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.

presence of the amateurs who were giving their all in their bouts against the sekitori, with whom they would not normally have a chance to practice. Ushiomaru was particularly impressive and used his considerable size to just drive out each man in turn. Takamisakari was also often able to win by pure strength alone, but he also showed good speed and footwork to put his opponents off balance or turn them around before forcing them out.

Around 10:30 the oyakata got up, said “thanks” – and left. The smells coming from the kitchen were making my stomach rumble, and when a little later the Chiganoura rikishi started making shapes to go, I went outside and had a brief chat with Tochinoyama. I gave him the magazines for Masutoo and wished him well in the
upcoming tournament. Naturally I took the wrong road again on the way back to the station but found myself in front of Kokugikan about 30 minutes later where the banners for Aki basho were up and flapping in the wind. The anticipation of that tournament put me in a good enough mood heading to work that I almost considered not plotting my revenge on Mark…… almost.
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