competition. The fighting brothers Wakanohana and Takanohana both belong to the Futagoyama (Twin Peaks) stable, along with some other prominent names. Akebono doesn’t have any other prominent stablemates, so in the upper ranks, he is largely on his own. Some claim that Futagoyama’s deck is stacked because a lot of the good wrestlers never encounter each other, a valid argument. The wrestler also attempts to maintain his rank. In descending order of importance, the rank- ings are: Yokozuna, Ozeki, Sekiwake, Komusubi, followed by Maegashira I—16. There are east and west wrestlers, too, so there are 32 Maegashira. If a wrestler posts a losing record, he goes down in rank, if a wrestler posts a win- ning record, he goes up in rank. If they fall below Maegashira 16, they go back down to the juniors, the sumo equiva- lent of the farm team. The top two wrestlers are both yokozuna: Hawaiian-born American Akebono, and second generation rikishi Takanohana. Ozeki Takanonami, the other big Hawaiian Musashimaru and Takanohana’s brother Wakanohana are some of the other big names. May 1998 Page