Even though this FAQ is lengthy, there is much more to learn about Sumo. It's a very visual sport as well, so check out ways to watch and enjoy the ancient sport.
Cuyler, P. L. Sumo: from rite to sport / by P. L. Cuyler. New York : Weatherhill, 1979. 1st ed. 207 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. Includes index.
Gutman, Bill. Sumo wrestling / Bill Gutman. Minneapolis : Capstone Press, c1995. 48 p. : col. ill. ; 23 cm. Describes the ancient Japanese art and sport of sumo including the rules, preparation, techniques, and importance to the wrestler. Includes a glossary of terms. ISBN: 156065273X
Sargeant, J. A., 1903- Sumo: the sport and the tradition. Rutland, Vt., C. E. Tuttle Co. [1959] 96 p. illus. 24 cm.
Kenrick, Douglas M. The book of sumo; sport, spectacle, and ritual [by] Doug Kenrick. New York, Walker/Weatherhill [i.e. J. Weatherhill; distributed by Walker, 1969] [1st ed.] xii, 171 p. illus. 24 cm.
Takamiyama, Daigoro, 1944- Takamiyama; the world of Sumo, with John Wheeler; photographs by D. Turner Givens. [Tokyo, New York] Kodansha International [1973] 171 p. illus. 27 cm. ISBN: 0870111957
Buckingham, Dorothea N. The essential guide to sumo / Dorothea N. Buckingham. Honolulu, Hawaii : Bress Press, c1994. vii, 263 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. Includes cross-referenced and defined Japanese and English terms.
Benjamin, David. The joy of sumo : a fan's guide / David Benjamin ; illustrations by Greg Holfeld. Rutland, Vt. : C.E. Tuttle Co., 1991.
Newton, Clyde & Toff, Gerald J. Dynamic sumo / text by Clyde Newton ; photography by Gerald J. Toff. Tokyo ; New York : Kodansha International, 1994.
Sandoz, Philip. Sumo showdown : the Hawaiian challenge / Philip Sandoz. Rutland, Vt. : C.E. Tuttle, 1992.
Kudo, Miyoko, 1950- Umi o watatta rikishitachi : Hawai sumo no hyakunen / Kudo Miyoko. Tokyo : Besuboru Magajinsha, 1988.
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Web pages for sumo:
SumoWeb! http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~tmccarth/sumo.htm
Dan's Daily Sumo Results http://www.pacificnet.net/~dantmhow/sumo_folder/sumo.html
Dean Roberts' Sumo Page http://www.geol.ucsb.edu/~roberts/sumo/sumo_page.html
Grand Sumo Official Home Page http://www.fujiint.co.uk/Sumo/
Jam Jam Sumo http://www.mainichi.co.jp/sumo/
Jerry Yang's Sumo Information Page http://akebono.stanford.edu/users/jerry/sumo/
Lynn Matsuoka's Sumo Paintings and Drawings on the Web http://www.iac.co.jp/sumo/sumohome.html
Noriko Oshima's Sumo Page! http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~s93073no/sumo.html
STARSports - Sumo Information Station http://www.starsports.com/sumo/cover.html
SUMO http://www.inter.co.jp/NTVad/IDC/C/Sumo.html
Sugimoto's Personal Sumo Page http://www.selab.cs.ritsumei.ac.jp/~sugi/sumo.html
Sumo information http://www.scgroup.com/sumo/
Sumo Baho http://www.kteh.org/prod/docs/sumo.html
Sumo Images and Information http://www.hal.com/~nathan/Sumo/
Sumo Information http://www.adinhole.com/sumo0000.html
Sumo Ukiyo-e Web Gallery http://mall.turnpike.net/~goodin/sumo/index.html
Sumo World Home Page http://iac.co.jp/~sumowrld/
Sumo http://www.indimension.com/multimedia/culture/japan/sumo.html
TOTORO'S SUMO SITE! http://gaia.hi-tech.ac.jp/~riley/sumo/FAQ
There's no substitute for being a serious student of sumo and learning as much about your favorite aspect of the sport, but if you want to hit the ground running, read this section. This section last updated to be current for May 1996.
Former Yokozuna Chiyonofuji (nicknamed "The Wolf") still casts a long shadow on the world of Sumo as Kokonoe Oyakata, who is now often seen as a shimpan during the Makunouchi bouts. The first rikishi to exceed a thousand career wins, he won 31 yusho, second only to the great Taiho. When the Kokugikan was built again in Ryogoku in 1985, Chiyonofuji won every basho in that facility for two years! Chiyonofuji dazzled fans with his jaunty appearance and uncanny fighting ability. Current Yokozuna Takanohana's only Kin-boshi was a victory over the Wolf, in May 1991.
Taiho (now Taiho Oyakata) was so popular that the Japanese had a saying, "Tamagoyaki, Taiho, ?:" the three things all Japanese like: scrambled eggs fried with a little soy sauce and sugar, Taiho, and the Tokyo Giants Baseball team. Owner of the longest winning streak in sumo, the only sekitori he has yet produced is Dairyu, and his daughter is married to Takatoriki.
Futagoyama Oyakata, newly elected to the board of directors of the Sumo Kyokai, is one of the most powerful men in sumo. A former Olympic swimmer, his heya includes ten of the seventy sekitori in Ozumo. He is father to high ranking Takanohana and Wakanohana.
Futahaguro is a name you'll hear when sumo scandals are discussed. The only Yokozuna never to win a yusho, this man was forced to retire from sumo after a violent altercation with his heya's Okamisan.
There are two Yokozuna. The bigger man is the Hawaiian, Akebono. Like his coach Azumazeki and countrymen Konishiki and Musashimaru, he has become a Japanese subject. Akebono is formidable at oshi-zumo; when his pushing attack is on, nothing can stop him.
Takanohana, the Japanese Yokozuna, is younger brother to Wakanohana; they are sons of their coach former Ozeki Takanohana. Their real names are Koji and Masaru Hanada, and fought under the names Takahanada and Wakahanada until their Ozeki promotions. Both very young and very skilled, the Hanada brothers anchor the powerful Futagoyama-beya team that is currently dominating Ozumo. The 1995 basho in Kyushu came down to a historic first ever playoff between two brothers, which was won by the elder Wakanohana.
Musashimaru is the cheerful faced Hawaiian Ozeki. Takanonami is the very tall Ozeki, with a face that resembles the happy Buddha.
All rikishi with names that begin with Koto belong to Sadogatake-beya. It's easy to remember which is which: the shortest one is Kotonishiki, the tallest Kotonowaka, the chubbiest Kotobeppu, and Kotoinazuma is losing his hair.
Daishi is also losing his hair. If you become so bald that you cannot fashion a topknot, you have to retire! Speaking of hair, the rikishi with the patch of chest hair is Daishoho.
The lightest rikishi are Mainoumi, Terao, Kyokudozan and Tomonohana (nicknamed "the Sensei," as he was formerly a high school teacher). The crowd always root for these men, who are often underdogs in their bouts. Being smaller can be a disadvantage, but Mainoumi seems to have ex-Ozeki Konishiki's number, despite being about a third of his size.
Mitoizumi is the Takasago-beya rikishi who throws the big handful of salt before fighting. He is a showman, as is Asanowaka, who does a little dance which sets his sagari swinging back and forth. These two often wear brightly colored mawashi, and show great fighting spirit.
Oginohana and Oginishiki are another pair of brothers, sons of a former rikishi.
There are a trio of young men who have risen fast to challenge the Ozeki and Yokozuna: Musoyama, Kaio and Tosanoumi. Musoyama, nicknamed "the Bear" in Japan but who is almost always called "Moose" by American fans, is the most decorated of the three. In the same stable as powerful Musashimaru, he benefits from his comrade's "cover fire" during a Hon-basho and training in the heya. Kaio is the most senior of the three, often called "The Human Juicer," owing to his tremendous gripping power: he is said to be able to crush an apple in his right hand. Indeed, he uses that right hand on the belt to throw Yokozuna off the dohyo. Tosanoumi is said to be programmed as a Yokozuna-beater, aimed at the heart of Takanohana. In only his third tournament in Makunouchi (1995 Kyushu) he defeated both Yokozuna in a three day span! This remarkable achievement got him on the back cover of Sumo World magazine.
The first thing to learn (and this will come in handy if you ever find yourself asking for directions in Tokyo) is how to say right and left: migi and hidari. Knowing that Takanohana wins when he gets hidari-yotsu (a left handed belt grip) gives you something to watch out for.
At the end of every bout you'll hear the announcer pronounce the winning Kimarite, then the name of one of the rikishi followed by the words "no kachi." Train your ear to listen for this, and you'll always know who is announced the winner. Residents of St. Louis Missouri in the USA should feel very proud when "Sentoryu no kachi!" rings out in a sumo venue.
Remember that a third of the time, the winning technique will be Yorikiri. Watch all the different ways that a rikishi will use his upper body as well as his hands (on his opponent's belt) to force someone out of the ring. But remember that if the winning man releases his belt hold and pushes his foe out with a hand to the chest or neck, that's Oshidashi. Or if he uses just one hand on the side of the belt to throw him to the side and down, that's Uwatenage. It sounds like a lot to remember, and the experts are going to tell you anyway, but if you can beat the announcer to the call, you'll impress your friends.
Make a point of watching the rikishi at the staredown (shikkiri) and when they are waiting by the dohyo to fight, if you are watching the NHK coverage. Even if you are not predisposed to fandom, pick someone to watch for and appreciate. Develop preferences in size, style, even personality. These men are nearly naked on the playing surface, and not heavily armored interchangeable NFL (American football) robots. Nobody will think you're odd if you confess to being a fan of the Argentine jew, or the guy who flings two kilograms of salt ten meters in the air, or the last rikishi born in the 1950's... but they will be impressed that you know enough to have a preference.
Learn some written language. Start with flash cards with the numbers. One, two and three are simple, being one, two and three horizontal lines respectively. You'll be surprised how quickly you can identify the rank of a Juryo or Maegashira sekitori, as well as his record so far, from the graphic that heralds the upcoming bout.
In the same way, learn what the kanji for your favorite rikishi looks like, and keep your eye out for it. Before you know it, you'll know the characters that mean Koto, Taka, Fuji, Maru, Waka and Asahi. Watch out, though: Asahi and Kyoku are the same characters making different noises, and there are no less than four different characters that sound like "no" that are commonly found in the middle of shikona. Generally, there's one character for each syllable of a name. Hence, if you know what "Koto" looks like, and what "Maru" looks like, you can deduce that if you see these two kanji opposing each other on the screen, Musashimaru (the only rikishi with "maru" in his name right now) is fighting someone. If the Koto has only one additional character under it, voila, it must be either Kotonishiki or Kotoryu! Since Kotoryu is still down in Juryo, it must be a battle between Kotonishiki and the Hawaiian Ozeki. Complicated characters like Akebono are easy to spot, and the two character "Terao" even looks like how it's pronounced if you stare at it long enough.
Practice your pronunciation. "Rikishi" is two syllables, and the "-nishiki" in "Kotonishiki" is no more than two. If you say "Kotonishiki is a rikishi" and it ends up being ten or more syllables, think about how to compress it into seven.
In the US, many PBS stations carry "NHK News Japan Update" that has five or six minutes of sumo highlights on days of the Hon-basho. Fuji-TV network news is shown in cities with Asian communities. Ozumo is found easily on TV in Hawaii. Sumo is known to be on these broadcast TV stations, an asterisk = more than just brief highlights:
KSCI Channel 18 Los Angeles CA *
KCET Los Angeles CA
KBTS Channel 28 Tacoma WA
KCTS Channel 9 Seattle WA
KVOS Channel 12 Bellingham WA
Majuro, Marshall Islands *
WTLK Rome GA
Channel 14 Dayton OH
Satellite Galaxy 6 has NHK programming on transponder 6 C-band. Coverage of sumo can be seen from 1635 to 1800 Tokyo time on days of the basho. Commentary can be heard in both Japanese and English.
NHK on shortwave radio can also be picked up in North America, at 5960 kHz each evening at 2200 EDT.
Japan Network Group (212 262-3777) broadcasts Sumo and other programming on some cable systems, as well as digital satellite systems such as Primestar (1-800-PRIMESTAR)