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.

  defender’s neck or head during the throw.

Shitatedashinage is quite rare with only 156 recorded in makuuchi since 1990, meaning it is seen approximately once in every 180 bouts. Tokitsuumi is a specialist in shitate-
techniques in general, and also is the most active shitatedashinage user with 12 wins. Both he and Kyokushuzan (10) haven’t been active in this department for a while now. The ones who currently display shitatedashinage regularly are Kotomitsuki (7) and Aminishiki (8). Both are very skillful and often use that towel-yanking shitatedashinage well. Some nice examples are Kotomitsuki’s win over Kokkai in last year’s Aki basho on day 5 and Aminishiki’s win over Roho on day 15 of the same basho.

While both shitatenage and shitatedashinage are much less common than their uwate-
counterparts, shitatehineri has
a clear edge over uwatehineri. Shitatehineri logically has an underarm grip as the decisive component. Utilizing that grip, the attacker twists the defender down while moving his own body out of the way if needed. The classic shitatehineri hand move is a clock-wise round motion while having a strong grip on the belt.

Shitatehineri can result in a knee buckling finish where the loser simply collapses onto his knee succumbing to the twisting pressure by the attacker. Then again, at times shitatehineri manifests itself as a brilliant circular movement, which forces the defender to roll down onto to dohyo in a true aikido-fashion. The rest of the shitatehineri fall in between the aforementioned extremes. Twisting a strong foe down with a shitatehineri is extremely difficult, and in the majority of the cases, the success of the move is based on good timing and taking advantage of the defender’s
stance when the leg of the defender is further back on the side of the attacker’s underarm grip. This makes it harder for the defender to react to the twisting move.

Only 78 times has shitatehineri been the winning technique in makuuchi since 1990; on average less than once in a tournament and in 2005 only twice in makuuchi. Familiar names occupy the shitatehineri-
frequency list with Tomonohana leading the bunch with his 8 shitatehineri. Tokitsuumi (6) and Aminishiki (5), as underarm-grip specialists, also have shitatehineri in their repertoire. Small Satoyama, who made his successful juryo debut in Hatsu Basho, has already shown remarkable shitatehineri skill in lower divisions and is bound to put that into use soon at the sekitori level.

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