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.

  frequently used techniques in makuuchi – both are seen around 40-50 times per year – while tsukitaoshi is rare and only appears a few times a year.

In oshidashi, the attacker pushes the defender out of the dohyo without a grip on the belt. If the defender has his back turned towards the attacker, the technique is okuridashi. In oshidashi, the hand contact is constant at the time of the final pushing move. Basically it means that the attacker doesn't “hit” the defender with the last blow as is the case with tsukidashi. In oshitaoshi the defender falls down outside or inside the dohyo as a result of a push. As stated earlier, pushing is quite a natural move but there are some differences in the styles. Some pushing sumo specialists tend to aim higher at the neck, upper chest and face area while some prefer to aim lower and often keep their elbows tucked in tightly on the sides. One main sumo training method is butsugari-geiko where the attacking rikishi keeps his elbows close to his body and hits the receiving rikishi in the chest area with his hands and head trying to slide him on the dohyo to the other side. The way push-ups are taught in sumo also serves the
purpose of keeping the elbows packed tightly. Those pushing sumo rikishi who aim higher tend to be more frequent tsukidashi winners and definitely engage in alternating thrusts more. For example, Dejima's pushing sumo is usually low aiming and hardly ever involves any alternating thrust action. In fact he doesn't have any tsukidashi wins in makuuchi but has won 169 times with oshidashi.

Tsukidashi is much rarer than oshidashi with only 629 tsukidashi since the beginning of 1990 in makuuchi. In tsukidashi the attacker uses alternating thrusts to propel the defender out of the dohyo, the difference to oshidashi being that the attacker uses the power of separate thrusts to force the opponent back. Optimal rhythm helps a lot and at its best, tsukidashi is a great example of a perfect flow of well timed thrusts. One problem of thrusting sumo is the co-operation between upper and lower body. In direct pushing sumo, legs generate power better and the use of lower body strength is easier but in thrusting sumo there are scenes where the thrusts as such are effective and well-performed but legs are not employed fully to
create the forward momentum. Tsukitaoshi is just a tsukidashi where the opponent falls down after the last thrust. Akebono, Chiyotaikai, Asanosho and Gojoro have been tsukidashi specialists using a lot of thrusts. Chiyotaikai has a karate background and has mentioned in interviews that he likes to utilize karate's explosive thrusts in his sumo. Asanosho did shotput before entering sumo and Akebono put his massive reach and weight into good use by pummeling his foes with his long arms using long thrusts. Gojoro is the only rikishi who had more tsukidashi wins than oshidashi wins. Terao must be one of the most famous rikishi when it comes to the speed of his thrusting attack. He rarely relied on simple pushing as he wasn't strong enough to push bigger foes out but he specialized in lightning fast thrusting which didn't always end up with tsukidashi but certainly disrupted his foes' sumo. An interesting detail is that Terao is in the top 10 in successful tsukitaoshi usage frequency. Of currently active makuuchi rikishi Chiyotaikai (59) and Hokutoriki (26) have the most tsukidashi wins. One of the most devoted rikishi who

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