Brothers in Sumo –
part one
Brian Lewin
Brothers no longer active on the dohyo come under the SFM microscope

NHK & the Ozumo
English Broadcast
Mark Buckton
A visit to NHK, years of watching the show and the opinions of our Ed-in-Chief

Hanging With the Rikishi
Barbara Ann Klein
Barbara Ann Klein recounts her experiences with the “boys” in a pictorial diary series

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
A look at a rikishi of yesteryear with Chiyonoyama – our man for December

Sumo Exhibit at the
Edo-Tokyo Museum
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM’s Editor takes in the exhibit celebrating 80 years of the Japan Sumo Association at this famous Tokyo museum

Heya Peek
John Gunning
John’s early morning trip to Hakkaku – a visit that almost didn’t happen

SFM Interview
Dave Wiggins sits down
with SFM’s Mark Buckton to discuss the broadcast scene – and maple syrup

Photo Bonanza
What a collection – All-Japan Sumo Tournament, Hakkaku-
beya visit and sumo exhibits at the Edo-Tokyo Museum

Kyushu Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Kyushu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results, and his take on the year in brief

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila covers lower division ups and downs

Hatsu Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark
Buckton
Pierre predicts the Hatsu Basho banzuke while Mark previews the ones to watch for in January

Sumo 101
Eric Blair
Eric explains all you need to know and then some about the Kokugikan building – the mecca of sumo

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko walks us through his chosen kimarite in expert fashion

Minusha
John McTague
John’s unique bimonthly view of news from outside the dohyo

Online Gaming
Eric Blair
For the lowdown on Guess the Kotomitsuki – baby of SFM’s John Gunning

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the most interesting sumo sites today

Fan Debate
Intra heya bouts –
OK or not? See what our debaters had to say

SFM Cartoons
Stephen Thompson
In the second of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and enjoy ST’s offerings

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that made you a sumo fan? American Todd Defoe 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.

  struggle for him to get back to juryo, not to mention makuuchi.

The youngest makushita rikishi, Shibuya, is only 18. He spent over 6 months in sandanme not going anywhere, but broke through to makushita at the Nagoya Basho. In Kyushu, he achieved his 3rd straight winning record since his debut in makushita. He is showing a lot of promise and is learning to control his big body well. His 5-2 consisted of powerful forward-going wins, and he only lost to Sawai and Furuichi. On Tamanoi-stable’s blog he is often depicted as a youngster with a hearty appetite. Hopefully, he shows similar appetite towards training as he certainly has the tools to keep ascending the banzuke in 2006.

Small warriors of makushita had quite a good basho although Isobe (167cm, or 5’6”) suffered the first make-koshi of his career at Ms13e. Veteran kainahineri-magician Furuichi continued his good form with a 5-2 at Ms24e and is now 11-3 in the last 14 bouts in makushita. Kagaya, also 167cm at Ms35e celebrated his career high rank with a 5-2 record and 24-year old Sugita, standing at 165cm or 5’5”, notched up a 4-3 record in his second makushita basho.

The Aki Basho yusho winner didn’t look good but still came 		back from a 1-3 start to eke out a 4-3 and a promotion to juryo. He lost to Homasho, Kinkaiyama and Kotokasuga without much chance, but was lucky to face out-of-form or out-of-depth rikishi before going up against Takamifuji in a promotion-deciding duel. Takamifuji took the initiative and pummeled Wakakirin back, but Wakakirin was able to avoid a push, shift aside, and use the opening to push Takamifuji to a 3-4 record squashing the latter’s promotion chance. Plenty of work ahead for Wakakirin if he intends to compete viably in juryo in the Hatsu Basho.

Kotokasuga quietly worked his way to a 4-3 at Ms1w which was enough for promotion, too. The other top-ranked makushita rikishi, Hochiyama, ended up missing a promotion once again with his 3-4 record. Hochiyama has come up only one win short of juryo promotion on five occasions now. In the Kyushu Basho he started strongly with 2-0, then lost to juryo Kakuryu in a rematch with utchari. After that loss, he had ostensibly strong forward charges against both Homasho and Mokonami, but in each case, his feet dragged behind somehow and he ended up losing both bouts with hikiotoshi. Youth is still on his side, though, and training conditions have improved lately 		in his Sakaigawa-stable.

Former makuuchi rikishi Kinkaiyama has been suffering from injuries and wasn’t in full form with his heavily taped painful shoulder. He did get a 4-3 at Ms5e, though, whereas Takahama (former Hamanishiki) collapsed to a mere 2-5 record at Ms27e. This was his 4th consecutive losing record in makushita and one needs a lot of optimism to see those famous lights at the end of a tunnel when it comes to his chances to get back to the salaried ranks.

The first ever rikishi from Kazakhstan, Kazafuzan Ms55e, made his makushita debut, but goes right back to sandanme with a 3-4 record.
 
Kazafuzan
 
 Czech Takanoyama started well at Ms15 with two straight wins but lost the rest. He was very keen to capture his foes’ arm in

Next Home