Sumo Fan Magazine

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.	Taikomaru on shonichi of Aki basho 2005		forget that he has held his own in makunouchi for several years now. The true level of sumo ability that that entails can be seen when you observe him dominate in keiko against guys that are, it must be remembered, pretty strong amateurs as well as solidly built lower division rikishi At one point, Taikomaru came out of the kitchen and walked past. Its always startling to see this completely bald rikishi and this time was no different. Generally speaking, the intensity of the keiko over the next hour or so was higher than one would normally see. This was probably due to the Next Home
	1972. Later, as a stablemaster, he was responsible for bringing the future yokozuna Akebono to Japan and sparking the modern day internationalization of sumo. Chiganoura oyakata however was present, though I hardly recognized him as he was sporting a full beard which, in combination with his bald head and casual clothes, gave him a very un-oyakata like appearance. The heya was pretty packed as not only were the rikishi from both Azumazeki and Chiganoura (minus one) there, as well as a university sumo team. Since it was almost 9AM, the sekitori (Takamisakari and Ushiomaru) were also in the keikoba. I watched as both men took on various combinations of rikishi from both the university	team and Chiganoura. Neither lost a bout. Although Takamisakari is often the target of scorn and regularly dismissed by some people as “just a clown”, people often
		Takamisakari gets behind an opponent