What Will Become of the Dynasty?
Brian Lewin
The Hanada Dynasty – past or present?

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
A look at a rikishi of yesteryear with Tenryu our man for August.

Heya Peek
John Gunning
John attends a chanko session at Chiganoura Beya.

Photo Bonanza
For a glimpse at some of the sights you won't see on TV.    

July Basho Review
Lon Howard & John Gunning
Lon gives us his Nagoya Basho summary and his take on upset of the tournament while John chips in with his ‘gem’ of the basho.

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila takes a break and Eric Blair covers the lower divisions in his own ‘unique’ way.

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

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Gyoji goings on and several things you never knew about the ones officiating.

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko walks us through his 2 chosen kimarite.

Minusha
John McTague
John's unique view of news from outside the dohyo.

Boletín de Sumo en Español
Eduardo de Paz Gútiez
An article on sumo’s very first fan mag – Boletin de Sumo en Espanol

Online Gaming
Jezz Sterling
Hear from the founder of Bench Sumo of one of sumo's most popular games.

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

Fan Debate
Henka – good, bad or ugly? See what our debaters think.

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan – the Petros Zachos story.

Ngozi on the Road
Ngozi T. Robinson
NTR visits an amasumo event in the north-east U.S. and tells us what it was like.

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

splitting off from his older brother's Futagoyama-beya, he laid that foundation by recruiting the future Takanonami and Takatoriki, before his own sons joined shortly thereafter.  Add a couple of other rank-and-file maegashira and a controversial merger/takeover of Futagoyama-beya upon the elder Wakanohana's retirement from the Kyokai in February of 1993, and, at its peak, the heya had at least a dozen sekitori, including five firmly entrenched in sanyaku – Takanohana, Wakanohana, Takanonami, Takatoriki and Akinoshima.  Surprisingly though, despite that overwhelming success and dominance of sumo for much of the '90s, the heya had some difficulty attracting and training the talent necessary to maintain its dominance.  In time, as those rikishi gradually aged, grew weaker and retired, the heya became weaker and weaker, presenting Futagoyama with an interesting challenge.

The Waka-Taka Era
Koji and Masaru officially joined Fujishima-beya amid a media frenzy in February 1988, becoming Takahanada and Wakahanada respectively.  As the sons and nephews of one of the greatest ozeki and one of the greatest yokozuna in the post-war era, on their shoulders were placed perhaps the highest

expectations of any raw recruits in modern sumo history.  By their connection to those hugely popular rikishi, from the start, they were considered almost sumo royalty – their rise to the top considered a given, with moving up through the ranks a mere formality.  Each divisional promotion was greeted with press coverage anticipating the next promotion, until finally they each broke through to the makuuchi division in 1990.

Along the way Koji, the younger of the two, would set youth records for youngest makushita yusho, youngest juryo entry and youngest makuuchi entry, just three of the eleven youth records he would eventually set.

Masaru, while not setting the youth records of his brother, would keep a pretty even pace, following his brother into juryo two basho later, and then preceding him into makuuchi by one, September vs. November 1990.  In September 1993, he joined his brother to create the first-ever sibling ozeki pair and, at the Nagoya Basho five years later, they would do the same again for the rank of yokozuna.

Wakanohana, however, being comparatively small like his father and uncle, seemed to have a much tougher road to travel.  Frequently facing opponents significantly larger

than himself took its toll in the form of injuries and slower progress.  Lacking his brother's size and power, he had to survive on speed, skill and determination and he did just fine with that, at least up through ozeki. In the 1993 Nagoya Basho, he made a tomoe-sen yusho playoff with Akebono and Takanohana.  Though he lost without facing his brother, he was still given ozeki promotion to then create the first brother ozeki duo in sumo history.  Later, in the 1995 Kyushu Basho, he defeated Takanohana in the first-ever sibling yusho playoff.  Two and a half years further on, he finally won his 4th and 5th yusho in the '98 Haru and Natsu Basho, clinching yokozuna promotion and making history again by rounding off the first-ever sibling yokozuna duo.  It was, unfortunately, to be his last yusho. 

He came closest to lifting the Emperor’s Cup in November '99, losing a heartbreaking multiple-rematch playoff to Chiyotaikai that many observers actually thought he won.  After a spotty yokozuna career marked by various injury-absences, in March of 2000 he went against the advice of his shisho and others, returning early from yet

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