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SFM’s historian, JK, wraps his two-part article on the greatest of the tsuna wearers
What exactly is it and furthermore, what does it do? The ISF explain themselves and their purpose in existing
Man or myth? Sumo's first yokozuna comes under the spotlight
Tokitsukaze-beya and its famous find themselves the target of Barbara's peek into life inside the heya
Featuring interviews with amateur sumo's European Sumo Union General Secretary and the President of the newly founded Irish Sumo Federation
Would chanko exist without sumo? What is chanko anyway? Find out in Sumo 101
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
Lon gives us his Haru Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results
Mikko Mattila covers the lower division goings on like nobody else around
Mark Buckton glances back to look forward in his ones to look out for come May
Our man Mikko takes us on a tour of his chosen kimarite
Our gaming thread takes a break for April so we can look at the Spanish language book on the sport not long since released
Todd’s bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites today
April's man VS monkey debate covers the issue of reducing the number of honbasho
Sit back and enjoy the offerings
made you a sumo fan? Thierry Perran lets us in on his reasons for loving this sport
See what our featured letter is for this issue
Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.
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As a result of sumo becoming hugely popular during Futabayama's climb to stardom, the Kyokai decided to increase the number of basho days from 11 to 13 and eventually to 15 to accommodate the fans who would line up all night to obtain tickets. Following his first yusho in the May 1936 tournament, Futabayama had five straight zensho yusho. Of the twelve career makunouchi yusho he claimed, eight were achieved with a zensho record. The great yokozuna won his last yusho at the May 1943 basho, a full seven years after winning his first.
The 37th yokozuna Akinoumi (1914-1979) credited this win over Futabayama as his resolve to become a yokozuna. He also indicated that he tried very hard not to bring shame to the name of the great yokozuna. From that day hence however, Akinoumi never again beat Futabayama.
The 54th yokozuna Wajima Hiroshi (1948- ) became the first ex-college rikishi to be promoted to yokozuna. Therefore, unlike the others in Table 7, his promotion is based on makushita tsukedashi ranking (starting from the bottom of makushita rather
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than from maezumo). Wajima was already a star when he joined ozumo and remained one throughout his sumo career. He had a unique hidari-yotsu (left-hand inside grip) style and was nicknamed the “Golden Left”. As the greatest rival of yokozuna Kitanoumi, his lifetime record against the current Rijicho was 23 wins and 21 losses – not counting yusho playoffs.
Table 8 – Quickest Promotion to Yokozuna from Dohyo Debut
| | Yokozuna | Time |
|---|
| 1. | Wajima | 3 years 6 months |
| 2. | Asashoryu | 4 years 2 months |
| 3. | Akebono | 5 years |
| 4. | Taiho | 5 years 2 months |
| 5. | Takanohana | 6 years 10 months |
Using his real name of Wajima, he became the first ozeki, later, yokozuna to do so. He was also the first individual to win two consecutive college yusho (college yokozuna) – 1968 / 1969 – and two consecutive makunouchi yusho. He did the latter on two occasions, September and November 1973, and July and September 1974. At the November '73 basho,
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though, he injured a finger on his right hand in the day 12 bout against ozeki Takanohana and was forced to go kyujo on day 14 after winning the yusho the day before. In doing so, he became the first rikishi to ever receive a yusho certificate while officially kyujo.
After his professional sumo debut, Wajima won two straight zensho yusho and was promoted to juryo. This is still a record for those who entered at the makushita tsukedashi slot, and is shared with Nagaoka (later Asashio and now Takasago Oyakata), Musoyama and Miyabiyama.
In his third tournament in juryo, on day 6 of the September 1970 basho, he faced a rival from his college days in the shape of Nagahama (later komusubi Yutakayama and current Minatogawa Oyakata) while both were still undefeated. As so much interest was generated for this match-up, the NSK gave permission to have a kensho banner sponsor the bout – normally, kensho awards are permitted only for makunouchi. Wajima won this bout by yorikiri and went on to win the juryo yusho. After the basho, Wajima was promoted to
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