- Source: Nakamura stable (2024)
Nakamura stable (中村部屋, Nakamura-beya) is a stable of sumo wrestlers, one of the Nishonoseki group of stables. It broke off from Nishonoseki stable by its founder, former sekiwake Yoshikaze, and opened in June 2024.
History
The stable is owned by the former Yoshikaze, who competed in professional sumo as a member of Oguruma stable for over 15 years from 2004 until 2019. Upon his retirement, he took the elder name Nakamura and coached at Oguruma until 2022. When Oguruma closed due to its stablemaster reaching mandatory retirement age, Nakamura and some of the wrestlers and staff transferred to Nishonoseki stable.
Following the May 2024 grand sumo tournament, the Japan Sumo Association approved the request of Nakamura to split from Nishonoseki to create his own stable. The new Nakamura stable opened the following month with 8 wrestlers on the former site of Michinoku stable, which had closed earlier in the year. It marked the stable's revival after the previous Nakamura stable, led by the former Fujizakura, closed in 2013. Some of the wrestlers transferring to Nakamura upon its opening included Tomokaze, who had followed the former Yoshikaze from Oguruma stable to Nishonoseki, and recent jūryō promotion Kayō. At the July 2024 tournament, Tomokaze won his Day 3 jūryō contest to mark the stable's first victory for a salaried wrestler.
In the first month since its opening, Sports Hochi reported that Nakamura stable decided to break tradition with typical sumo training schedules and methods. While most sumo stables start the day with training and then serve lunch and dinner, wrestlers at Nakamura stable start the day with breakfast and typically eat three meals a day, while training days are split into two sessions. Furthermore, a typical week at the stable sees a maximum of three days of sumo training and two days of strength training, the latter of which is conducted in a training room with equipment built on the upper floor of the stable. The stablemaster also installed an oxygen capsule said to help with fatigue, considered rare for a sumo stable. The stable's accommodations and training practices were featured on the official English-language YouTube channel of the Japan Sumo Association, SUMO Prime Time, in August 2024.
A formal ceremony to mark the opening of the stable was held on 1 September 2024.
Owners
2024-present: Nakamura Masatsugu (iin, former sekiwake Yoshikaze)
Notable active wrestlers
Tomokaze (best rank maegashira)
Kayō (best rank jūryō)
Usher
Rokurō (jūryō yobidashi, real name Kenzō Araki)
Hairdressers
Tokokasumi (tokoyama)
Location and access
1-18-7 Ryōgoku, Sumida, Tokyo (formerly used by Michinoku stable)
See also
List of active sumo wrestlers
List of sumo stables
List of sumo elders
References
External links
Official site (in Japanese)
Japan Sumo Association profile