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.

  steps out of the dohyo while lifting his opponent out of the dohyo with his legs suspended in the air and puts him down outside of the shobu-dawara. However, he loses the match if he carries out the move by stepping out of the dohyo backward.

Well, this has all been very interesting to me. If it is to you, as well, please visit the ISF site, again, that’s www.amateursu-
mo.com, for more information about the rules on amasumo, special provisions required for World Championships and dates, and locations of upcoming tournaments.

And, although this has been about international amateur sumo, I must report also that another excellent site for amasumo, as practiced in the United States, is the California Sumo Association, www.usasu-
mo.com. I was most fortunate to meet Andrew Freund, the Director of the CSA (and co-commentator with Konishiki) at the Las Vegas Koen, and three of the competitors in the 2005 US Opens – Doug Cochran and Dan Kalbfleisch, California,
and Matt Anderson, Iowa; all middleweights – who provided me with a plethora of information concerning amasumo in the U.S. The CSA will hold the next U.S. Sumo Open Championships on April
9, 2006 in, where else? – The Los Angeles Convention Center.

Oh, and don’t forget our Amasumo photo bonanza in this issue of SFM!
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