About

The Michinoku stable (陸奥部屋, Michinoku-beya) is a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tokitsukaze ichimon or group of stables. It was established in 1974 by former maegashira Hoshikabuto, who branched off from Izutsu stable. Former ōzeki Kirishima became the current head coach in December 1997. It absorbed Tatsutagawa stable in November 2000 upon the retirement of the stablemaster there. It lost four top members in April 2011 (Hakuba, Toyozakura, Jūmonji and Kirinowaka), who were forced to retire after being found guilty of match-fixing. The retirement of Ryūhō in 2012 left it with no sekitori until Kiribayama reached the juryo division in 2019. Kiribayama reached the top makuuchi division in January 2020, the first for the stable since Hakuba in 2008. After the death of Izutsu Oyakata in September 2019 all personnel from Izutsu stable moved to Michinoku as of 1 October 2019. This expanded the stable to 15 wrestlers, the most senior of whom is yokozuna Kakuryū.