Ōshima stable (大島部屋, Ōshima-beya) was a stable of sumo wrestlers, part of the Tatsunami ichimon or group of stables. It was set up in 1980 by former ōzekiAsahikuni, who branched off from Tatsunami stable. The head of Tatsunami stable opposed the setting up of the new stable, and did not speak to Ōshima until Asahifuji was promoted to ōzeki in 1987.[1] Ōshima produced ten sekitori, all of whom went on to reach the top makuuchi division. Ōshima's senior wrestler in later years was the Mongolian born veteran Kyokutenhō, who has Japanese citizenship and was seen as the successor to Ōshima. However, after Kyokutenhō indicated a desire to continue wrestling, the stable instead closed on 25 April 2012 when Ōshima reached the mandatory retirement age of 65, with its wrestlers transferring to Tomozuna stable.[2]
Ring name conventions
Most wrestlers' fighting names included the Chinese character "旭" meaning "sunrise", that can be read as either Asahi or Kyoku, taken from the founding stablemaster's shikona.[citation needed]