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SOS - Shinjinrui on Sumo |
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Chris Gould
Wrapping up his look at increasing the popularity of sumo, Chris Gould caps a series the NSK would do well to refer to.
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Sumo Souvenirs |
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Mark Buckton
Souvenirs are a part of every sport and sumo is no different - or is
it? A look at collectibles and the downright trashy, the bona fide
versus the unproven.
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Rikishi of Old |
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Joe Kuroda
Joe Kuroda's latest look at times past focuses on former makunouchi man Dewagatake.
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Eric Evaluates |
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Eric Blair
Eric takes a no-nonsense look at the claims of fixed bouts in the Japanese media.
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Rikishi Diary |
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Mark Kent
Mark Kent - English pro-wrestler and amateur heavyweight sumotori -
takes us through the first month or so of his training and preparation
for the various European events lined up in in 2007.
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Heya Peek |
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Chris Gould
SFM's Chris Gould was in Japan for the Hatsu Basho and popped along to
the new Shikoroyama Beya to give SFM an online exclusive peek into
sumo's newest heya.
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SFM Interview |
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Mark Buckton
Mark interviews Mark - Buckton on Kent that is as Mark Kent, the UK's
only active heavyweight amateur answers a few questions on his own
recent entry into the sport.
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Photo Bonanzas |
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Sumo Forum stepped in to take the weight off the shoulders of SFM as
far as Hatsu went so we could sit back, relax, enjoy the sumo and take
a few more select pics you won't see anywhere else.
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Hatsu Basho Summary |
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Lon Howard
Lon wraps the Hatsu Basho and chucks in a few bits on the rush of henka
that threatens to sully the good name of at least one foreign ozeki.
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Sumo Menko |
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Ryan Laughton
Sumo cards of old brought to life by expert collector Ryan Laughton. None of your BBM here.
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Haru Ones To Watch |
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Carolyn Todd
Carolyn ponders and puts fingers to keys on the ones to watch come March and the Haru Basho.
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Kimarite Focus |
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Mikko Mattila
Mikko's latest look at sumo's kimarite offers unequalled analysis and in depth explanations.
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Amateur Angles |
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Howard Gilbert
Howard looks at the 'sumo factory' of lore - Nichidai.
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Kokugi Konnections |
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Todd Lambert
Click on Todd's bimonthly focus on three of the best the WWW has to offer.
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Fan Debate |
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Facilitator - Carolyn Todd
Moti Dichne comes back for more and takes on Bradley Sutton on the subject of 'Modernize the heya - yea or nay?'
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SFM Cartoons |
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Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In this issue's cartoon bonanza, sit back and sample Benny's artistic offerings.
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Sumo Odds & Ends |
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SFM's interactive elements - as always includes Henka Sightings, Elevator Rikishi and Eternal Banzuke!
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Let's Hear From You |
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What was it that made you a sumo fan? Ryan Laughton - sumo fan and menko expert reveals all.
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Readers' Letters |
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See what our readers had to say since we last hit your screens.
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Sumo Quiz |
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The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself a genuine banzuke.
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A novice is granted special dispensation for push-ups
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plated mould of a hog’s head, to mark the Year of the Pig.
At around 7.30, some straw brooms were fished out from a cupboard
near
Homasho, and the sandy ring was swept by the junior deshi in
preparation for suri-ashi. This exercise is designed to fine-tune the
wrestlers’ forward movements, and hopefully equip them for that
legendary oshi-taoshi which causes zabuton to fly. The deshi formed two
lines at right angles to one another and traversed the dohyo in a
variety of ways. Initially, they crouched and executed a basic
tachi-ai, thereby crossing the dohyo in a straight line. Then, they
converted a leftward tachi-ai into a rightward-moving assault.
Afterwards, they imagined dealing with an opponent’s canny side-step,
and enacted a straight initial charge followed by a pivot at the
tawara. Finally, they traversed the ring in five undulating movements,
initially charging straight before twice skipping from right-to-left
followed by left-to-right.
Suri-ashi soon gave way to the honing of yori-kiri movements. Again,
the wrestlers formed two lines at right angles, but this time traversed
the dohyo more slowly, dragging their bulk across the clay with forward
flicks of the heels and toes. Such a pronounced scraping of soles
against clay was deemed too much for the round, young deshi to handle,
and he was told to continue traversing with accentuated strides.
The brooms then re-emerged to sweep the sand nearer the centre of the
dohyo for the next phase of foot-hardening: butsukari-geiko. Homasho’s
water-fetching tsukebito, a spotty-faced sandanme sumotori by the name
of Tomishima, stood near the shikiri-sen and challenged a larger deshi
to spring from a crouching position and clatter him at full throttle.
To motivate his colleague, and doubtless to psyche himself up for the
considerable
Next
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as
‘Terao’s deshi,’ but had also gained him an array of female admirers.
[Indeed, he had already made it onto the cover of Hanako Dosukoi’s
book, Kawaii (Cute) Ozumo]. The lively – yet highly forced – collective
greeting, and his status as the only Shikoroyama sumotori permitted to
wear a white training belt, highlighted how his importance in the
stable had grown exponentially of late. He was now served by two
tsukebito, one of whom eagerly scampered to the water bucket to fetch
his superior a drink. As he did so, Homasho glided towards the far left
of the room to quietly practice some light shiko while observing the
exercises of sweatier colleagues.
Defensive sumo was the next object of learning, with the junior deshi
practicing a circumnavigation of the ring while walking backwards. The
exercise helps the sumotori construct an automatic sense of direction
within the straw bales, and can produce some spectacular results in the
heat of a tournament, with wrestlers skirting the tawara in reverse at
incredible speed. It was notable that some wrestlers armed themselves
with weights for the exercise. During this part of the session, two
young women in their 20s entered the heya and began to
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began
to view proceedings
intently. Whether they were girlfriends of sumotori, daughters of
koenkai members or devoted fans, I dared not ask. A short while
afterwards, they were joined by a man of about thirty-five, who
presumably found solace in reading a newspaper within sumo surroundings
before beginning work.
While spectator numbers quadrupled, the reverse-movement exercise was
consolidated by a partnership activity. Three pairs of sumotori took up
positions at the tawara, facing each other. Wrestler A rested a hand on
each of Wrestler B’s shoulders, applied pressure, and advanced forward
with very deliberate strides. Wrestler B resisted slightly but reversed
as in the previous exercise. The foot movements of the pairing were
supposed to be coordinated, so that A’s left-strides forward tallied
with B’s right-steps backward. It is safe to say that some pairings
coordinated their movements markedly better than others. Throughout the
lengthy duration of the exercise, Homasho remained impassive, his calm
shiko interspersed with the odd swig from one of four bottles of
mineral water placed in front of me. To the left of these bottles lay a
gold- |