Bugman

Unless my memory is shot to bits (which is very possible), i think my first ever introduction to Sumo was on channel 4 back in the early 90's. It was just highlights but still awesome, my father and i used to watch Chiyonofuji (who we only knew as 'the wolf' thanks to the commentator) and many others, it was a huge fun partly because we had never seen anything like it before. Makes me kind of sad that this 'celebrity' version is what the kids will see in this decade.

Anyone like computer game music? This one has a bit of an 'Omen' vibe to it. You know regarding Spinal Tap's 'big bottom' track, the doubly hilarious thing about it is that it's actually a great song too :D

2020 was a rough year, and it was comforting to see someone like Captain Tom taking a lead with courage, especially at his age and with his frail condition. His will to help and be supportive, alongside his humility and gratitude to the NHS made him a really likeable person. Sadly missed, i hope he's in a better place.

I always liked their 'Das Model' song, it's very iconic. Years ago i discovered they had also done some heavy metal that was very similar to the style of a later band i used to listen to called 'Kyuss', i thought that band was purely original as a teenager growing up, little did i know Kraftwerk had done it already way back in 1971.

So far i've watched the September highlights video and read the first article on Kashiwado, who i had never heard of. In a coincidence that confirms your point about him being somewhat overshadowed despite his skill, when i googled his name the first photograph that i saw was Taiho's. There's something very 'Sumo' i feel about eclipsed excellence, doing your best despite not being seen (as much), and adding to the overall greatness of the sport quietly, for without great rivals the champions that everyone knows of would not be so well remembered. The fact about his Heya now being the smallest in Sumo today was also a nice factoid, really interesting stuff. Thank you John, i look forward to reading the rest of them.

My apologies if that's how it came across, it wasn't my intention.

I'd have to go for Chiyonofuji, when i was a child in the UK, channel 4 used to show Sumo highlights and that was his era. I used to watch them with my father, neither of us having a clue what was going on, but cheering for the wolf, knowing that we were witnessing a champion.

Maybe you have a guardian angel :) Btw Fujisan, i don't want to sound like an ass (i am an ass), and i'm certainly not world-wise, but i believe the current accepted term is 'person of colour'. Here's hoping your luck continues

Those are great suggestions, thank you guys, i think i have enough to go on now. i'm slowly recapturing the old Sumo magic :)

2 great channels there i had forgotten about too, Kintamayama's humour is inimitable, whilst Jason's channel (or rather i should say his first channel, which wasn't exclusively dedicated to Sumo back then) was the one that got me interested in the sport to begin with. He's a big Harumafuji fan if i remember rightly, way back from the days when his shikona was Ama. SHIKONA! It seems some Sumo terms had been lurking in my subconscious just waiting to re-emerge. I have but not very much, i seem to remember that the Japanese fans (and perhaps many others) likened him to the famous Mainoumi in size and skill, i just finished watching both videos now and i'm very impressed, those are some big names he's up against,Takayasu for example i know is incredibly strong and determined. I don't recognise the terms you've used for the techniques but that's something i can begin to (re)learn slowly, i think i'd like to find out where everyone is ranked at the moment too, as i haven't a clue who has been promoted or who has left. Thank you all for your kind wishes regarding my health, i wish the same to all of you.

I joined around 2011 but i haven't been actively and truly following the sport itself since perhaps 2015 or so, i have stuck around the off-topic though, like a suspicious smell that never quite leaves entirely

Thank you Shumitto i appreciate it, i agree with you about the feeling of being new again, i feel that excitement i felt some years back and i think i am recovering my 'Sumo-mojo'. I had my interest piqued again by a new (at least new to me), channel on Youtube i came across called 'Chris Sumo'. So i've been watching a few really interesting videos on there, and one of NHK's videos on the old legend that even i can't forget...the moment i typed that i forgot his name. He was a famous Yokozuna and known as 'the wolf', *quick Google* Ah yes, Chiyonofuji! So as you can see, my memory needs all the help and jolting it can get :)

Well guys i've been largely away from Sumo for a long time now, partly due to an initial confusion with knowing where to actually watch it once it was no longer streamed by the Kyokai itself, (I can't remember what year they stopped), but more because of a long-standing ill-health which affects me greatly, i have nevertheless decided i'd like to spend more of my time reading, thinking about, and perhaps watching Sumo if possible. I've forgotten almost everything, especially with regard to Sumo's terms, so i'm pretty much a beginner again. What sites, old-re-runs of documentaries, knowledge-databases, news-clips, Youtube channels, or anything Sumo related would you recommend me to go look at, in an effort to relight my Sumo fire? Edit* Hmm, i just had the thought this may be the wrong forum to post this, as it is Sumo-related it could possibly go in Ozumo discussions, but since this is a question and not a discussion per-se, i'm unsure. I'll let a moderator decide if they come across it, apologies if it is indeed in the wrong place.

Happy Birthday Fuji, hope you're doing well mate.

I've recently been playing a long-awaited game called 'Crusader Kings 3'. If you know of the Sims games, imagine those mixed with the brutal and sometimes horrid flavour of Medieval times, with a big dash of Monty Python's holy grail thrown in. The aim is to start off around the year 896 with a character, and create a family dynasty of people and lands that lasts till around 1400 or so. There are many options open to you from the heroic warrior's path, to the Machavellian and dark world of spies and intrique. To give you an idea, one rather shifty member of my extended family gifted me a luxuriant rug, only (i found later) so that his assassin's footsteps wouldn't be heard when he tried to do me in. Over time i invented my own religion which meant i could only marry within that faith, and since i had chosen cannibalism as one my new tenets, my pool of available husbands and wives became ever smaller and more inbred, until my current character (the 13th or 14th character down the Dynasty's line) has ended up as technically being his own grandfather, and having a family tree that looks like a ball of tangled up Christmas lights. Suffice to say i'm not very good at the game, but i've had a lot of fun with it.