| Brothers in Sumo – part two Brian Lewin |
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| Yokozuna Comparisons Joe Kuroda |
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| Rikishi of Old John Gunning |
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| Heya Peek Barbara Ann Klein |
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| SFM Interview John Gunning |
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| Sumo 101 Barbara Ann Klein |
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| Photo Bonanza See the Hatsu Basho |
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| Hatsu Basho Review Lon Howard |
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| Lower Division Rikishi Mikko Mattila |
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| Haru Basho Forecast Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton |
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| Kimarite Focus Mikko Mattila |
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| Minusha John McTague |
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| Online Gaming Alexander Nitschke |
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| Kokugi Connections Todd Lambert |
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| Fan Debate Feb's debate sees |
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SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In the third of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and enjoy BL’s offerings and put a caption to ST’s pic to win yourselves a banzuke
| Let’s Hear From You What was it that |
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| Readers’ Letters See what some SFM |
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Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
Looking at the present and future, in the Hatsu Basho, Roho posted an impressive 9-6 that included wins over new ozeki Kotooshu, Kotomitsuki and Kaio, giving him a very good shot at breaking into sanyaku for Haru. Regrettably, Hakurozan, ranked two below at 4e, was not yet ready for the challenge, getting hammered by the joijin and ending up at 4-11. Hopefully, he will learn from that, and watching his big brother’s success will spark a little bit of sibling rivalry, driving him to challenge his brother later this year.
Georgia on My Mind
The newest pair of foreign rikishi brothers, in one respect, followed the same path as the last two. Solid maegashira rikishi Kokkai made his debut exactly one year before Roho with ex-maegashira Daishoyama’s Oitekaze-beya; his younger brother, Tsukasaumi, did his mae-zumo last Aki Basho with
with an outstanding 7-0, losing the yusho in a playoff, but setting himself up for a nice promotion in March.
Georgian Levan Tsaguria burned up the banzuke from his debut, winning yusho in jonidan, sandanme, makushita and juryo, before arriving in makuuchi in January 2004, less than three years after his debut. This caused speculation about him similar to that about Roho and, like Roho, he perhaps believed a little too much of his own publicity and hit the wall at M1. Still, with a kinboshi and a kantosho to his credit, along with a solid 8-7 in Hatsu that included wins over Asashoryu, Kaio and Kotooshu, Kokkai appears not to be done yet. And perhaps his example will inspire his 18-year-old brother Georgi to work hard to join him in the top division. Georgi is reportedly more of a yotsu-zumo belt man, so he could provide
Looking at the preceding, it is surprising to note that no less than six pairs of siblings are now represented in the sekitori ranks. Furthermore, of those twelve, ten have made it to sekitori status, and nine are
currently competing at that level. That is a perhaps unprecedented number, at least in the top ranks. It seems that there is a growing feeling that talent runs in the family, or at the very least, growing evidence to support that argument. And the fact that half of the above are foreigners is not insignificant, and undoubtedly not lost on foreign sumo aspirants. If and when the Kyokai relaxes its current one-foreigner-per-heya rule, look for even more foreign siblings to come rushing in to join their Japanese sibling counterparts. Perhaps success does run in the family.
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