| Brothers in Sumo – part one Brian Lewin |
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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 |
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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 |
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| SFM Interview Dave Wiggins sits down |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 – |
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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.
a sumo arena of old – one that burned down almost a century ago.
After passing through the main gates and entering the building proper, various images of sumo in Japanese folklore can be seen inside the main entrance hall. History buffs be warned – Kojiki, et al – all represented here.
Directly ahead stands the trophy cabinet – jam-packed with the prizes heaped upon the yusho winner during basho, but oftentimes empty in between. Small escalators to the left and right – immediately before the trophy cabinet – take those with second floor seating reservations or non-reserved tickets to their raised vantage point, while those set to watch the day unfold from the first floor masu-seki seats can choose any one of a number of access points along the corridor that circumnavigates the building.
The first floor corridor itself, seeming to run in circular form but not quite, plays host to numerous shops and kiosks selling souvenirs, sumo artwork and literature and even, of course, snacks and liquid refreshment for those in need. (Similar snack / drink vendors can be found on the second floor, but souvenir shopping is
Next Home
After passing through the main gates and entering the building proper, various images of sumo in Japanese folklore can be seen inside the main entrance hall. History buffs be warned – Kojiki, et al – all represented here.
Directly ahead stands the trophy cabinet – jam-packed with the prizes heaped upon the yusho winner during basho, but oftentimes empty in between. Small escalators to the left and right – immediately before the trophy cabinet – take those with second floor seating reservations or non-reserved tickets to their raised vantage point, while those set to watch the day unfold from the first floor masu-seki seats can choose any one of a number of access points along the corridor that circumnavigates the building.
The first floor corridor itself, seeming to run in circular form but not quite, plays host to numerous shops and kiosks selling souvenirs, sumo artwork and literature and even, of course, snacks and liquid refreshment for those in need. (Similar snack / drink vendors can be found on the second floor, but souvenir shopping is
Next Home
Constructed during 1984, it opened in time for the first day of the 1985 Hatsu Basho only to see it start life as the place the current Rijicho Kitanoumi, then yokozuna Kitanoumi, decided to hang up his mawashi.
Standing not far shy of 50m (164 ft.) in height, the green-roofed Kokugikan is situated atop land once owned by JR (Japan Railways) just to
In JR Ryogoku Station – Mienoumi, now Musashigawa Oyakata
Said capable of withstanding the strongest earthquake Mother Nature can throw at Tokyo, the arena will be used as a center for those displaced when (not ‘if’, sadly) the time comes.
But all at the Ryogoku Kokugikan is not sumo however, and it is there that we will start a brief tour of things “a la Kokugikan”! Between basho, the building can, and has repeatedly been used for a number of other events including professional wrestling Japanese style, concerts, boxing and recently, even a promo night for a new movie starring former rikishi Mainoumi in a minor role – but a movie in need of a more traditional ‘background’ than the theaters in Ginza and Shinjuku.
The building itself is entered from the north south street that runs parallel to the Sumida River and ends about 100m to the south of the modern Kokugikan, opposite the site of
