Sumo Fan Magazine

Yokozuna Comparisons
Joe Kuroda
SFM’s historian, JK, wraps his two-part article on the greatest of the tsuna wearers

Amateur Sumo's Global Aspirations
Courtesy: International Sumo Federation
What exactly is it and furthermore, what does it do? The ISF explain themselves and their purpose in existing

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
Man or myth? Sumo's first yokozuna comes under the spotlight

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Tokitsukaze-beya and its famous find themselves the target of Barbara's peek into life inside the heya

SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
Featuring interviews with amateur sumo's European Sumo Union General Secretary and the President of the newly founded Irish Sumo Federation

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
Would chanko exist without sumo? What is chanko anyway? Find out in Sumo 101

Photo Bonanza
See the Haru
Basho through the eyes of the fans in the seats as SFM gives the mantle of photographer(s) for this basho to Barbara & Gerald Patten. And don't miss our all-Mongolian Bonanza supplied by our Editor, Barbara Ann Klein

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

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila covers the lower division goings on like nobody else around

Natsu Basho Forecast
Mark Buckton
Mark Buckton glances back to look forward in his ones to look out for come May

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

Sumo in Print
Mark Buckton
Our gaming thread takes a break for April so we can look at the Spanish language book on the sport not long since released

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites today

Fan Debate
Facilitator – Lon Howard
April's man VS monkey debate covers the issue of reducing the number of honbasho

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson
Sit back and enjoy the offerings

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that
made you a sumo fan? Thierry Perran lets us in on his reasons for loving this sport

Readers’ Letters
See what some
See what our featured letter is for this issue

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

Amateur Sumo was missing something – and now they're here!

by Mark Buckton

hometown of Belfast which I travelled to from my remote beach house in Ballybunion, County Kerry.

MB – What is the status of the Irish Sumo Federation at present?

CC – On the back of discussions I held last year with the Companies Registration Office and the Irish Sports Council, I registered “Sumo Ireland” as a business name. Peter Smyth, the Secretary of the Irish Sports Council, recommended – during our discussions about Sumo Ireland's imminent application to become affiliated with the IFS – that I perhaps set up Sumo Ireland as a limited company. Sumo Ireland is bound by strict guidelines as per our constitution, which is contractually binding and similar to the constitutions of more established sports. Provision exists for various kinds of membership as well as for holding AGMs and EGMs together with electing members to the management committee. The management committee currently comprises a president, chairperson, secretary, treasurer and fitness coach.

As a nascent organisation,

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‘Ireland’ and ‘sumo’ are words that aren't usually found in the same sentence but with the imminent acceptance of ‘Sumo Ireland’ (the Irish Sumo Federation) into the European and World fold, we may well see these words and the folk behind them more and more frequently on the amateur scene. Aiming to give them a hand and in doing so, securing the first-ever interview with these boys from the western edge of Europe, SFM Editor-in-Chief Mark Buckton gave the Irish their first work out on the WWW.

MB – Sumo is not exactly a popular sport in the Emerald Isle so how did you develop an interest?

CC – Sumo Ireland was born in August 2004 out of a chance encounter in a youth hostel in Zagreb. Together with Carl Williams (Treasurer), I went on a cross-Europe road trip and, in Croatia, ran into Graham Little (Chairman) and Justin Woods (Secretary) together with Graham Smith and Paul Caswell (members), all fellow Irishmen from Northern Ireland.

In Zagreb we came across some sumo wrestlers from the Czech Republic and Estonia training in a park. As athletes, we became curious and in no time

were learning the basics of sumo wrestling from these Eastern Europeans.

Returning to Ireland, we continued to practice sumo whenever we came together. It was last summer in Enniskillen, Justin's hometown, that the first large-scale sumo training session took place as some 50 people gathered from both sides of the Irish border. Since then we have held two more All-Ireland training sessions, one in Dublin last December organised by Carl who is Dublin-based, and another which I hosted in Blarney, County Cork on 24th February. To celebrate St Patrick's Day on 17 March, Graham hosted a training session in his