Brothers in Sumo –
part two
Brian Lewin
Brothers still active on the dohyo get their turn

Yokozuna Comparisons
Joe Kuroda
SFM’s most eminent historian, JK, has a crack at the impossible and tries to see who was the greatest of the tsuna wearers

Rikishi of Old
John Gunning
Takanobori – former sekiwake, former NHK man and all ’round gent

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Kitanoumi-beya, Kitazakura, mirrors & photo bonanza

SFM Interview
John Gunning
Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa (son of the late sekiwake Takanobori) on life in sumo way back when

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Behind every good man there stands a good woman – read and ye shall see. A departure from our regular 101 feature

Photo Bonanza
See the Hatsu Basho
plus much more through the lens of our photographers

Hatsu Basho Review
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Hatsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila covers lower division goings on in detail

Haru Basho Forecast
Pierre Wohlleben & Mark Buckton
Pierre predicts the Haru Basho banzuke while Mark highlights the ones to look out for in Osaka

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite

Minusha
John McTague
John’s unique bimonthly view of sumo news from outside the dohyo and in the restaurants!

Online Gaming
Alexander Nitschke
SFM’s own Alexander Nitschke covers the long running Hoshitori Game

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

Fan Debate
Feb's debate sees
a pair of Kiwis exchanging opinions on the honbasho going on the road

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
In the third of our cartoon bonanzas, sit back and enjoy BL’s offerings and put a caption to ST’s pic to win yourselves a banzuke

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that
made you a sumo fan? A unique perspective from a sightless reader.

Readers’ Letters
See what some SFM
readers had to say since our last issue

Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.

  and Kyokutenzan (the rule was not retroactive), was out. He looked elsewhere, eventually finding a home in ex-sekiwake Koboyama’s Takashima-beya, out of which he debuted in Haru 2000 as Fudoyama. From that time, the brothers have apparently had only occasional contact, as Tenho has had a rather passive “if there’s a problem, he can call” approach, and a low-ranker like Fudoyama is understandably a little reluctant to disturb his busy sekitori brother. The relatively large age difference may also play a role. In any case, Fudoyama has worked hard to catch his brother. But, perhaps lacking his brother’s talent and/or higher-ranked keiko partners, he has moved much more slowly up through the ranks, earning a 4-3 record at the sandanme 9w rank in Kyushu. That earned him passage up to makushita 60w for Hatsu, where he sadly fell just short, getting makekoshi in his last match to finish 3-4 and fall back down to sandanme for Haru.

Roho and Hakurozan

While not the first foreign brothers in sumo, these two North Ossetian Russians represent another first for the sport: they were (and thus far,
still are) the first to both make sekitori. When Soslan and Batraz Boradzov were recruited and came to Japan in early 2002, they assumed they would be together, so it came as quite a surprise to them that the new Kyokai rule, now limiting foreigners to one per heya, meant that they would be living and training separately (though they would remain in fairly close contact). The eldest, Roho, entered through dai-yokozuna Taiho’s Taiho-beya (now Otake-beya) in the 2002 Natsu Basho, while younger brother Hakurozan made his simultaneous entrance with ex-ozeki Hokutenyu’s Hatachiyama-beya. Roho rose faster, using his size, power and pushing/pulling techniques to make it to juryo by the 2004 Hatsu Basho, and then up to makuuchi by that year’s Aki Basho, just over two years from his debut.

That led many – perhaps himself as well – to speculate that he might soon have the makings of an ozeki or yokozuna. But he hit the wall at maegashira 1, and although falling down to the middle ranks in recent basho, he most recently landed at M 2e.

His brother, while progressing a little more slowly, was not to be
outdone. He has mixed some nage throwing techniques with his brother’s style to achieve slower, but perhaps more well-
rounded, results. He made it to juryo in the same basho as his brother’s makuuchi debut, and spent only one more basho there than his brother, debuting in makuuchi this past July in Nagoya. He had a minor hiccup in the Aki Basho, but still landed just five ranks below his brother for November.

Perhaps the defining moment in their careers so far, especially Roho’s, was prompted by tragedy. Shortly before the 2004 Aki Basho was the Beslan school hostage crisis, the horrible end to which resulted in hundreds of deaths. That was in North Ossetia; both Roho and Hakurozan knew the area and were familiar with some of the victims’ families. Thus they went into the basho very motivated, with outstanding results to show for it. While Hakurozan collapsed a bit in the final week of his juryo debut and finished with an 8-7 record, Roho stayed in yusho contention in his own makuuchi debut through the 14th day, finishing at 10-5. He received a kantosho for his efforts, the prize money for which he sent back home to

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