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 lors du shonichi de l'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
présent ce matin. Pour ceux qui n'auraient pas lu cet ouvrage – Takamiyama : Le Monde du Sumo, par Jesse Kuhaulua, juin 1973 – ou qui ne se sont intéressés au sumo que récemment et pensent que la vie est dure pour les rikishi étrangers d'aujourd'hui, je leur conseille vivement de sortir pour s'en procurer un exemplaire. Takamiyama est LE pionnier pour ce qui concerne les étrangers dans le sumo. Il atteint son apogée en remportant la Coupe de l'Empereur en juillet 1972. Plus tard, comme oyakata, c'est lui qui fit venir le futur yokozuna Akebono au Japon et déclencha l'internationalisation contemporaine du sumo.

Chinagoura oyakata, lui, est présent, même si j'ai tout d'abord du mal à le reconnaître
puisqu'il porte une barbe fournie qui, avec son crâne chauve et ses vêtements quelconques, ne cadrent pas franchement avec l'image traditionnelle qu'on a de l'oyakata.


Takamisakari contournant son adversaire