Sumo Fan Magazine

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.

Kokugi Connections

by Todd Lambert

to each other, descend the dohyo, and the bout is over. The announcers call the winning move, and the TV commentator obligingly translates it for the audience. But just what does an “over thigh scooping body drop” (komatasukui) look like? In the ring it was all over in the blink of an eye, and when you read the results in print, it's even harder to understand how the match was decided. While there are a couple of good online sites that list these techniques, complete with illustrations, and even more to be found in sumo books, the online Animated Kimarite show the techniques in motion. This site provides vivid imagery to supplement the words of sumo. Grouped into categories of techniques (throws, trips, twists and so on), each animation is labeled in roman letters, shows the technique performed in slow motion, and at the end provides the name in the original Japanese as well. Visit this cartoon keikoba to help bring the techniques of sumo alive!

Tamanoi-beya Homepage (http://www.tamanoi.com)

This is the official homepage of the Tamanoi stable, home of ozeki Tochiazuma, winner of the 2006 New Year's tournament.

Next

Each issue of SFM, Todd Lambert – our man online – will bring you a review of some sumo related sites to be found on the World Wide Web. Enjoy.

Hakke Yoi! (http://hakkeyoi.net)

The term “hakke yoi!” can be loosely translated as “put some spirit in it!”, and it is shouted by the gyoji to urge the combatants on during a match whenever the combatants are motionless. Googling the term brings us to hakkeyoi.net, the homepage of a Swedish sumo savant. To paraphrase the creator of this fantastic site, it's just the place for stats junkies and sumo gamers. Besides the usual list of banzuke (complete with tournament records) and rikishi ranked by wins each year, the searchable database allowing custom queries is a great tool for those trying to predict the rankings of their favorite sekitori the next banzuke, fine-tune their next entry in any number of sumo games, and examine precedents

for promotions up and down the banzuke. Complete with examples, a help page, and nearly real time updates during hon-basho, this site will allow you to research and predict all the movements on the banzuke. The rule of thumb for juryo and makuuchi is a promotion of one position up the rankings for each win, and a demotion of one position down for each loss. In actual practice, it is rarely so simple. To get inside the heads of the judges (gyoji) and Sumo Association officials (rijikai) who call the shots at the ranking conference, try hakkeyoi.net.

Animated Kimarite (http://www.jp-ohv.de/
sumo/kimarite.htm)

Kimarite are the winning techniques of sumo. Rikishi A wins, rikishi B loses, they bow