Waiting” for Miyagino Oyakata’s Hope of Reestablishing His Office? His disciples are in danger of “mass retirement” after the summer tournaments.

In the world of sumo, it is said that “rikishi transfers” do not go well. After Takanohana’s retirement in 2006, eight rikishi from the former Takanohana stable, led by Ozeki Kikagatsu, were transferred to the Chikanoura stable (now the Tokiwayama stable), but currently there are only three former Takanohana wrestlers in the stable. The former Takanohana stable is said to have been hit hard by the troubles between wrestlers from different rooms and “spitting matches” between supporters’ associations, causing young rikishi to quit the stable in droves.

Even though he has been forced to close his stable, Miyagino Oyakata hopes to eventually “reestablish” the stable. Will he allow it or not? The first step in the decision-making process will be made by Isegahama Oyakata and Asakayama Oyakata (former ozeki Kaio).

In short, they are his educators. After each tournament, they report Miyagino’s situation to the executive board of the JSA, which decides whether or not to “lift” the room’s closure. It has never happened before in the sumo world that a stable is closed down and a wrestler is transferred to another stable because of a scandal,” said an experienced sumo journalist.

Miyagino would have liked to see the rikishi he had trained reinstated as a member of the Isegahama stable. In reality, however, more than half of the former apprentices of the Miyagino stable failed to even step into the ring. The road to recovery envisioned by the former yokozuna, who was the strongest yokozuna during his active career, has a long way to go.