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.

  when it comes to first class prospects – especially since the jonidan yusho play-off duo from the Kyushu Basho was not strong: both suffered make-koshi, Ryusei 1-6 at Sd84 and Nakaita 3-4 at Sd47w.

The sandanme yusho went to former makushita 24-year-old Tokitsukasa, who had obviously recovered from a recent surgery, having won all 7 bouts.
 
Tokitsukasa
 
 Fukunaga, who has been left behind by his stablemates, Sawai and Kadomoto, was in the yusho race, but lost his last bout finishing with 6-1. He had slowed down a bit with 5-2 and 4-3 in the last two basho in sandanme, but enters makushita now without any losing records during his career. Veteran Maenowaka (32) was the third sandanme rikishi who was solidly in the yusho race, but he lost to Tokitsukasa in the decisive bout, destroying any chances for a huge play-off among over 10 rikishi. Regardless of the unfortunate
loss, Maenowaka had a very strong basho beating three well-performing makushita rikishi, including Wakanoho. Of the other sandanme rikishi, Nakanishi seemed to be back on track after an odd slump in sandanme, finishing with a solid 6-1, and Tamanoi-beya’s blogger Tooyama returns to makushita after a 5-2 at Sd6w. Ikioi suffered his first make-koshi at Sd9w.

The jonidan yusho winner was Yuminosato, who had been in sandanme lately but was demoted to jonidan after a 2-5 at Sd76 in Kyushu.
 
Yuminosato
 
 His yusho path was convincing since he beat both Kyushu Basho jonokuchi winner, Chiyonishiki (6-1), and Kokkai’s brother, Tsukasaumi – the latter in a play-off. Tsukasaumi also reached a 7-0 record beating Morioka (6-1) on the way. In the play-off, he lost when Yuminosato yanked him down
after the tachi-ai.

In jonokuchi, 22-year-old college rikishi Masuhikari and 18-year-old Georgian Gagamaru were the leading debutants, but as Masuhikari suffered an unexpected loss to small Masuko, Gagamaru was able to get a 7-0 yusho without having to face Masuhikari, to whom he lost at mae-zumo in the Kyushu Basho.
 
Gagamaru
 
 Masuhikari came back strongly after his initial loss, finishing with 6-1. Both are very big and have high goals. Early on, Masuhikari expressed his wish to become a professional one day and idolizes the kind of sumo Musoyama and Iwakiyama did/do, while Gagamaru is obviously keen to follow in the footsteps of Kokkai. Gagamaru’s measures 184cm/153kg and he has both judo and amateur sumo experience. Masuhikari is massively heavy at 177cm/186kg.
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