Swami

He was a great gyoji, one of my favourites along with his immediate successor as tate-gyoji. There was also a great sanyaku gyoji of that era - can't remember his name - but he took charge of most ozeki/sekiwake bouts. Swami

Happy birthday and hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

Happy birthday and hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

Hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

I see on the official JSA website, Hokuseiho seems to have grown another 4cm, now listed at 204cm. Swami

Happy birthday and hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

Happy birthday and hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

That last tournament they covered - they even resorted to squeezing a couple of days' bouts into one programme, Lyall Watson wasn't involved, replaced by the actor Brian Blessed. It was a great pity, because the coverage was very good while it lasted and I found it vastly superior to Eurosport's. Swami

It does seem rather ironic, from a UK point of view, that Channel 4 has put this documentary forward given the excellent, albeit all too short-lived, coverage they gave to sumo in the late 198s/early 1990s including the London Koen in 1991. Having worked very hard up to the point, they then allowed their sumo coverage to fizzle out after showing the 1992 Hatsu Basho. Swami

Hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

Hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

Happy birthday and hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

Happy birthday and hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami

I think he is hugely overrated, even taking into account how low the overall quality of sumo is at present. He may well get to the lower sanyaku ranks on this basis - I think even sandanme/jonokuchi rikishi would be better ozeki than the current crop- but with greater quality he is mid-to-lower maegashira at best. Swami

I remember for Chiyonofuji's 31st and final yusho, juryo Tomoefuji accompanied the Wolf. He made his Makunouchi debut in January 1991, though. Swami