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.	Lower Division Rikishi by Mikko Mattila		and sandanme yusho winner Sawai (19) resulted in a narrow 4-3 kachikoshi at Ms37. The much-praised high school phenomenon displayed some very solid sumo in his wins, but perhaps needs a bit more seasoning. Nevertheless, despite the fact that 4-3 can even be considered a mild disappointment, the content of his sumo has quite unique quality and his attack is sharp and multi-dimensional. All four Next Home
	In Aki basho 2005, all winners in the lower divisions picked up their prizes proudly with an unblemished 7-0 record . In all but the jonidan division, the winner was already clear before the last day of competition. Makushita yusho went to the familiar 22-year old Wakakirin, who beat former makuuchi rikishi Tamarikido in their decisive bout when both stood at 6-0. Wakakirin (Ms42) didn’t face any of the on-form high makushita grapplers though, and could have had more difficulties clinching the yusho if he had been challenged by the dynamic triplet – Mokonami (21), Homasho (24) and Satoyama (24), for example. Wakakirin tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his knee a few months ago and underwent reconstructive surgery which caused him to drop into the depths of makushita. He wasn’t back in shape yet in Nagoya basho, but now looked healthy showing that his return to juryo is only a matter of time. Tamarikido evidently opted for the same surgery, but he has had some setbacks in recovery	and faced problems even in makushita prior to this basho. He looked more like his former self again by beating Mokonami easily on his way to 6-1. In fact, all his wins were quite easy. The eagerly anticipated makushita debut of jonokuchi