irreconcilable due to a grudge stemming from the “Hima Fuji assault incident” in Tottori in October 2005.

For Terunofuji, it was a humiliating “Kneeling on the Ground Incident.”

The “transfer” of the Miyagino stable to the Isekehama stable is a “minefield” where anything could happen in the future. At the center of it all are Miyagino’s stablemaster and the Isekehama stable’s lone yokozuna, Terunofuji. The incident occurred on October 25, 2005. On the night before the Tottori tour the following day, Hima Tomishi, then yokozuna, assaulted Kinoiwa, a junior Mongolian rikishi. The feud between Chancellor Yasumi Hakkaku (former yokozuna Kitakatsumi), who wanted to calm things down, and Takanohana, the master of the victim (Kinoiwa), became a heated row.

The final result was that Takanohana resigned from the Sumo Association, and the “all-out confrontation” between Miyagino and Terunofuji began.

The incident involving Himafuji’s assault was triggered by a dinner party between officials of Tottori Johoku High School, a powerful sumo school, and Mongolian wrestlers, led by Miyagino Oyakata, an alumnus of the school. In fact, that was not the only problem. Himafuji and Miyagino gave Terunofuji, who was carrying bombs in both knees, a lecture under the influence of alcohol, saying that he had a “bad attitude.

Himafuji forced Terunofuji to sit on his knees and then pulled his cheeks down. Miyagino Oyakata got angry when he said, ‘There is a wall between the two yokozuna,’ and demanded Terunofuji sit on the floor and get down on his knees again. He continued to scold Terunofuji even when Terunofuji was on his knees, suffering from severe pain in both knees. This aggravated Terunofuji’s pain in both knees, and he is still in shambles.

The feud between Terunofuji and Miyagino started from this incident. About four years after the incident, Yokozuna Hakuho and Terunofuji, then an ozeki, went head-to-head in a winner-take-all match at the Nagoya tournament in 2009.

The two wrestlers exchanged powerful hand slaps, and it was a true fistfight,” said Hakuho. It was literally a gachinko match, but in the end, Hakuho won with a kote nage (small hand throw). Immediately after that, he struck a gut-pose toward Terunofuji. This was the moment that decided Hakuho’s 45th and final victory. Terunofuji is said to call Miyagino oyakata “that man,” and he still holds a considerable grudge against him from that time.