The Japan Sumo Association on Thursday announced the closure of the scandal-hit Miyagino stable for the foreseeable future and the indefinite transfer of its wrestlers and elders to the Isegahama stable.
Former yokozuna Hakuho, winner of a record 45 championships in the elite makuuchi division, was serving as the Miyagino stablemaster when it emerged last month that his 22-year-old protege Hokuseiho had repeatedly subjected two junior wrestlers at the stable to physical abuse.
Hakuho received a demotion and pay cut from the JSA, while the Mongolian-born, Hokkaido-raised Hokuseiho, who was wrestling in the top tier, retired from sumo over the scandal.
Negotiations for the transfer had been under way since the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament earlier this month. An initial plan would have seen the Miyagino members divided and sent to different stables, but the JSA preferred to transfer the entire stable as one.
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The latest decision sees Hakuho make the move along with his wrestlers and serve as sumo elder Miyagino at the Isegahama stable, where he will receive reeducation on being a stablemaster and sumo elder.
"It doesn't mean the (Miyagino) stable will disappear. It is going to be under control temporarily," JSA public relations manager Sadogatake said after a board of directors meeting in Tokyo. "We're hopeful of sumo elder Miyagino nurturing good wrestlers again."
The Isegahama stablemaster, former yokozuna Asahifuji, and sumo elder Asakayama, former ozeki Kaio, will report on Hakuho to the JSA after each grand tournament held every two months.
The Isegahama stable is home to around 20 wrestlers including lone yokozuna Terunofuji and recent headline maker Takerufuji, who won the March grand tournament as a top-division rookie.
Its absorption of the roughly 20 Miyagino wrestlers will create sumo's biggest stable.
