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.
Let's Hear From You!
What Made You A Fan?
by Petros Zachos
Back then I still knew very little about the sport concerning its rules, the techniques, the tournament, or even the rikishi, but this changed gradually over the next months. I “knew” that I had to pick a favourite rikishi in order to add a bit more spice to the sport and make the bouts more fascinating. I found my “hero” in the face of Musashimaru who combined the right elements such as power, a good tan, a serious look whenever he wanted to, and a mysterious indifference whether he won or lost.
The information the English commentator gave during the bouts became too shallow after a couple of basho and I needed more and more detail to fulfill my “hunger”. The Greek bibliography about sumo was, and still is, non-existent, so I had to find new ways of research, such as the internet. However, I had been only recently connected with the net, so I was still “illiterate” concerning the cyberspace, which made my efforts to find
Next Home
Each issue of SFM, We'll ask one of you
to tell us something about you and sumo.
Think you have something readers would like to know?
Write our letters section!
Enjoy.
Why I became a sumo fan …
It was late night back in 1997. I was sitting in front of my TV set changing the channels like a maniac in order to find something vaguely interesting to keep me awake for a little while longer. The Greek television is notorious for its poor choices in quality programming at those hours, so I had to reach into the depths of its channels’ scheduling, and that meant the "foreign ones". After the RaiUno, RaiDue and the French TV5, I found EUROSPORT and, as corny as it sounds, my life changed.
I had heard about sumo before and had images of it from magazines or TV, but most of those were amusing and satirical. I had never watched a match before, though, so I decided to stick around and feed my curiosity.
Two guys wearing funny looking “underwear” and having hair
that reminded me of samurai pictures I have seen in the past, were throwing, here and there, a mysterious white powder and hitting their belts making a loud thumping sound. I waited a bit, and then they took off towards each other, head-first. I was left breathless by the force of impact and the tough wrestling that followed the initial clash. What amazed me, though, was the aura of elegance that surrounded these guys who might have had a few extra kilos, but who moved like dancers. I suddenly realised that sumo was interesting.
Following sumo while living in Greece was a challenge back then because the only sources for my “fix” were the short shows on EUROSPORT. I had to ignore the fact that they were lacking in consistency and hard to follow. So my interest waned as the years passed by, and moreover, I had to concentrate on my studies and enter University. When all the
