A stable is what sumo operators call a training facility - in Japanese it's called a beya - and Musashimaru's will be just the second such beya to be owned by a foreign-born wrestler after former Sekiwake Takamiyama (now know in retirement as Azumazeki).
Now 41-years-old, Musashimaru will inherit the Musashigawa name. Musashimaru, a native of Hawaii, USA, was always built like a tank. Tall, but square-like. Very heavy but not too heavy, as he, along with the great Yokozuna Takanohana and his brother Yokozuna Wakanohana were all very mobile sumo wrestlers who wrestled in the 1990s when sumo was indeed king.
Musashimaru was/is 1.92 meters (6'-3-1/2") tall and 235 kilograms (520 lbs) at his heaviest. He retired in November of 2003, and I admit to have stopped following sumo at that time - even from all the way here in Canada, as I used to check the news regularly. I had seen him achieve the rank of Sekiwake in 1992, but unfortunately I physically missed seeing him achieve the rank of Ozeki in 1994 and him finally being elected to Yokozuna in 1999. By the end of his career, he had won 12 major championships (four major tournaments per year in sumo).
I had also seen one of the best-ever sumo wrestlers, Chionofuji wrestle (he won 31 tournaments, second only to the great Taiho who won 32!) - though that was just as he was getting near the end - but I still say watching Musashimaru wrestle was always the highlight of any wrestling tournament for me. He had an exuberance and a slight smile - more so than any other sumo-san - that was infectious.
The fact that I also got a chance to meet and talk with him was also one of the highs of my three years in Japan, when he came to my home town of Ohtawara-shi in Tochigi-ken to put on a sumo demonstration.
And you know what... we chatted for a while in English, and you could tell how much he missed doing that, but his manners were that befitting a man who would one day be a sumo Yokozuna. I told him I had watched his first match (on television) and explained to him why I thought he would one day be a Yokozuna... his size and keen grappling skills, and his ability to change fighting styles against certain opponents was genius ... I probably gushed a little with a man crush, but he was and is my sumo idol.
I wish him continued success as a trainer, and hope someone from his stable will eventually rise up and bring honor back to the sport I loved so much in Japan after all of the recently proven charges of match-fixing that have occurred over the past several years. Getting sumo back on track - and I know it sounds stupid - but it's important to many Japanese, just like hockey is to Canada, Sweden and Russia et al (thought at least the Swedes and Russians have great men's soccer teams. Canada has a damn fine woman's team. Geez, can you tell I'm a sports fan?).
In that photo above I took of him in Ohtawara, he's 21-years-old, and was already moving up the ranks of sumo as a Sekiwake. Despite this middle of the road title at the time, the crowds that showed up to meet and see him in Ohtawara were spectacular showing just how popular the sport of sumo is to the Japanese, and just how important it is to their psyche.
Cheers
Andrew Joseph
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