Greetings from Italy

[Hankegami]

Hello everyone.

I am an Italian guy who got recently interested in sumo mainly thanks to the media frenzy after Terunofuji reached the Yokozuna rank. His personal story was so amazing I felt a need to know sumo better, just to go beyond your usual stereotype of fat guys slapping each other. Although I am not new to Japanese culture (I practiced karate, read manga, even followed a few Japanese language classes) I was never introduced to sumo. Well, let's say I filled my gap.

I hope we will go along. I knew about this forum for a while (I followed your topics on the Aki basho) but at first I did not think to sign me up since I did not have much to share. Now I am getting more accustomed to sumo, however, I feel confident I will make a decent contribution to the communal fan debate. I am still discovering most rikishi, so my fan album is pretty short. Of course my favourite is Terunofuji, the "hero journey" Yokozuna who introduced me to sumo through his comeback story. However, I began to keep an eye on other sumotori now, including no-hope Ichinojo and Tochinoshin (I love these guys, although I realise they are not going to get much far, especially Tochinoshin), showmen like Ura and Tobizaru, and possible next big shots such as Hoshoryu and Hokuseiho. Anyway, much like many of us I am also looking for prospective Yokozuna on the short term (although we just got Terunofuji) and this prompted me to sign up in order to participate to the Takakeisho pool and fan club, as I feel we are perhaps underestimating the chances of our favourite stubbornly oshi-zumo hamster a bit. Well, guess I will rush there right now.

Once again, I hope we will get along, youngsters!

[Yamanashi]

Welcome to the Forum!  Feel free to continue contributing.

[Swami]

Hearty salutations from the Swami!

Swami

[Fujisan]

Welcome to the forum...

Chuck in your salt and join the fray...