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Brothers still active on the dohyo get their turn
SFM’s most eminent historian, JK, has a crack at the impossible and tries to see who was the greatest of the tsuna wearers
Takanobori – former sekiwake, former NHK man and all ’round gent
Kitanoumi-beya, Kitazakura, mirrors & photo bonanza
Kazuyoshi Yoshikawa (son of the late sekiwake Takanobori) on life in sumo way back when
Behind every good man there stands a good woman – read and ye shall see. A departure from our regular 101 feature
plus much more through the lens of our photographers
Lon gives us his Hatsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
Mikko Mattila covers lower division goings on in detail
Pierre predicts the Haru Basho banzuke while Mark highlights the ones to look out for in Osaka
Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite
John’s unique bimonthly view of sumo news from outside the dohyo and in the restaurants!
SFM’s own Alexander Nitschke covers the long running Hoshitori Game
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the most interesting sumo sites today
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
made you a sumo fan? A unique perspective from a sightless reader.
readers had to say since our last issue
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
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that supports somewhere in northern Japan getting a hon-basho works also for the retention of the Kyushu basho in Fukuoka. The southern island has also been a stronghold for recruits to ozumo, and then the supporters that they bring to the sport. While prefectures in Kyushu have only produced five yokozuna in the twentieth century, this is merely one (easily accessed) measure of the region’s importance. On the banzuke in January there were 139 rikishi from Kyushu, including no less than 15 sekitori. As a comparison, Hokkaido had 21 rikishi but no sekitori, and the six Tohoku prefectures had a total of 51 rikishi, of whom 12 were sekitori. Aomori was again the leading prefecture in these statistics. In fact, based on its relative importance to sumo, and its proximity to Hokkaido, perhaps Aomori should be given a hon-basho? It is a shame only 1.5 million people live in the whole prefecture!
This last point – that of population and population density – is one of the main reasons why I believe the northern areas of Japan are better served by a well-organised summer jungyo rather than a hon-basho. There are towns and cities that can
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host days of the jungyo and can guarantee good attendances because of the interest in sumo in the area. However, nowhere is large enough to really justify hosting a hon-basho by itself, even with the region around it included. Hokkaido has around 6 million people, with Sapporo housing 2 million of them. Tohoku (six prefectures) can only muster 10 million, with the largest city being Sendai with just over a million people. Kyushu, on the other hand, boasts 13.5 million, with Fukuoka having 5 million people. Numbers like that suggest that hon-basho are best housed in the areas that they already occupy. For the record, Nagoya’s population is 2.2 million, but the population of Aichi prefecture is around 7 million.
LH: Great thoughts, guys. Now could you summarize your final thoughts, please?
DG: Thanks Lon. Howard raises some great points concerning population and the current and past distribution of rikishi in rural areas. Numbers though don’t guarantee a good attendance. Kyushu as whole, with their strong population and 139 rikishi, should be quite ashamed then for the dismal attendances at recent November
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bashos. I have a lot of faith in Northern Japan, a somewhat neglected part of Japan. They have recently gained two pro baseball teams and are becoming less of a forgotten backwater of Japan. Given the opportunity, I believe they could put their southern counterparts to shame with a well organized and supported basho. Statistics would dictate they don’t deserve to host a basho. Yet one only has to look at the U.S. National Football League for examples of where statistics mean little. Los Angeles, a massive city of 10 million people has no team, yet Green Bay, a small Northern town of 100,000 has one of the best supported and most famous teams of all. I am sure fans from all over Northern Japan would make a trip to a nearby city to see a basho. Aomori to Sapporo is a day trip, compared to long journey down to Tokyo. One point I failed to bring up was climate. Northern Japan, with its cooler summer climes is a much more suitable place for a July Basho than a hot and humid Nagoya. I will take Howard’s suggestion though of a well organized summer jungyo in consolation of a basho if that is not possible. My suggestion of Kyoto is mainly from a cultural and
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