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SOS - Shinjinrui on Sumo
Chris Gould
Chris sinks his teeth deeper into how sumo can go about pulling in the younger fans in part two of a three-part series.
Azumazeki up close and personal
Steven Pascal-Joiner / William Titus
A wiz with a pen and a wiz with a lens get together with SFM to share their time with Azumazeki Oyakata - Takamiyama as was - with the wider sumo following world.
Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda takes a detailed look at the life and times of a former yokozuna forgotten by many - Maedayama.
Eric Evaluates
Eric Blair
Eric calls the musubi-no-ichiban kimarite call on nakabi in Kyushu as perhaps only he could.
Heya Peek
Jeff Kennel
First time heya visitor Jeff Kennel wrote about, photographed and even made a video of his time spent at Arashio Beya prior to the Kyushu Basho. All to be found within.
SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
Mark interviews Russian up and comer Wakanoho of Magaki Beya.
Photo Bonanzas
See behind the scenes at the Kyushu Basho, morning training in Arashio Beya through the eyes of an artist and exactly what the Azumazeki lads had to eat halfway though the July Nagoya Basho. All originals, all seen here and nowhere else, and all for you.
Kyushu Basho Summary
Lon Howard
Lon wraps the Kyushu Basho in Fukuoka and throws in some henka sighting results for good measure.
Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
The lower divisions, their members and results get the once over thanks to Mikko's eyeing of life down below the salaried ranks.
Hatsu Ones To Watch
Carolyn Todd
Carolyn ponders and puts fingers to keys on the ones to watch come January and the Hatsu Basho.
Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko's latest clarification of a handful of sumo's kimarite offers unequalled analysis and in depth explanations.
Amateur Angles
Howard Gilbert
Howard looks at makushita tsukedashi and what it means in real terms.
Kokugi Konnections
Todd Lambert
Click on Todd's bimonthly focus on three of the best sumo sites online.
Fan Debate
Facilitators - Lon Howard / Carolyn Todd
Two SFMers talk over the yokozuna benefiting from weak opposition - or not as the case may be.
SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In this issue's cartoon bonanza, sit back and sample Stephen's artistic offerings.
Sumo Odds ’n’ Ends
SFM's interactive elements including Henka Sightings, Elevator Rikishi and Eternal Banzuke!
Lets Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan? Starting with issue #10, the SFM staff will reveal a little of their own routes into sumo fandom - starting with Benny Loh.
Readers' Letters
See what our readers had to say since we last hit your screens.
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
  the wall. Coach sat to his left and the other Japanese member of our group- a substantial donor to sumo- sat next to him. Azumazeki looks good for someone who made a hard living with his body for twenty years. His left ear is cauliflowered and his hands, when resting, take on the slightly clenched look common to athletes engaged in sports like wrestling, judo, and sumo. At 62, he is still a massive man with a furrowed brow and serious eyes. Sitting in his presence, listening to the hoarse whisper of his voice, I felt like I was in the company of the Godfather. Later, as we reminisced over the visit, we frequently referred to the “Hawaiian Don”.

I expected the rikishi in the heya to be glued to the TV as it was near 4:00 when we arrived. Juryo was wrapping up and makunouchi was getting set to start. A few of the rikishi were lounging lazily in the proximity of the TV but they seemed more interested in their manga than the day’s sumo. The oyakata kept one eye on the bouts but he was also fully engaged with us. After the usual pleasantries, the conversation turned to the construction of the temporary heya. An extensive list of donors covered two large walls of the tatami mat room and the oyakata explained who some of the people were. In the background, the makunouchi division bouts were getting underway.

Coach turned to me and told me to take his place next to the oyakata in order to conduct my interview. I dutifully swapped seats and got out my list of questions. The other foreigners huddled a bit closer in order to hear the oyakata’s raspy voice over the steadily growing din of the young rikishi getting dinner started. He made a joke about not being able to speak English, only Pidgin. We chuckled and I told him that Pidgin was good enough.
I asked the oyakata what sumo was like for a foreigner back in 1964. He said that he considered himself a rikishi first and foremost and didn’t think of himself as foreign. He came to Japan to be a rikishi and, in that role, race or nationality didn’t matter to him at all.  Perhaps it was a coping strategy for the young Hawaiian since he had no one with a similar cultural background to relate to. He said that he was occasionally called ‘gaijin’ by some of the rikishi he trained with (especially by rikishi from other heya) and he would make it a point to beat them soundly. He said he would throw a little something extra into a slap or shove when confronting these taunting rikishi, and he therefore let his actions speak for him. He summed up a training philosophy that seems to be carrying today’s foreign rikishi to the top of the sport: train hard, work hard, and let everyone see that you are here to make it.

He said that he didn’t feel ostracized by the media or the sumo fans during his career. Even after being the first foreign rikishi ever to win the yusho (1972) and having a congratulatory message from President Nixon read during the award ceremony (the first time English was ever spoken during the presentation of the Emperor’s Cup), he said he still felt that it wasn’t a matter of a foreigner winning a yusho. He was still, in his eyes, simply a sekitori.

The oyakata went on to talk about how the culture of the sport was also different back in the 1960s. His reminiscing was similar to most elders who look back on the ‘good ol’ days’: the oyakata of the Taisho and Showa eras were a lot stricter with their rikishi, who showed more respect to the donors and fans who came to the heya for visits, and there was a lot less money in the sport. He lamented the lack of respect and drive in rikishi today and said that




the culture of the sport has changed as a result of the increase in money. He pointed to the example that the rikishi in his heya never train as hard when he is not in attendance.

Takamiyama’s fighting career ended in 1984 and he started Azumazeki beya in 1986. He is a Japanese citizen (as of 1980) due to the fact that the NSK passed a rule in 1976 saying that only Japanese could run a heya. He didn’t seem too troubled during our conversation over renouncing his original nationality; it came across simply as another step he had to take to remain in the sumo world.

At one point in the conversation, the oyakata got up and excused himself. He returned with several newspaper clippings and a few magazines. Most of the pieces were memorabilia from his fighting days: a picture of him receiving the Emperor’s Cup (with an insert in the corner of President Nixon’s congratulatory address), a picture of him standing ringside with a hand full of salt, Takamiyama in a convertible flanked by his tsukebito with his hands raised in triumph, and a recent newspaper article featuring the oyakata’s son (who works for the New York Yankees). I read the congratulatory announcement from Nixon aloud and the oyakata, who was talking with another member of our party, stopped and said, “That was Nixon’s speech.” He was clearly proud.

As an oyakata, he loves it when a new rikishi enters his heya. He said he feels excited at the possibilities of his new charge and it hurts him most when rikishi leave. He told stories of going to the parents’ house of rikishi who have left or run away from the heya in order to try to entice them to return. Although the success rate is almost zero, “once they decide to

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