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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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yotsu style, and often used his right arm to execute uwate-nage throws. When he felt his opponent too defensive for his yotsu-style sumo, he simply turned to his fierce tsuppari (open-hand pushes) to blow him out of the dohyo. Kitanoumi had as many fans who loved him for his dynamic style of sumo as detractors who hated him for his ungracious manners after a victory. Indeed, he once explained that the reason he did not want to extend his hand to a fallen opponent to help him get up was he himself would have felt completely humiliated if it were he on the floor.
During his career however, no one could deny the records he set as anything less than amazing: 24 yusho, 50 consecutive makunouchi basho without a make-koshi, winning 10 or more bouts in 37 straight tournaments and 82 wins in a single year – the latter a record recently broken by Asashoryu in 2005.
Kitanoumi had many memorable bouts, some of which he won and some of which he lost. When pitted against Wajima, the pair had many heated bouts and generated a great deal of excitement. Kitanoumi rarely met an opponent against whom he had a bad or losing record except for Wajima, to whom he lost five
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straight while ranked at ozeki and yokozuna. One memorable bout occurred on senshuraku of the March 1977 basho when Kitanoumi had already won the yusho but was going for a perfect 15-0. Able to get into his favorite hidari-yotsu position, he tried his uwate-nage, but Wajima survived and both rikishi eventually moved into the center of the dohyo and stopped moving. There was a mizu-iri (water break), followed by some brutal struggles, until Wajima eventually ran out of steam and was pulled off his feet, with Kitanoumi winning by tsuridashi. It was Kitanoumi's eighth yusho.
By 1980, there was a new rival and a new star of the dohyo for Kitanoumi to deal with. His name was Chiyonofuji and, in beating Kitanoumi in the playoff at the January 1980 basho, he signaled the beginning of the end for his fellow Hokkaido yokozuna. Kitanoumi started to become prone to injury and missed several basho. Nevertheless, at the January 1985 tournament in the newly opened Ryogoku Kokogikan, as a sitting yokozuna, he was asked to participate despite suffering from injury. He started the basho by losing to then-
komusubi Asahifuji (later the 63rd yokozuna and current Ajigawa Oyakata) on day 1, and
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then to M1e Tagaryu (later sekiwake and current Kagamiyama oyakata) on day 2. After this second bout, Kitanoumi announced that he felt he had reached his physical limit and could no longer continue. He had served as yokozuna for 10 years and four months and it was time to pass the torch on to the new generation. Yokozuna Chiyonofuji won all of his 15 bouts in the basho and won the yusho, his eleventh.
Table 10 – Youngest Yokozuna Promotion
| | Yokozuna | Age |
|---|
| 1. | Kitanoumi | 21 years 2 months |
| 2. | Takanohana | 22 years 3 months |
| 3. | Asashoryu | 22 years 4 months |
| 4. | Futahaguro | 22 years 11 months |
| 5. | Akebono | 23 years 8 months |
As mentioned earlier, Kitanoumi joined ozumo prior to his finishing middle school so had a head start on later yokozuna.
The 65th yokozuna Takanohana Koji (1972- ), during his middle school years at Meiji University
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