Brothers in Sumo –
part two
Brian Lewin
Brothers still active on the dohyo get their turn

Yokozuna Comparisons
Joe Kuroda
SFM’s most eminent historian, JK, has a crack at the impossible and tries to see who was the greatest of the tsuna wearers

Rikishi of Old
John Gunning
Takanobori – former sekiwake, former NHK man and all ’round gent

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Kitanoumi-beya, Kitazakura, mirrors & photo bonanza

SFM Interview
John Gunning
Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa (son of the late sekiwake Takanobori) on life in sumo way back when

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Behind every good man there stands a good woman – read and ye shall see. A departure from our regular 101 feature

Photo Bonanza
See the Hatsu Basho
plus much more through the lens of our photographers

Hatsu Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Hatsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila covers lower division goings on in detail

Haru Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton
Pierre predicts the Haru Basho banzuke while Mark highlights the ones to look out for in Osaka

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite

Minusha
John McTague
John’s unique bimonthly view of sumo news from outside the dohyo and in the restaurants!

Online Gaming
Alexander Nitschke
SFM’s own Alexander Nitschke covers the long running Hoshitori Game

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the most interesting sumo sites today

Fan Debate
Feb's debate sees
a pair of Kiwis exchanging opinions on the honbasho going on the road

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
made you a sumo fan? A unique perspective from a sightless reader.

Readers’ Letters
See what some SFM
readers had to say since our last issue

Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.

  When not participating in a bout, Orora stood in one corner of the room and, well, jiggled. He did do the butsukari, and duly rolled on the floor – not TOO much earthquake effect, but, at keiko-end, when everyone was doing shiko, Orora raised one FOOT about six inches, then brought it down. Matawari? Hah! Sitting on the floor with a slight leg spread.
 
Various levels of shiko (Photo by Barbara Ann Klein)
 
 About 45 minutes after we arrived, Kitazakura came in. Usually very jovial and gregarious at the honbasho venues, whether going in, leaving, winning or losing, at asageiko, he showed a different side. While he, himself, did not do much training, it was obvious that he took his role as heyagashira, mentor and sensei very seriously. He took rikishi aside to show them the proper

Kitazakura demonstrating a grip (Photo by Barbara Ann Klein)
way to perform specific holds, helped one youngster with his “squats”, spent some time consulting with his tsukebito, Miyamaru, shouted out encouragement or correction, and generally assumed the mantle of “father of the dohyo”. Very nice to watch.

At around 8AM, the ending exercises were performed, the prayer said, and asageiko was finished. Kitazakura, now relaxing a bit, beckoned for us to stay for a while, taking photos,
practicing his English (his wife is quite good in English), and chatting about all manner of things. But soon enough, his serious demeanor returned as he said “bath time”, and we knew it was time to leave.

As we left, we thought fleetingly about perhaps dropping in at Oguruma-beya, but decided to leave it for another time.

Home