is a stable

Heya

In sumo wrestling, a heya , usually translated into English as stable, is an organization of sumo wrestlers where they train and live. All wrestlers in professional sumo must belong to one. There are currently 49 heya , all but four of which belong to one of five ichimon...

 of sumo

Sumo

is a competitive full-contact sport where a wrestler attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally...

 wrestlers, part of the Tatsunami ichimon or group of stables. It has a long history. As of April 2008 it had 11 sumo wrestlers.

History

Asahiyama stable is one of the oldest continually-running stables in sumo, its current incarnation dating back to 1896. It is the only stable still in existence that can trace its lineage back directly to the days of the once-rival Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 sumo organization where it had a strong base, producing the 28th Yokozuna Ōnishiki Daigorō

Onishiki Daigoro

Ōnishiki Daigorō was a sumo wrestler. He was the sport's 28th Yokozuna.-Career:Ōnishiki was born in Ama District, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, in what is now Yatomi City. There are several theories about his birth date....

 in 1918. During the 1970s the stable was home to six Tongan

Tonga

Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...

 wrestlers (including Sione Vailahi

Sione Vailahi

Sione Havea Vailahi is a professional wrestler best known in wrestling as The Barbarian.-Life and career:Born and raised in Tonga, Sione was one of five teenagers sent by the King of Tonga to Japan to study Sumo wrestling in the mid 1970s. Tonga Fifita was one of the other teenagers...

 and Tonga Fifita) recruited by former maegashira Futaseyama, but when he died in 1975 they were caught up in a succession dispute between former maegashira Ryuo and the man who eventually became the new head, former komusubi Wakafutase. They sided with Futaseyama's widow, who preferred Ryuo to take over, and were ultimately dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association

Japan Sumo Association

The is the body that operates and controls professional sumo wrestling in Japan under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Rikishi , gyōji , tokoyama , and yobidashi , are all on the Association's payroll, but the organisation is run...

. Watafutase led the stable until his death in 1997. Since then it has been led by former ozeki Daiju

Daiju Hisateru

Daiju Hisateru is a former sumo wrestler from Hokkaidō, Japan. His highest rank was ozeki, but he held the rank for only five tournaments, fewer than any ozeki in the modern era. He won eleven sansho or special prizes during his top division career which lasted from 1970 to 1977...

.

Asahiyama Oyakata

• 14th Asahiyama: former sekiwake Futasegawa 1944-1959
• 15th Asahiyama: former sekiwake Kozuzan 1959-1963
• 16th Asahiyama: former maegashira Futaseyama 1963-1975
• 17th Asahiyama: former komusubi Wakafutase 1975-1997
• 18th Asahiyama: former ozeki Daiju
  Daiju
  Daiju may refer to:*Daiju Takase, Japanese mixed martial arts fighter*Daiju Hisateru, Japanese sumo wrestler...
  
   1997-present

Former wrestlers

• Kotetsuyama (former sekiwake, later founded Onaruto stable)
• Daihisho (former maegashira)
• Daimanazuru (former maegashira)

External links

• Asahiyama stable at the Japan Sumo Association