basho or tournament

[Anne Doggett <adoggett@pa.ausom.net.au>]

Frederik Verschueren asked
>Does anyone know where the basho outside Japan took place  ?
>In know some cities : Paris : '95, London, Australia : '97,
>Vancouver : '98.

I asked my Japanese friend who knows alot about Sumo about this, but she
told me that there have been no bashos outside Japan. According to her,
basho is the official term for the 6 official yearly contests held in
Japan. Any other contest can be described by the English word tournament.
I know this is not what Frederik meant but I'm interested in the
terminology myself so I am wondering if my friend is correct.   During the
Australian tour the term tournament was used on the program rather than
basho.  The word basho literally means "place".  Maybe someone can help
clarify.
Anne