The Grand Sumo Spring Honbasho has begun in Osaka. A few of the rikishi are absent through injury, including two yokozuna. The forced retirement of Harumafuji last year, combined with the casualties in the upper ranks, has made watching the tournament a little odd. But this does give other wrestlers the chance to move through the ranks or even capture the title, as Georgian Tochinoshin did last November.

It was 12 years ago that a group of us from Sanda City went to the Osaka Tournament. We sat in the boxed areas drinking sake and watching keenly as the megaliths took to the clay. It was a great afternoon in which the champion Asashoryu donned his golden mawashi and won, as expected. The great man, who fell from favour in yet another scandal, is seen below.