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Tachiai Team

Andy

You’ll find me on Twitter @Tachiai_blog. I’m a program analyst with the Federal Railroad Administration and former resident of Tokyo. I caught the sumo bug back in the 90s but really got into it when I went to the “Special Ranking Tournament” in 2011. It was awesome to watch live. Click here for articles I’ve written. IRL, you’ll usually find me avoiding DC traffic.

Bruce
The Tachiai Team became a team when Bruce came on board. He’s on Twitter @LordBermondsey. He’s the driving force behind so much of the basho coverage and the podcasts. Click here for articles Bruce has written.

Leonid

Resident PhD in Banzuke Science, on Twitter @leonidkruglyak.
Click here for Leonid’s articles.

Josh
A music industry person in California who can be found on Twitter @jsklfc. Tends to look for more obscure stories and focuses on stats, lower division updates, and occasionally, food.
Click here for Josh’s articles.

Herouth
A software developer from Israel, and a sumo obasan in her free time. Twitter handle is @SumoFollower.
Click here for Herouth’s articles.

Nicola
Nicola administers the Official Tachiai Instagram account. Follow us there and check out the bad-ass pictures!

James

James Melinson is a Mitakeumi enthusiast masquerading as a sumo journalist. You might know him in some sumo circles as Reyson or Akagi, and the archenemy of Goeido. Find him on Twitter @waterMELINSON_.

About the Blog

The Tachiai is the initial charge of two sumo wrestlers at the beginning of a bout. This blog is intended to be my way of sharing my enjoyment of sumo – as well as my way of reaching out to an international community of sumo fans.

Sumo is the greatest sport in the world. I enjoy it for its simplicity, competitiveness, power, speed, tactics, sportsmanship and symbolism. Unfortunately, the world sees it as a bunch of fat guys trying to topple one another. There is some truth in the “immovable object” stereotype, as champions like Akebono and Musashimaru are prime examples. However, many champions like Chiyonofuji, Asashoryu and recently, Hakuho, were decidedly athletic. Their success was due to a combination of agility, strength, and guile as well as size.

I want to do my part to promote the sport because it is very difficult to find resources and there’s not much of a visible fan community in the US – where everything is football, football, football. There are some great similarities between the two sports…I see down linemen as very sumo-like. The snap is very similar to the tachiai. I’ve always been a fan of a strong running game built around a powerful offensive line. What I find frustrating is the way football treats holding as illegal, since fair enforcement is impossible. There’s holding on every play. What matters it what get’s called, and too often in our popular sports, it’s the refs’ calls that end up being the storylines.

American football, Aussie rules, and rugby, then, are like team versions of sumo where they’ve added a ball. But those sports are hobbled by all the complicated rules and unbalanced enforcement. Anyway, of these sports, my preference is for Aussie rules since it seems to be a much simpler, honest game, and I’ll probably have a blog about Aussie rules at some point. For now, I want to engage the sumo world.

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