Amateur Sumo – the sport as it should be
Mark Buckton
Sakai World Sumo Champs – not all about winning

Las Vegas Koen
Joe Kuroda
Our man reports from the fight capital of the world

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
A look at a rikishi of yesterday with Kotozakura – our man for October

Heya Peek
John Gunning
John’s early morning dash to Azumazeki-beya & report on TKOTU

SFM Interview
Katrina Watts sits down with SFM’s Mark Buckton to discuss amateur sumo

Photo Bonanza
SFM’s best yet – Aki Basho/ Las Vegas / Amateur World Champs / Azumazeki-beya visit – seen nowhere else

Aki Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Aki Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results, and his take on the tournament while ‘gem’ of the basho takes a break

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila returns to cover lower division ups and downs

Kyushu Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton
Pierre predicts the Kyushu Basho banzuke while Mark previews the ones to watch next time out

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Discovers and explains amasumo & ozumo variations

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko once again walks us through his chosen kimarite

Minusha
John McTague
John’s unique bimonthly view of news from outside the dohyo

Online Gaming
Zenjimoto of ‘game fame’ covers some of the very best sumo games around – his own!

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

Fan Debate
Is the limit on foreign rikishi fair? See what our debaters had to say

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh
In the first of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and chuckle at Benny Loh’s offerings

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan? Gernobono tells all

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

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


  Tokyo university sumo club building
expected to win the competition but surprisingly he underestimated the strength of the 15-year old Komatsuryu Dojo member he was facing and got pushed out quickly. At the time, I hadn’t realized he was a good English speaker and we didn’t really talk much.

Over the course of the year, though, I have met Petr several times more and he always appears happy and content with life. He also seems to be stronger and more technically proficient each time we meet. That, no doubt, is the result of twice-weekly keiko sessions as Petr also trains with Harigaya club in Bunkyo-ku, on Wednesdays.

Next Home
In scenes reminiscent of the film Shiko Funjatta the Tokyo University team at the time didn’t have enough members to enter a local competition so they roped in a foreigner to make up the numbers. Much like in the movie, that same foreigner turned out to be quite handy once he got the hang of the basics. Some of Petr’s best results to date include winning the individual newcomers title at an All-Japan public universities meet, and third place in the East Japan students meet in 2004. That latter competition saw him compete in the under-75kg class, but he has since bulked up and now weighs around 80kg.

I first met Petr when he came to our club (Komatusryu Dojo) last
spring to take part in a tournament, although I had read about him on the net previously. There was a lot of hype around him even then and he was

  Sumo on every channel